Halloween Show! + Spooky Starts + Week 9 Breakdown - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/31
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Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. It's football time. I hope it is. It's probably not. I remember what the game was. But, but, but.

For fantasy football purposes. Yeah, we got some guys. If you've got guys you care about, suddenly you care about the game. Look, I'm going to get the... Get the elephant out of the way. Yeah, let's talk about what's going on here. Obviously...

Not quite as dressed up as I was last year. Happy Halloween. You look a little worse than you did last year. Well, less lipstick for sure. Yeah. Which, you know, that can mask a lot of... Imperfections? Yes. We're a year older, a year wiser. You know, we're grown-ups. Yeah, this is... I told you we were trying to order some stuff. It didn't come in. Apparently overnight shipping is not overnight. You know what I mean? I warned you. I know. I know. We've become...

a little bit lackadaisical and I'm really sorry. And if you're listening, that's fine, right? You don't care. You don't lose out on anything, but I'm sorry. We do have a great show. You can follow us on Twitter. What is happening? Where'd the lights go? Deucers. Hello. Hello. Do we have some lights here? Can we turn the lights back on? Happy Halloween.

What? What? What? What in the world was that all about? They got the power back on and you guys look a little bit different. Mike, we got a problem over here. You're telling me, brother. Oh, boy. We've got...

We got the costumes in. I guess so. I guess they shipped them pretty fast. This is one of those classic costumes. Every kid, every Halloween dresses up like me. As the blue medical tint costume.

The hero, or at least the feature. The 2024 MVP of the season. The MVP of 2024, the blue medical tent. How you doing, everybody? Andy, nice to have you here. Yeah, no, very comfortable here. You look great. You look a little wide. I'd start losing the LBs, but. No, I'm a home for most of your fantasy players. You look like you're pushing about 600, 700 right now. Mike said the angle.

That he has on me right now. I look pretty special. Mike is suffering as the bone zone. Ken Bonewalker in the house. Some mistakes were made with this mask. I now have

There's snot dripping into my mustache right now. We only have about an hour left of the show. I love that you now seem like a wheel of shame, torture, punishment, but for the whole show. The bone zone. Get in the zone. And then Laser Mayfield over here. That's right. That's right.

Throwing lasers. Are those prescription laser glasses? They are prescription laser glasses, but not my prescription. I can see nothing on this show. Your beard looks outstanding. Laser. And you even threw a mohawk in. Yeah, you know, look.

Baker Mayfield, no Mohawk. Lazer Mayfield, Mohawk. Yeah, no, it looks very good, guys. Let's do the show. We've done it. Mike is ready to wrap this thing up. Let's jump into the news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.

Mike had his own choice here on what to dress up as, and he went torture chamber. He punished himself. I don't believe he thought he was. No, I thought I was taking the easy way out. Yeah, you maybe wanted to try that on a week ago or so. There is an articulating jaw on your skeleton mask. Very nice. It looks great.

That was outstanding. All right, listen, we got some news. Thursday Night Football is tonight, so I know there'll be some folks with their phones out walking around the neighborhoods collecting candy with their kids. Alan Lazard is out. Oh, no. Okay, there you go. Bryce Young is starting, Mike, in Week 9 against the Saints. Ah!

That's a spooky surprise. Yeah, so the Saints, you know, we'll see. Dave Canales, when he came out and talked about this, if you watch the press conference... Did he apologize? No, he said Bryce Young is going to start at the end of this week. They're going to take in everything that they have, all the new information, and make an evaluation after the week. So unlike the Joe Flacco situation where they said, like, he is our starter going forward, and we're going to, you know, work on Anthony Richardson behind the scenes, this is

Bryce Young is only starting this week. Next week, they'll figure out if Dalton is healthy and if Bryce Young has played well. Basically, what he was saying is if Bryce Young goes out and looks great, Bryce will keep the job. That's the way I interpreted it, but he's like, Bryce is not the starter. He has not earned it. Go do something, Bryce. Do you feel the same way about that situation as the Colts? Because I don't. I feel like Bryce should probably just start the rest of the year because the season's done. It's over.

They traded away Deontay. They're moving forward. They're going to give young guys opportunities. Jalen Coker, Jonathan Brooks. Why not have Bryce out there? I would agree. If I was the general manager or the head – well, not the head coach. The head coach, I would certainly put out Andy Dalton. That's my job is to try to win games. But if I'm the general manager, I want Bryce Young out there because he gives us the best shot at the 101 to replace himself. Oh, man.

All right, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Travis Etienne still limited with the hamstring. They're optimistic to play. Brian Thomas Jr., limited. Very important player for fantasy teams. Don't know if he's going to be out there. If he's out there, do you have any worries about the fact that he's got the rib injury and his performance, or would you just throw him in the lineup? Well, I would just play him. Speaking as a medical professional, I would say a little nervous, but he'd be in my lineup.

Hopefully he doesn't come and see me during the game is all I'm saying. Jordan Love didn't practice, says he thinks it's realistic for him to play this week even if he doesn't practice at all. Okay. I do have concerns starting Jordan Love this week with the injury based upon how he played with the injury before exiting that game. So if he doesn't practice all week because of this injury and then has to go out and play in a tough game, I'm not –

thrilled to play Jordan Love. There's going to be a risk of him coming out, for sure. There's certainly a place where I would still start him over fodder off the waiver wire, but if you have another good option on the roster, I would look that direction. What about his weapons? I think the Dobbs and Reed, that's the bigger question. I actually would pivot away from...

All of them, I think, if I didn't have Jordan Love. I wouldn't feel confident in any pass-catching weapons. I'm saying Jordan Love plays. Oh, reads in. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, reads in. I think I'm still going to roll Stafford regardless this weekend over Jordan Love, but I have Romeo Dobbs, and I'm fighting with does he make it in the lineup or not.

You've got to open up your bone mask. You've got to open the bone mask up. Is this better? Yeah, there we go. It's better. Now you're like inside a grave. Oh, yeah. A casket. It looks worse, which is better, and now you sound good. Yeah, that's pretty good. Okay. Your commentary is bone zone. Okay, here I am. Josh Jacobs didn't practice on, Mike, only another hour. Didn't practice on Wednesday. Monitor that. DK Metcalf didn't practice Wednesday.

