32 Teams. 32 Fantasy Football Facts To BULLY Week 16

Welcome to week 16. Welcome to stats versus film and potentially my last stats versus film of the season before paternity leave. Uh, let's talk about it.

All right, we have a lot to get to because we watched every single game from this past weekend and we'll compare all of those film takes to the spreadsheets to the analytics to the underlying metrics in the hopes of helping you advance from your semi-finals into the freaking fantasy football championships because uh Hayden, as we said from probably June 1st, we draft for upside. We draft for this part of the calendar in the hopes of being that one of 12 and winning your league.

We had some crazy performances, like huge huge scores. Like I I had a team that had like 270 points. I got eliminated uh by a team who had like 210 points. So it was a really high upside kind of week. Uh Jacksonville, Trayvon Henderson, some new names of course popping up.

>> Yeah, I tried to whittle my leagues down this year not best uh to about five. Same. I'm advancing two of those five into the semi-finals, including the final catch from Devon Achan on fourth down on Monday Night Football got me through by one point. One point, which was uh Tua was about to make a mortal enemy for the rest of his life. And why don't we start there? I think that's a perfect segue into going into the Miami Dolphins conversation at the top.

It was obvious to anyone watched that Monday night performance that Tua is the anchor of this Dolphins team in the worst way possible. Uh the rushing attack is one of the best in the NFL. We've talked about Aaron Brewer at center every single week. And the defense, I'll be at trading away pieces, corners getting injured after injured after injured. Uh at least flies around and competes most of the time. But Tua, anything outside of structure, anytime he has to hold on to the football, it is just becoming an absolute mess. And that was even when they were on this four-game winning streak. So Hayden, what we got today is Mike McDaniel asked if Tua could be replaced, if he's going to be the quarterback next week. He said anything is on the table. So we know that coach speak means that uh Tua is about to be benched.

>> Yes, we've seen this before. I think that they should go see what either and now they have two options. I think last week it was Zach Wilson who was ahead of Quinners, but maybe we see either one of them. We need to see somebody because Mike McDaniels, we know he's a awesome coach. He needs to be the long-term answer in Miami. The quarterback is the actual problem here. I think the the throw obviously the fir in the first quarter big out route. He was on the far hash that ball's still floating in the air. You just can't you just can't have that. You just can't have that in the NFL. I think bo his body just kind of failed him. Like I think that's just the reality. Talking about the huge ankle injury, the hip injury in college, and he's picked up injuries in the pros and he just does not have enough strength and explosiveness to last throughout the season, especially when we get into the cold weather game. So, he's not the answer for Miami. I think beyond this season though, they have like two options or maybe three options. You keep him on this huge contract, which is kind of like what they did with the Falcons and Kurt Cousins where he's just like, "Hey, it costs just as much to cut him as to keep him on the roster. Guess what? you're just going to sit on the roster. Maybe we use you. Maybe we have a rookie. You can cut him for $99 million in dead money, which would be even more than the Russell Wilson. They would split that into two ways. Or you can try to see if there's any team in the league that is willing to eat uh some of the money and take on this $54 million in guaranteed money for this next season. For the Dolphins to get rid of him via trade, they would have to absorb definitely some of that $54 million. He's just I'm not even sure if he's an NFL starting quarterback at this point. I think he's like a fun Teddy Bridgewwater career type of quarterback as a backup. Uh, but Miami contractwise right now they're paying him like a top five top 10 quarterback. So it's going to be pretty hard to find uh a long-term answer at quarterback. But finally they're throwing in the towel.

>> Anything can happen across the league. I would be stunned if Tua goes to another place and looks even competent when not attached to Mike McDaniel, you know,

>> and the and the weather. It has gotten to that point. He needs to go to a dome more like anything. But

>> yes,

>> to your point about that ball hang in the air. Yes, we're in December. Yes, we're in Pittsburgh. A couple weeks ago, maybe it was a Saints game if I'm not mistaken. There was a turnover and he gets the ball back and he immediately just throws a duck to the opposite team on just an attempted vertical pass.