I know they're hoping he can play. He's got the MCL. It's still TBD. He's got two of them. Well, that's fair. He's got the MCL injury, Mr. Blue Medical Tint. You know, I don't think he plays this week. I'm going to guess he misses this week and is back next week. Lamar Jackson didn't practice. They called it a rest day.

So there you go. He gets those from time to time. It's usually toilet related. Yeah, Falcon knows about rest days. Yeah, Falcon takes a lot of rest days. It's in his contract. He doesn't work Wednesdays. Yeah. All right. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. It's time for the starts.

Starts of the week. We've got some confidence plays for the upcoming week of football at quarterback. My start of the week is going to be Joe Burrow. And I feel like people need the confidence play with Joe Burrow right now. He is the quarterback five on the year. That part is simple, but he's got three straight games outside the top 12. Sure hope T Higgins plays. Well, I think he'll be back.

Burrow right now through the season, highest completion percentage of his career. And the big part here, the Bengals and how Joe Burrow plays at home. They're seven and a half point favorites. His teams have averaged 28 points per game as touchdown favorites in his career at home. And so the Raiders defense, it's not intimidating at all.

What am I hearing, Inducers, Alan? You're looking good, man. What in the world am I hearing? They're cackling. You're looking good. What are you guys cackling about back there? Is this just the costumes? We're serious people. I asked a question. Can't you take my advice seriously as a tent? So this is just you laughing at the costumes? I can't. This is who we are, man.

We are serious people with a serious job, serious games this week, and I'm hearing laughter. Yeah. Unbelievable. That was a serious start of the week. My start of the week this week will be... Unserious? Not as serious. I mean, it should be Laser Mayfield, but it's going to be Dak... Yeah, Laser. It's going to be Dak Prescott, who...

I've been talking about him as the second half star, just like last year. This week, the Dallas-Atlanta game, it carries the highest over-under of the week. It has 52 points, and Dak is averaging 39 passing attempts per game. That is number one in the NFL, and oh yeah, the Falcons are allowing the highest completion percentage in the NFL. They rank 26th against fantasy quarterbacks. They've allowed two-plus passing touchdowns every quarterback they've faced over the last month.

There's going to be a lot of points scored in this game. This starts the beginning of the Dallas Cowboys passing attack trying to get them back into the playoffs.

I'm going Sam Darnold versus the Indianapolis Colts. Look, it's the Sunday night game. We got a 46 and a half point over under. Hey, I'm serious. Stop laughing. Stop laughing at me. Now lift up your teeth. Look, the Vikings have a 26 point implied team total. We love that. And they have hit their implied total in all but one game this year. Sam Darnold, I expect at least 250 and two, possibly more.

Okay, at running back, it's never a sexy choice, but Tony Pollard is the pick against New England. He's averaging the ninth most opportunities per game. He's touched the ball on 31% of Tennessee's offensive plays, and the Patriots' defense is 30th in the NFL in schedule. Adjusted fantasy points allowed to running backs.

Five straight running backs have hit 80 rushing yards. That's a wonderful baseline you have against New England. Was this just Matthew Judon or is it Belichick? Because it's mostly the same crew that shut down running backs last year. Well, you see, Jason, from what I understand, and I'm not speaking out of turn here because the head coach has confirmed it, they're soft. Ah.

Ah, yeah, that's true. They are. They're soft. They are playing soft. My running back start of the week, James Conner at home against Chicago. And you look at the Chicago matchup, you say they're a good defense. I was surprised at this. I do say that. I'm a little scared. It could be tempting to go with a better option against an easier matchup. But I would not go away from James Conner. The Chicago Bears are an outcast.

standing defense against quarterbacks and wide receivers. They're just middle of the pack against running backs, and if the Cardinals are going to do something at home against them, they're going to want to use James Conner a lot, which they have been. Conner has already been awesome. He's been averaging 19 opportunities a game, and he is number one in 10-plus yards

Like runs of 10 plus yards. He's third in yards after contact. Listen to this. So he leads all running backs in the NFL. This is insane. In forced missed tackles, right? That's great. He's number one. Yeah, you want to force some missed tackles? You do. That's good. Number two is a three-way tie between Najee Harris, Jordan Mason, and B. John Robinson. Those are guys that you've watched on the field and you've said, hey, Najee breaks tackles. Yeah. They each are tied for second place with 29 broken tackles, forced missed tackles.

James Conner is at 47. He's almost lapping the field. So I don't think this is a player who's going to get a lot of opportunity at home against a team where if you're going to do damage against them, it's going to be in the running game. So I'm not benching James Conner this week. I'm not looking at the matchup as too hard. I'm starting James Conner. I'm going with Shuba Hubbard, everybody. And the reason that he's even in here is more of a –

This is what we've become. This is more of a, I have the confidence to actually play him as a running back too. If you recall last week, I was O-U-T on Chuba Hubbard. And even though Bryce Young is the quarterback, that's fine because the matchup is there. The Saints, 31st in schedule adjusted points, 28th in rushing yards per game allowed. Look, he's averaging 20 and a half opportunities since week three. I think that Chuba is back in as a running back too.

That one is very nerve-wracking. I'm the same way. I'm the same way as Andy, not as you, Mike. I'm scared of this one. Bryce Young stinks, and then I think Jonathan Brooks. Oh, wrong button. We're falling apart. Oh, you strapping him on for that one? Yes. He needs it. Okay, okay.

My wide receiver start of the week. I went and traded heavy to get this guy with the announcement that Joe Flacco was going to be the quarterback for likely the remainder of the year. And good call there, Mike. I'm bowing out. Josh with the skeleton mask has slid forward. And now the podcast listeners can be more pleased. All right. Look, Josh Downs is the pick.

for start of the week at wide receiver. Just traded heavy for him in Dynasty. Jason brought him up on Hungry for More, and he's been targeted on 30% of his routes.

This is a player that on the field, when you evaluate him as a route runner, his involvement in the offense, he is a go-to wide receiver for his quarterback. And Joe Flacco, when he's been the quarterback with Josh Downs, Downs has averaged 10 targets, 8 receptions, 72 yards. I think he's a machine the rest of the season. That's the truth. And the Vikings are a pass funnel. They're...

they're going to give up yardage to the position I think Josh Downs is a must play this week and I hate saying that because I have to play him against him yes you do because I get to play him I love your start of the week there I'm going with Chris Olave on the road in Carolina we saw them play week one terrible game for Chris Olave but it was an awesome game for Rashid Shahid which

which is why it was bad for Olave. There was the blowout that made me start thinking that I would run up against the 10 victory Saints and have to shave my head. I took care of Dennis Allen's job this week. Rashid Shahid is out. It's

It's clear that Olave is far and away the best option at wide receiver. Last week he had 14 targets. Now he gets Derek Carr back. Presumably that's how it's looking. He had 41% of the targets last week against Carolina, who is allowing the highest yards per pass attempt in the NFL, and they break 25th against fantasy wide receivers. Absolute must start. I think Olave is a wide receiver one rest of season because of the Shaheed injury. I'm going Ladd-McConkie. Oh, my little Ladd. Oh, my God.

It's the worst. It's not great. It's not good. It's worse than not great. But Andy, hungry for a player of this week. Look, he was the wide receiver too. I get it. It was two touchdowns. But he has been heating up. His target share for a rookie has been

It's been very good. And now the last three weeks, we've seen that Hardog and G. Rowe, they have forgot to visit the doctor for those testosterone boosters. And they are, in fact, going low-T, and they're throwing the ball all the time with Justin Herbert playing much, much better for fantasy purposes. He's given us those yards. And the matchup against Cleveland, while they are a good defense, like they seem like a scary one, you can actually throw on them. 28th in schedule adjusted fantasy points to the wide receiver position.

You've given a gift to the podcast listeners. We can hear you. All right. We're turning to Clyde. That's a gift. Yeah, most often it is. I'm going hat. Oh, just a hat. No bone? No bone. I got the gloves on, man. Okay. I'm a skeleton. Guys, I'm a skeleton. Look at these gloves, man.

I'm known as a skeleton. Oh, this might be worse. Yeah. This hat's never coming off. You need the bone zone. Listen, Sam Laporta is the tight end start of the week for me. Coming off his best game of the year. Tons of targets. No Jamison Williams. Packers defense has been terrible against tight ends. This is the week where you get a good game from Sam Laporta and then you get a tough decision because you decide whether you want to trade off of that or you want to

What I think will happen, you'll buy in because you'll have a couple of great weeks. And the truth is Laporta, much like Mark Andrews, the fundamental truth is he is an asset to the offense. Andrews is around the red zone. Laporta is. And the six for 48 and one last week almost scored two times. I think Laporta dominates this week.

Yeah, I think that's great. I'm shocked that you didn't go with Cade Otten as your start of the week, so we'll make him an honorary start of the week because he is also great. Sounds very biased from Laser Mayfield. Yeah, Laser Mayfield.

Uh, that's my guy, Kate Otten out there, but I'm not taking him as my start of the week. I'm taking Evan Ingram with his Kajabillion targets this week against the Philadelphia Eagles. That's only scientifically speaking. That is, uh, the Jaguars pass catchers. They're banged up. And by banged up, I mean, Krisha Kirk is done for the year. Gabe Davis has his injury. Brian Thomas has his injury. I've seen them all. Yeah. They've, they've been visiting you and you've been rude to some of them. You're like, no, you're going to, you're, you're not going back in out. Um,

On the season, right now Evan Ingram has averaged 27% of his routes as a target. That's tied for third best in the NFL. And the Eagles, they might look on paper, you look at the matchup, you go, oh, they're pretty good against tight ends. But they're terrible against the slot players. Like last week, you saw Mike Gesicki kind of play that slot role, and he was 7 for 73 against Philadelphia.

When Kirk was out for the season in weeks 14 through 18 last year, Evan Ingram led all players in the NFL in slot receptions. He had more slot receptions at CeeDee Lamb or Amin Ra or Cooper Cup. This is a pure slot wide receiver role. And I think he's just going to have so many targets that you have to start Evan Ingram this week.

And I am going. Yeah, look at this. I didn't. Mark Andrews against the Denver Broncos because things are trending up for him. No, I'm not. The touchdowns have been delightful. I'm not just chasing the touchdowns. I am chasing the fact that he's been on the field more and more. He's been averaging four receptions, 50 yards and a touchdown. He's over the last month, that is. 13 points a game. That's right behind Brock Bowers. But here's what was exciting. We were

We were all trying to figure out what is going on with Mark Andrews. And one of the hypotheses was that...

That's still not a word, but go on. Is that he's recovering? It's hypothesis-es. Oh, yes. Yeah, that's definitely it. Hypothesis-es. Last year, look, the ankle injury, he's still recovering from it. Over the preseason in training camp, there was a car accident that he was involved in, and he just hasn't been on the field. We're like, what's going on? Because he's still good, but he's not getting reps. Those have gone up.

Week 8, tied for season high in snap percentage at 74%. 29 routes. That was the highest since week 1. In fact, he lined up out wide 12 times. And Kyle is saying that's the most of any game of his entire career. Wow. I think, like, we're not back, but we're back where Mark Andrews is a very startable guy. The Ravens are 9-point home favorites. And the Broncos are allowed the 9th most receptions to the tight end position. Where does Andrews slot in in best –

tight ends rest of the season. Would you rather have Kate Otten than Mark Andrews? Oh, that's a really good one. I think it's probably still Kate Otten because we just –

We don't have all the information, but at least where we're trending right now, in two weeks from now, you could ask that, is it K-Dot or Mark Andrews? And all of a sudden, we're like, no, Mark Andrews is back to his full allotment. But what about Dalton Kincaid or Mark Andrews? I think that is... I'll take Mark Andrews. Yeah, that's where I am as well. I think I'd lean that way as well. I can't stand how...

effective yet boring the Bills offense can be. Oh, it's the worst. It's the absolute worst fantasy because they're very good. They're winning games. I think they have like a 100 point point differential. They've been awesome. And yet for fantasy, it's like stop. It's just low opportunities. You don't want to throw the ball when you're up and that's not fun. If Mark Andrews and Dalton Kincaid are both getting between three and four receptions a week, Kincaid's averaging three and a half right now.