>> And look, pocket passers still can succeed in the NFL, but to me, not with someone with just his arm, you know, and more throwing to landmarks rather than seeing the field. I think is fair to say with him as well. And then anytime he does drop his eyes, there's just no movement capability to him anymore. So no ad libing, no out of structure, no real scrambles to gain yards. I mean, he tracked down by number 95 over and over and over again when trying to get to the outside. Uh this is going to turn into for the rest of the season and we've seen across the league, you know, the Raiders benching Derek Carr despite being healthy just so he doesn't get injured in order to get that kind of insurance guaranteed money the rest of the way. Obviously Russell Wilson and Denver Broncos did the exact same thing.

>> Um the ownership has to believe that is the right decision in order to eat all of that dead money. And in the past we have seen ownership choose Tua over you know other head coaches Allah Brian Flores and there were some other things in there too but that has to be like not just the first decision but also the last decision and you would like to think that the bad Dolphins ownership could at least watch the same games that we do and come to the same conclusion that we all do.

>> Yeah, the quarterback's the problem. It's not the coach. It sounds like Mike McDaniel is going to stay back and same thing with the defensive coordinator. I think that they're on both sides of the ball. They're very very very well coached and you can kind of see in the Devon Ain numbers and him getting out in space and having these huge explosive runs. Uh so yeah, it just comes down to finding the quarterbacks and there's just not that many quality quarterbacks available. Hit me.

>> What do you think about Marcus Mariota Mike the game?

>> Why not? I mean,

>> yeah,

>> Oregon guys uh with Tua and and Mariota. I think anything you just it can't be Tua versus Zach Wilson. It needs to be Tua with somebody actually competent. But I think that's going to be the tier they go after. Or it's going to be a rookie in the draft, but last time I checked, there's not very many rookies coming out. Uh, so I think it's gonna be I can see Mariota versus Tua.

>> Yeah, we have the conversation every single week that the M. Joneses, the Jacob sets are all on a, you know, first of twoear deal with their respective teams. So, they're not in the free agent market and Marcus is kind of at the top of that list. And the Dolphins are picking number 11 overall right now. So, uh, that doesn't really place you in the quarterback market at this instance. So, yeah, these are huge changes when a team moves on from this. And even more so, like we haven't truly seen, correct me if I'm wrong, a Brock Osweiler like move since Brock Osweiler of a team trading like an NBA trade along with a second round pick just to get rid of that contract.

>> I'm not even sure if that's possible here.

>> Yeah, they would have to eat a lot of money for for that to happen. But then does another team view him as a starter? I'm I'm not sure if that's the case. I think Jared Goff was kind of technically, if you look at that that trade, he was kind of a a a money dump and Jared Goff is like the much better version of what Tua was trying to be. I don't think that Tua can ever be what Jared Goff is. So, I think it's I think it's just done for Tua. Injuries kind of derailed his career here. He had the best where they kind of were at the forefront of the RPOS's. You see defenses take that away. You don't have Tyreek Hill now and now he's like, what is exactly is he adding to me? He looks like a backup and he needs to be replaced uh next year. Mariota, I think, would be a fine enough shout out. I'm just looking at their draft picks this year. They have pick 11, pick 45, and then three picks in the third round. Currently, 76, 85, and 86.

>> Jaylen Phillips is one of those trades, and they had another deal with the Houston Texans on top of that.

>> My last note, Darren Waller just still looks really good, man. Like, he's running by guys, winning at the catch point. So, uh, he's going to be somebody that he's probably still gonna be only like my tight end 12 in rankings because he's gonna be freaking like Zack Wilson, I guess, this next week. But yeah, he signed a one-year deal for $2 million. I do wonder if he'd want to come back for another year at 35 years old. He he can still play football. Like, it's a limited role, but he's still running by, guys. It's actually very impressive to me.

>> I mean, here's my question. We're saying all this about Tua and it should be over. For our purposes for fantasy football, would we prefer to see him in week 16 at home against the Cincinnati Bengals defense?

>> Yes. No, we we would rather if you have any of the Dolphins, you still want 2, but if you're Mike McDaniel, you're the fan base, you say anybody but 2, I think is also fair. So, yeah, two different worlds here.