Mark Andrews are far more valuable targets. Just average depth of target and then throw in touchdown opportunities. So I lean Mark Andrews even though it's been a slow start. Well, we're going to take a quick break and we'll come back with the fantasy forecast.

Well, it's a big week of games that we've got to break down. Mike has broken out of his skeleton face. That lasted all of, what, like seven minutes? I had to, look, the YouTube people got what they needed, and now the podcast people. That's fair. I think that's a good call. This is for the people. And just so people understand this before we jump into it.

Jason is blind. I am struggling to read anything on my laptop. He's wearing a pair of Tron laser glasses. For those listening at home, you can go to the website. Laser. Oh,

You can go to YouTube.com slash TheFantasyFootballers and check it out. I mean, that's the thought process. But he is blind because he needs prescription glasses as an elderly man. Yeah. If you were to walk around this studio desk and look at my laptop, you would laugh because I have it zoomed in. Let me see this. It's...

It's the biggest font you've ever seen. And you still can't read that? I can see it a bit. I'll go all the way around here. Oh, I'm sure they can read it clearer. There we go. That's the size we're working with here. Yeah, that's good stuff. All right, let's jump in. It's time for Fantasy Forecast, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook.

It's like two words per screen. Yeah, I can read Dallas Cowboys. I know they're in this matchup. We have two bye weeks, two bye weeks. The 49ers and Steelers taking time off doing their Falcon thing. All right, Dallas at three and four. Take on the Atlanta Falcons at five and three. That's our first matchup. We're going to look at DraftKings Sportsbook line. Atlanta minus three over under 52 beautiful points.

That's a good deal. That's a reason to be endorsing Jason start of the week for Dak Prescott. Now, if he doesn't do it in this game,

As the quarterback 18, I think there'll be some worry because that'll prove the dysfunction has reached deep into the roots of the offense. The dysfunction is not just offense. I mean, obviously, they've lost a lot of pieces on the defensive line, but the whole team right now for the Cowboys is kind of imploding. The reason I'm so bullish on Dak is because you've got...

You've got years of Dak getting it done. You have last season of Dak getting it done. You have CeeDee Lamb dominating. He was incredible last week. They need him, and this is not a bad team and a bad franchise as much as we joke about the issues that Jerry Jones has, which he does. This is not a team that is just going to fold and go away. I think Dak has to put more on his shoulders now

and be better, and I think he'll step up. I mean, his passing yardage line from DraftKings is 264.5. So you're already at a baseline where the expectation is a really nice output. On the other side, at home, Atlanta, high over-under, Kirk Cousins has been like a stick of dynamite that you light, and it goes off every fourth time that you attempt to. Oh, you got some duds? Yeah, I mean, sometimes the fuse goes out on the way.

I don't think it goes out in this game. Dallas has obviously been a troubled defense. They've struggled. Bijan, there were some comments, and I want to give credit to Coach Speak Index this morning. There were some comments that they discovered from the offensive coordinator, Zach Robinson, that just came out and said verbatim. Zach Robinson said,

One, Bijan's a young player. He's getting better, learning blitz pickups. Two, we believe in the philosophy of having multiple backs and keeping them fresh so that they're effective later in the game. So it's not necessarily something we don't know, but hearing it vocalized as opposed to maybe they accidentally are doing this

You know, Bijan has been a little bit like that stick of dynamite as well. Sometimes it looks amazing. We just heard he's tied behind James Conner, second in forced tackles missed. Very impressive when you're not getting the allotment of snaps that James Conner is getting. But just something to keep in mind is that Bijan is probably not going to give you

very often the the Kyron the Henry those type of weeks but he's still going to be a probably a low end running back one he's still a great player yeah Kirk Cousins going back to him the stick of dynamite when I when I look at the games I think he's playing outstanding ball for the last month the question is just how do the touchdowns go in and I worry a little bit in this matchup because the Cowboys you have just been able to run their defensive line

is so banged up that teams have ran the ball like crazy. So I think if you get around the end zone, you get in the red zone, you get around the 10, they're going to be running the ball and they're going to have success. So that's where I think Kirk Cousins comes out here and throws 300 yards.

But if he doesn't get the early touchdowns, you know, a big Drake London touchdown, a big Kyle Pitts touchdown, something like that, then I, you know, it does make me more bullish on Bijon and able to flex Tyler Algier in this game. This game is fantastic. The over-under we said is 52-54.

But the pace of play, Atlanta is first in neutral pace. Dallas is fifth. Dallas has hit the over in five of seven games. This is like everybody is in play here for me. Dak, his DK passing line is 264.5 yards. Even the backup options, like Tyler Algier.

If you're in a really bad spot with your running back position and Tyler Algiers on the waiver wire, I think you could pick him up and you could play him. Two things. One, you look really short on camera. Two. Yeah, we adjusted the camera for your costume that was much taller. Can you raise your chair? No, I'm maxed out, brother. You're like a little kid fan of the Seahawks right now. That's what it looks like. Go Hawks!

Secondly, I would play Tyler Algier over any option on Dallas by far at the running back position. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, everyone's in play. You can't play a Dallas Cowboys running back right now because we have no idea what's going to happen. Rico Dowdle is not on the injury report with the illness that he had on Sunday.

I mean, we all have an illness trying to analyze the running back position in Dallas this year. Zeke was very – I thought Zeke was inefficient. Tom Pellicero loved what he saw from Dalvin Cook, but the rest of the universe was like, that dude is washed. We got to get him off the field. Look, Mike McCarthy said running back by committee is definitely not the preference, but we feel it's the best way to utilize these guys.

Let me translate that. The preference was Derrick Henry. Yeah, let me translate it to these guys shouldn't be on the field all the time, so we've got to take them off sometimes and try somebody else. I mean, it's not –

It's not good. Yeah, the Falcons, if you adjust for schedule, they've actually been top five against running back, so I'm fine pivoting away. That being said, my expectation is Rico is active in this game and is the primary carrier also involved in the passing game. The Atlanta Falcons do give up a lot of receptions to the running back, and when I look at who's been targeted in that game and who's been successful, I think Rico could have a surprising game. I will not be shocked if Rico ends up fine here.

Okay, I'll leave Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Rico Dowd. No, I'm not saying play him. I'm saying that the Dallas Cowboys, if they come out into this game after what happened last week and don't have him as the primary running back, that everyone should be fired. That's what I'm saying. Okay. Yeah, I mean, Cooks should be active though, right?

No, he shouldn't. No, I mean, we expect him to. Play Ferguson, play Pitts, the tight end five, play Mooney, wide receiver 15 on the year, wide receiver 12 in some formats. This game is delightful. Jalen Tolbert would be. Desperate times. I'm fine with it. Tolbert or Addison against Indianapolis. Oh, I'd go Addison. I think so, but Addison's so bad. Nice. I'd play Leggett.

Yeah, sure. You got over Tolbert. Yeah. Uh, the number five search Darnell Mooney or tank Dell and Mike, you've had a policy this morning. You've decided because the majority, like almost 80% of our top start set questions involve tank Dell and those are going directly to

to Jason's personal phone number. I appreciate you reminding me because I was going to answer that this question is very easy, but I'll let Jason handle it. Jason? Darnell Mooney or Tank Dell? That is an easy Darnell Mooney. Okay. Tank Dell has a place and is not someone that you have to bench, but if you've got good options...

Tank Dell against the Jets on the road is not the matchup I want. Miami's 2-5. They take on the 6-2 Buffalo Bills who are at home. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Buffalo minus 60. Over-unders 49 points. Kind of a do-or-die game for Miami. Buffalo beat them 31-10. Tua was knocked out back in Week 2. The Bills have dominated.

The Dolphins. They've just got their number, man. 11-2 since 2018. They're at home. They've got the machine working. One of the keys to success for Buffalo has been slowing down Tyreek Hill, regardless of whether Hill was on the Chiefs or has been on the Dolphins. They've found a way to defend against him and keep him. I think he's got one game over 80 yards ever.

Like against this team. Jeez. In a lot of matchups. Yeah. I mean, you're talking about eight or nine games. So,

Not that you're not playing Tyreek. Yeah, you're still going to play Tyreek Hill. It's just really... I think what it does is it goes back to Tua. Tua is a really questionable start. A lot of people who have picked him up, they might be wanting to play him personally. I'm not loving the Tua matchup here just because historically against Buffalo, he hasn't done well. Obviously this season, I know he got concussed and knocked out of that game, but up until that point, he was...

absolutely atrocious just being dominated by the Bills defense. The Bills defense in the passing game has been top five against quarterbacks, top five against wide receivers, top ten against tight ends. Where you beat them is on the ground, and they give up the most receptions to running backs. So A-chan, totally great play in this matchup.

He's going to have four, five, six, seven receptions in this game as they try to find something to make it work. Even Raheem Mostert, I would rather play, but the passing game scares me for the Dolphins in this one. Well, that means that Jalen Waddell scares you, although his receiving line's at 49.5. That makes him flexible. Yeah, I think a Jalen Waddell. Now, he will see me during the game.

Oh, for sure. Well, I'm actually, there are a few players I'm extremely familiar with. I know Jalen on a first name basis. He, I don't think you do. Cause that's not his name. What's his, Oh my gosh. Jalen. Wow. Yeah, it is. I thought there was a joke. No, I dude, what is going on? Laser late, late. Apparently, uh, lasers are in your brain. It's in the eyeballs. The important question is, what did you think his name was? Jaden Waddle for a second.

I'm going to say no Jaden Wall. Shrink the chair. All right. Don't adjust the camera. There's nothing quite like correcting a name to the wrong name. I mean, that is just elite level. Give me Herbie Hancock. I feel I have Amari Cooper in Dynasty. I feel so nervous playing him. Are you just looking at last week as, hey, they're still figuring it out? I mean, it was point eight points. I mean.

I feel like Keon Coleman's a better play than Amari Cooper. I 100% agree with that. I think Khalil Shakir is a better play than Amari Cooper at this point. What about Dalton Kincaid in the flex over Cooper? I think I'm with that too. If I made the move for Amari Cooper, I'm trying not to have sunk cost right now. It would be like I have to force him in. It's...

More of a, I'm going to bench him. Amari Cooper or Jamar Chase? Oh, that's a Jamar Chase. That one's very easy. I'm just double checking on that one. Yeah, thank you for that. But Amari Cooper. Oh, this is a trade. Yeah, okay. Dumb. Amari Cooper's on my bench. And if he has a great game and I miss out, I just like.

I will accept that and be happy that Amari Cooper is ready to go. Yeah, and when you say Keon Coleman over Amari Cooper, I don't think Keon Coleman's a great play here either. The ball could go to three or four different receiving options, and what we've seen from the Bills is if they get the lead, they're going to want to run the ball. If they want to run the ball against the Dolphins' 26th-ranked running defense, I think they'll find success. Yeah, you're right about that. I would say hungry for more Keon Coleman, though, is –

He wasn't in our segment this week, but three of the last four games have been solid, and what I love to see is the snap counts. I mean, 83% last week, 75% the week before. Both of those games top 24. Maybe it's not this week, but I think it's going to be most weeks. Oh, for sure. And he looks good. I don't have the first read target information at all. I haven't even seen it. But watching the game, it felt like he was a first read target on a lot of his plays, those first three drives. So,

He's, you know, whoever. Talking about Keelan Coleman? That's right. Is that your guy? You have to keep in mind, Andy, I can't read well right now. Oh, okay. Really affects the memory. Thank you. Now, in his defense, his laser glasses are flashing every second. So that would possibly dewire the brain. Yeah. That's science. All right. The Raiders at 2-6. The Bengals 3-5. DraftKings Sportsbook line Cincinnati minus 7. The over-unders 46-1.

This game feels like it should be easy to project, which makes it also feel to me like a trap game. Cincinnati's 3-5. The Raiders are a tooth and nail, minimal talent, but we kind of sometimes win games we shouldn't. They beat the Ravens. Yeah, so this is like...

It should be clean and easy at home for Cincinnati, and that's the way we're projecting it. That's the way Vegas has it. Joe Burrow started the week at home has been great. Chase Brown, his line's at 57.5 on DK rushing-wise. He should be fine. Chase, I think if you're the Chase manager, you're hoping that Higgins is playing in this football game because they're just so much better together. Yeah. Man, they have them.