>> Let's go to their opponents on Monday Night Football, and that was the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh, we got some peak Arthur Smith stuff. One, we got Jaylen Warren, questionable uh injury tag with an illness. He gets 12 carries for 33 yards. Meanwhile, Kenny Gainwell pops in for 13 carries and 80 yards. So, their yards per carry difference was way different along with him being the second leading receiver on the team was seven receptions and 46 yards. And oh, by the way, a Jonnu Smith rushing score along with a Connor Hayward uh one-yard rushing score on top.

>> Yeah, it was a classic uh Rogers game, classic Arthur Smith game. Get all their friends involved here. I think Kenny Gainwell is like Rogers guy. Like I think this is I've noticed this a couple weeks ago and there was a bunch of design stuff, a lot of checks at the line of scrimmage and then in this game multiple receptions and empty sets. You got a pony personnel look as well. You're throwing some screens to Kenny Gainwell. So when he's on the football field, he's getting the damn rock. And right now this last month, Kenny Gainwell is the running back 21 on running back 13 usage. Jaylen Warren running back 25 on running back 23 usage. So in my rankings this week, both of them, no doubt about it, will be top 30 in my rankings. The Steelers have a lot to play for. Their schedule's a lot easier than the Ravens. It's just those two guys in the division at this point. But yeah, like you said, this was just like Arthur Smith kind of in his bag. And just knowing the Miami Dolphins just hate playing in 10 degrees in Pittsburgh.

>> It's the Lions, the Browns, and the Ravens for the Steelers. Two of the games are on the road, the first two and the final one against the Ravens uh at home to close it out. And yeah, DK Metaf incredible effort go to get in for the score there. Um, I thought it was a mixed bag here for Aaron Rogers. I mean, some really good stuff obviously, but then you had plenty of moments where it was

>> third and eight and I don't want to get hit and I just want to get the football out of my hands and I'm going to throw it two yards beyond the six and hope my guy makes someone miss and get a first down. So, uh, again, we've had polar opposite performances for on multiple occasions here with Aaron Rogers, but when this team has their best chance, obviously TJ Watton, the injury that he had uh on on defense, but Aaron Rodgers needs to make like two to three of those insane throws per game for this team to be an underdog that wins in the playoffs. And I can't tell you on any given week if we're gonna get those two to three for Aaron Rogers.

>> No. Yeah. The first half like there was the one throw over the middle, but up until that I think his like air yards was under two. That was like off of like 15 dropbacks. So it's just it's a very interesting offense. It's a lot of just like trying to beat you on the whiteboard type of offense. Um and then like Darnell Washington out there in space, nobody wants to tackle him. Nobody wants to tackle DK Metaf. So, I think that's the advantage. And Roger said that uh in a pretty good postgame press conference. He was just saying that, hey, like if we're in the playoffs, it's in Pittsburgh the first week. Like, are you sure you want to come out here in January in Pittsburgh and those towels are going and it's cold out and you want to tackle these big guys? So, I think that's kind of they're going to lean into that like the dink and dunk. Are you physical like the Pittsburgh Steelers are this year? Um, and not every single team is built for that, especially the Miami Dolphins. And maybe in that single game, you know, he's going to be willing to take a hit and willing to take some, you know, contact when throwing and in order to hold the ball for an extra moment and fire it down the field or attack over the middle and and be a little bit more reckless than he typically is, you know, because sometimes that recklessness uh ends in extremely awesome bucket catches along the sideline or in single coverage. That might be the the Bills coming into town if kind of standings hold and they hold on to the vision division and the the Bills have not been able to tackle underneath. So, it just be like an interesting AFC is all about matchups, how teams pair against each other because no one's kind of elevated above everybody else. So, I think like when I'm doing my my preview shows, which team stylistically matches up with the other one, I think it's gonna like really swing things.

>> Well, and for the Bills, they would be matching the Steelers 13 personnel and running game looks from Arthur Smith over and over and over again. So that's, you know, a potential fatal flaw against, I would say, the Steelers strength out of that.

>> Yep.