They have a difficult decision to make here at the end of the year. Oh, I think it's been made already. Just that they're going to try and bring him back now? No, no, no, no. I think the decision's been made that T. Higgins is moving on. I agree. That's what everything felt like. But it's like this year is just more proof of like, guys, Jamar Chase is an elite player, but our offense is just insane.

infinitely better when we have T. Higgins. I would argue that this year is also proof that you cannot rely on T. Higgins to be there when you need him. They're losing games because T. Higgins hasn't been available. It's not like, man, those two games you played with us, you prove we need you. We're going to re-sign you. I don't see T. Higgins back with this team. Yeah, most coaches and general managers will say, hey, let's go draft a guy. And then we like Yoshi Voss and we like to, you know,

It might not be the right logic, but the money, the check. They can like Yoshi Voss, but Joe Burrow does not like throwing him the ball. I feel like he's been pretty involved this season. I feel like that's not true. He has not. When T. Higgins wasn't there, Yoshi was pretty good. Like last week when he had zero catches and three targets? Last week would be a bad example for my case. The beginning of the year when Higgins was gone, those six targets, seven targets, he had games where Joe Burrow was looking his way.

He had two games, three touchdowns. Yeah. No, I know. But no, I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm on Team Yoshi. Yeah. Mostly because Tee Higgins is on Team Higgins. We brought this up yesterday on the waiver show, but Mike Kosicki, when Higgins is gone, he is utilized a lot. The matchup is pretty nice against the Raiders, and he would be a good streaming option. And Tee was and did not practice on Wednesday. Wednesday is not nearly as big as today.

We probably have news on that practice report today. I wanted to look up today's practice report, but I can't read. One of the three. Well, that's not a glasses problem. One of the three deuces that didn't dress up for Halloween should look this up. Yeah. Be useful. Do something. I guess they did dress up in a way as. Clowns. Boring. On the other side. We have three clown masks. Yeah, we should have put them on them. You know what?

Put the wigs on. Put the clown wigs on, you clowns. Find the wigs. Get them on. I can't push the button, but push the button so that we can watch you put your clown wigs on. Let me talk about the Raiders real quick. Alexander Madison is... Yeah, there you go. Why didn't we know this right away? There you go. This is how I see you anyways. Right.

You dressed up as the deuces. We figured it out. Okay, this is good stuff. Josh has hair finally. Josh. Do you know how to put a wig on? No, he put it on over the headphones. Do you notice the other two were able to do this? Yeah. How big is your head? Perfect. Okay. For the remainder of the show. Alexander Madison over the last month averaging 20 and a half opportunities per game. It's disgusting.

But he is the epitome of volume is king for fantasy football because he's not necessarily looking any better than he did last year, but he's getting the ball so much. They did say he's the starter. Yeah. With Zemir White back the last couple weeks and the team still going with Madison, I feel confident that you can play him as a low-end running back too. And Brock Bowers every –

All the hours you play him? All the hours. If we haven't brought up Jacoby Myers. We have not yet. Jacoby Myers, I think, is a player that you need to pay attention to. His DraftKings Sportsbook line is 50.5 receiving yards. The matchup isn't perfect against Cincinnati, but it's not bad either. I think Jacoby is a PPR player.

almost every week going forward. He's their number one target and he's clearly their best wide receiver. Jacoby Myers is a solid wide receiver. He was just gone with Devonta Adams exiting. It's like Jacoby and Brock. I think that the volume will be there for Myers every single week. Gasicki's in for me if Higgins is out. If Higgins is back, Gasicki is not in my lineup. The Chargers are four and three. The

The Browns are 2-6. The DraftKings Sportsbook line here, Chargers, minus 1.5. The over-under is 43.5. Bit surprised at the line on the road in Cleveland after Cleveland had the upset. I guess it's a little bit of a prove-it situation right now. Yeah, I mean, they had to come back, and they had a pretty miraculous... I mean, the game was over. You know, Hamilton...

dropped the game on the interception, and then it took a really good pass to Tillman for the game-winning touchdown. Listen, when you have the reigning AFC Offensive Player of the Week, Jameis Winston. I get it. Never doubt. Chubbs rushing lines at 52.5. That seems... I think we're all just waiting to... I mean...

What was it? Last week, he got 52. He got 52. Last week, I took the under of 50 and a half, and he got 52. What an idiot. It was funny, too, because I remember watching the game. 61% of snaps, 18 opportunities. And I'm feeling like, man, he's not getting much work. I'm going to crush this. And I look towards the end of the game, and it's like...

52. He 3.2 per attempt. He got there. Mike loves McConkie. I think Tillman is in play this week. Tillman's involvement the last three weeks has been great. His line's at 45.5 receiving-wise. The fact that Judy and Moore both had productive games with Winston does mean that

This could bounce around a little bit. Njoku's integral. I doubt all four guys are going to put up big numbers every week, and the Chargers eighth against wide receivers. It's probably going to be like I'd rank them, Tillman and Judy, then more.

But it could be Judy this week. I would rank them Judy, then Tillman, then Moore. However, I'm going to pump the brakes on Tillman in general. Baltimore, the matchup they just had, every single week by the end of the game, the opposing team has a ton of yards. It just happens every week.

And that's what happened last week where Tillman and Moore and Judy and Najoku, they all had a good game. This is not the same. The Chargers, we've talked about it all the time. They have been hitting the under every game. They are a slow it down, ugly brand of football where I just don't expect, I don't expect a ton of passing volume from the Browns here. So

Tillman is someone that I would love to have. I tried to pick him up wherever he was on waivers. I'm not seeing this as he's had two good games in a row without Amari Cooper, so he has become a must-start in a bad matchup. I'm still kind of

I would play Tank Dell over Tillman. I get the hesitation. I think I'd go Tillman over Tank. In weeks one and two, Jacob Dobbins is averaging 9.9 a carry. From week three on, 3.2. Jason has been quick to point this out over the last two weeks. Would you play Dobbins or Chubb?

The defense for the Browns is slightly better against the run than the Chargers have been. They're very similar, though. I would play Dobbins over Chubb still. The other running backs are more involved for the Browns at this point, still in time. You saw Foreman getting some work. Dobbins has been the centerpiece of the running game. He just hasn't been effective. I don't believe either one of those players are a great play, but I would go Dobbins over Chubb. If I had them both, I would just...

Who do I think is scoring more points? That's the running back. Isn't that? That's most of what we do as a team. The team. That's always the question I ask is who do I think is going to score more points? Who's got cooler hair, man? In my head, I said the whole sentence. That sounded so funny. As in, do I think the Chargers score more or do the Browns score more? And what's your answer? I think the Chargers score more.

So I'll go with Dobbins. You and DraftKings agree. He explained our starts hit tool very clearly. All right, we'll take a break. Put the players in and go, what do you think? I would just play your best players. All right, we'll take a break. We'll hit the rest of the matchups.

All right, before we jump right back into the rest of the matchups, I do have some kind of live feedback for you. Oh, okay, great. Maybe not being considered. When you see players go into the blue medical tent, we're like, oh, are they hurt? Are they going to be okay? Uh-huh.

It's possible they're in there for more of a sauna experience. Oh, is it warm in there? I got a drip. See, I'm pretty constrained here. You're sweaty right now. I got a drip going down the arm. So does that mean, and I think this would make sense, towards the end of the game, the longer that you have been up and heated-

you are grouchier. You're going to give as a tent. Yeah. As a tent, you're going to give worse kind of outcomes to the players coming in later in the game. I'm an inanimate object. I really don't have feelings, but you can talk. Well, that part is wet. Yeah. And sweat. Yeah. It's a mystery. Um,

I would say that I'm grumpy because I'm not looked at the way – I'm not respected. You know, the fantasy players, they hate me. No, not just the fantasy players. The NFL fans, the players, the coaches, you suck. Imagine you were a house and every time somebody goes into you, they boo. They boo and they heckle. And see, that's the life I'm living over here. Nobody respects the purpose, which is I provide privacy.

And that's pretty much it. Well, if it's raining. So does a porta potty. If it's raining, if it's windy, there's some shelter. Yeah, but they're not allowed to use me for that. Right. I would. Thank you. Mike doesn't follow the rules. Well, Ken Bone Walker has been in the blue tent a lot. Yeah, he has. New England's 2-6. This is all just a way to delay talking about this game. New England's 2-6. Tennessee's 1-6.

Yeah. Drafting Sportsbook line, Tennessee minus three and a half at home. The over-under is 38. It's the lowest of the week. It's a stinky, stinky game. And maybe Drake May plays. This game sucks. Yeah, Drake May's in the concussion protocol. He's progressing, but we don't know at this point whether he'll. It seems optimistic. Yeah, I mean, TBD, if he gets a full practice in today and then meets with the independent neurologist,

He could be activated for this week. This is the pick number two and pick number three right now in the NFL draft order. Oh, really? This would be number one, Carolina, number two, Tennessee, number three, New England, number four, the Jets.

Oh, that's good, man. That's good. That's good stuff. Yeah. If we can get them in the top three, the drama. I can't wait for them to listen to Aaron Rodgers and draft a wide receiver. I mean, it will be outstanding. And then whoever is the next pick after them will grab a quarterback that becomes a first ballot hall of fame. You just know, like,

Sometimes the world is against certain franchises. What is Ramondre Stevenson? He's had four awesome games. He's had three duds. He scored twice last week against you, Jason. Oh, I felt him. Tony Pollard on the other side, my start of the week. I'm in on Pollard. What is Stevenson is the question. When you're on a bad football team, when we're sitting here in the offseason, we're saying we like drafting running backs on teams that win football games.

And yet Stevenson has been this touchdown threat. Antonio Gibson's running for one to carry and is hurt. Stevenson is a workhorse back who is involved in the passing game, getting a ton of opportunity and usage. I view him not too dissimilarly to what Mike was talking about with Alexander Madison. These are guys who are going to get all the opportunity presented for them. It's just not high expectation fantasy players.

given to them, but they're absolutely in play for a weekly start in any kind of matchup where you don't expect them to get boat raced. Now, sometimes these guys like Ramondre, even when they're boat raced,

You get the passing work. Or the goal line carry. Yeah, so the question really becomes, do you expect enough points in this game? And that's where it's like, it's not as exciting as Madison this week because this game looks like a fart fest. Well, I mean, look, last week, it didn't look good for New England against the Jets. Ramondre got it done, and you're probably backed into playing him because... It didn't look good, Ramondre playing. No, he wasn't efficient, but he scored. And, you know, last week,

Was it the redemption story for Calvin Ridley? I expect him to be back out there this week. The Patriots defense is not good. All the things I said about Tony Pollard and the points given up. Are you okay with Ridley? And Jason, this is another one that you're going to get a million of. Ridley or Dell? Yeah, I've got Ridley above Dell this week. They're back-to-back in my rankings, but coming off of a hot start without Hopkins,

The Patriots defense is not terrifying. I know that Calvin Ridley will get a lot of targets against an easier defense. So far with Tank Dell, he's been in that four to seven target range where it's like – Yeah, you got a score. I'm hoping for seven, but he could end up with four and he could have Sauce Gardner. So I'll take Calvin Ridley off the hot game. Okay, that makes sense. Calvin Ridley or Jalen Ridley?

Oh, man. Jalen Ridley, one of my first name basis guys. I'm just going to watch the game with him. Aren't they the same guy? No, no, no. Jalen's cousin. Oh. Didn't make it in the NFL. Hunter Henry, definitely.

Been good with Drake May. Don't know if May's playing. Are you trying to find somebody else? He's also had a couple good games with Jacoby, but yeah, Hunter Henry is a good streaming option. This isn't the best streaming week. When you adjust for schedule, the Titans, I think they're averaging around seven fantasy points given up per game to the Titan position. That's not great. That's like a top 10 defense. The Washington Commanders are six and two.

The Giants are 2-6. The Giants are at home. The DraftKings Sportsbook line here, Washington, minus 4. The over-under is 44. Oh, baby. Andy's almost upset of the week. Some hot stuff. I get it. I get it. I don't think I've had one in two weeks. No, I don't think so. This one feels right. So the Giants, four-point underdogs at home. The game was 21-18 in week two.

Jaden Daniels still recovering from a rib injury. The defense in New York, they are a, I don't know, bend?

and then break defense. They look good for like three quarters of every game, and then they're just like, we can't do this anymore. It's bend, don't break until broken. That's what this defense is. They're on the field a lot because the offense can't really help them out. Sometimes Daniel Jones puts them in short field situations, but the personnel and the talent and ability of the New York Giants defense is very good. Number one.

in SAC rate. And Jaden Daniels and company, they scored nine points before the Hail Mary last week. Right? I mean, this was a slog. So I like the Giants to get it done. You've got... And they're at home. You do have Tyrone Tracy...

progressing through the protocol. Yeah, I got to hope he's back. Turning in the right direction from Brian Dable. That is great, but timeline-wise what we've seen, I mean, this is pretty consistent. Most every single player who gets a concussion misses one week. Marvin Harrison did not. I don't think Tracy misses this week. You don't? No, I do not. Mark didn't miss, but it was the Monday night game. It was the Monday game, but he was also cleared

Like he was like a full practice on Friday. I like that Tracy, he's out there in the protocol. He's out there practicing. He's just in a red Jersey, which is part of the process. So I, again, I'm not a, I'm a medical tent. I'm not a doctor. You just, you just know when guys are hurt, not when they'll be better. Would you let them go in the game right now? I saw him briefly last week.

He seemed a little banged around, but he's fine. Now, I don't know. We'll see. Having him back is important to my almost upset. Don't hedge now. Malik neighbors. I would play neighbors in Tracy is

is my point. If Tracy's out, would you play Devin Singletary? No. See, I would. If Tracy is out, I think Singletary will have enough work as like a... I mean, you look at Alexander Madison's been bad, Ramondre Stevenson's been bad, but they're just getting so much work. If Tracy's gone, I would expect a full workload for Singletary and the matchup against...

the Washington Commanders defense, which has gotten better and better, they're still not great against running backs. First three weeks. I'd be nervous. 15 opportunities. Devin Singletary had 17 opportunities against Washington in week two where he was 16 for 95 on the ground.

with a touchdown, 20 opportunities the following week, and then the week after that was when he got hurt. Can I agree with you nervously? Yeah, sure. Yeah, I'll accept that. Jaden Daniels, play him if he's active. Yes. Brian Robinson, yes. Terry McLaurin, yes. Receiving line 65 and a half. Let me read your fantasy finishes. Really? That is a nice high line. Yeah.

9, 23, 17, 7, 16, 10. Terry McLaurin is a go-to receiver, and the number two receiver on this team is Zacherts. And Zacherts was 7 for 77 last week. I have leagues where Kittle, I have Kittle in a bunch of leagues. He's on bye. Zacherts is playing in every one of those leagues for me. He's the perfect bye week villain. That is his fundamental role for fantasy. Yeah, the matchup is not good. Stinky for tight ends, but Zacherts is...

Hey, dude, he is the stink master. Zach Ertz won't win you the week, but he will not lose you the week. All right. We have injury updates. TJ Hawkinson will not be on a snap count and is expected to play for the Vikings. TJ Hawkinson back in there. And then Isaiah Pacheco. Will not be on a snap count. Awesome. This is great. So can you start him this week? I would not do it. I'd try to wait a week. I would start him over Zach Ertz. Hmm. I'm okay. Not me. I'm okay with that call.

Okay. What about Dalton Kincaid, Jay? No. Oh, Dalton Kincaid. Gosh. Yeah, I think I would. I think I would start him over Dalton Kincaid. I would not start him over Kate Otten or some of the really good matchup and opportunities like all the starts of the week we talked about. I wouldn't put him there. And I don't think you have to force Hawkinson in your lineup, but there are teams that have been holding on to him that have been playing this tight end roulette, and they've got Hunter Henry on the roster in a bad matchup.

The Minnesota Vikings offense has been really good. Darnold has been balling. They have been using the tight end position, and they have given Hawkinson enough time to recover. If he's not on a snap count and that's official, I would throw him in the lineup.

Uh, the, we're going to jump into parlay partay this week. It's been a clown show. Goodness. Let's go over. Let's represent this with a shot of the deuce. You guys are representing us today. Um, because we, we three clowns, um, thank you for taking this one on our, our stunt doubles, our stunt doubles over there in deuces alley. We did not have who then can I tell Falcon? I'm clearly Jason. Okay.

Jeremy and me are attached to him. I guess you get Josh with the beard. I get the falcon. Makes sense, but Jason is the oldest, so he's probably Josh. I'm Jeremy. Or no, you're Jeremy. Yeah. All right. Whatever, I'm Josh. Yep, yep. Lucky you. This week...

Here's the picks. I've got Kyler Murray over 200 passing yards. Been playing really good football. He's at home. He averages 244 at home. I know it's the Bears, but I think the Cardinals are going to get it done in this one. They're one and a half point home favorites. He averages 250 in Cardinal wins, so I think he's going to be 230 to 250 in this game, if not higher. Yeah, I have Devon A. Chan over three and a half receptions. When I was preparing for this,

The line was originally set at 4.5 from DraftKings, and I was fine taking that. I was going to officially take over 4.5. It was plus odds, which isn't, you know, I mean, better payout, but, like, not as expected. And I was fine taking over 4.5. At 3.5, I mean, in three starts, he has seven, seven, and six receptions, not just targets. This is a schematic thing where the Bills give up a lot. And one of those games where he had, you know, seven was...

was the Bills. Yeah, and speaking of that, of teams allowing running back receptions, the Jacksonville Jaguars are allowing, or they're tied for the most

running back receptions allowed. That's why I'm going Saquon Barkley over two and a half. He's only hit that mark a couple times this year, but he has the fourth highest route participation and the matchup says I think we can get to two and a half. Yeah, so we need three catches for Barkley. Let's get them crowns on. All right, that was Fantasy Forecast presented by DraftKings Pick 6. Download the new DraftKings Pick 6.

app now and use the code ballers that is the code ballers for new customers to play five dollars and get fifty dollars in pick six credits we've got more matchups coming your way tomorrow a reminder tonight as you get into thursday night football that wasn't very creepy can you help me out

Thank you. Why don't you get your bone zone hat back on, and we're going to shut things down. I don't have enough time. Enjoy the Halloween game. Don't forget to get your players out of the flex spots into the positional spots tonight. See you later, people. I got some lasers to go shoot off. Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye. Ah!

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