>> Let's talk about that AFC North playoff race here and hit on the Baltimore Ravens very quickly because right now the athletics playoff picture has the Ravens at about a 34% chance of making the playoffs. That gives obviously the uh Steelers a 66% chance of making it. um the Ravens the rest of the way. It's the Patriots and the Packers and then the Steelers at the end of it. If they just beat the Steelers in that final game, it goes up to 67%. So, they would likely make it, but uh they do have to play two more games in order to get there. What did you see from the Ravens this week? Was it any different than I don't know the previous two, three, four since Thanksgiving?

>> When I watched the Ravens offense, nobody told me how incredible Lamar Jackson was. I mean, this was outrageous what he was doing. Outside the pocket, the throw to Z Flowers. Uh, just he was rolling out to his right. Zay Flowers kind of sits against cover two. Perfect play. Z Flowers willing to take a hit. That was awesome. The out and up to Z Flowers where Gino Stone, the the Bengals safety, was just kind of in no man's land. That was an absolute thing of beauty to the back pylon from about 40 yards out. That was on the money. And then you also saw a no-look pass like a where DeAndre Swift, bless his heart, was trying to run open uh and got caught from behind, but Lamar Jackson no looked that one. Like he was pointed out to the sideline. He rips it over the middle and then I saw multiple times where Lamar Jackson was actually scrambling around where he goes retreats backwards then falls and goes forward. Uh so I thought Lamar Jackson looked like Lamar Jackson. You know, we haven't said that. I think that we saw some progression like he had the scramble touchdown from two weeks ago. there was like some plays out there, but this is the week where I thought that Lamar Jackson actually looked like Lamar Jackson. Now, like the supporting cast are random, I still think that there are some like clear weaknesses and they're not quite as good as they were like the last couple seasons. Uh I think mostly the offensive line's just not quite as good. But Lamar Jackson himself looked like Lamar. And if this team sneaks in the playoffs, uh they would be extremely dangerous to me once again because I I think that Lamar Jackson is is mostly back at this point.

Well, and this was against the Bengals, obviously, who they faced on Thanksgiving, and it was a putrid performance from everyone around while everyone was watching on on national television. Uh, you watch this game. I was not able to get to it. So, I mean, I see Isaiah likely zeros across the board against the Cincinnati Bengals defense. Yeah. I see Mark Andrews with two receptions for 18 yards. Obviously, it wasn't necessary, but even maybe more of an interesting talking point to me is where we at with Derrick Henry right now. Obviously, he goes for 100 yards on 11 carries, but he plays like I would say his fewest snaps of the season. Just 39% nine of the first 15 snaps. Katon Mitchell gets in there. Rashin Ali gets in there as well. So, we're starting Derrick Henry no matter what. But I think we are on the tail end of the days of, oh, we're going to give him 20 plus carries in these matchups when we're dominating our opponents. The Ravens didn't run many plays because they had so many explosives and then the Bengals were doing the opposite where they were moving the ball without that many explosives and then right when they get to the red area like disaster would kind of strike um and then there'd be just a bunch of wonkiness. So, the Ravens really didn't have the ball very much. I don't think Lamar Jackson even dropped back 20 times in this one. So, this is a weird game where like Zay Flowers got a bunch of the production. Uh the running backs though, they're getting more Katon Mitchell to the edge because I don't think that the offensive line is like just driving guys off. So they're trying to get to the edge a little bit more. Derrick Henry could still do that. I think Derrick Henry just my film take is long speed I think is like still mostly let's call it 90% of where he's been like last year. Him kind of like actually turning the corner is a little bit more cruise shippy than it was previously. So maybe they're getting heat and Mitchell out there just like so he can actually crease one all the way to the edge. So maybe we see a little bit of a of a down trick, but uh I came away just if Lamar Jackson is looking like Lamar Jackson, that's just good for Derrick Henry. So while we didn't get like crazy production and like like snaps out of Derrick Henry, just the fact that this offense actually has an upside now um makes me pretty promised looking like the last two weeks.

>> Basically, you're saying that they're running Derrick Henry as far away from Daniel Fale as possible.

>> And that's smart. That's that's just knowing ball.

>> Just one underlying metric here. Derrick Henry has forced a missed tackle on only 17% of his carries this season. That's the second lowest rate among 41 running backs with at least 100 carries and his lowest since 2018. Um, obviously he's getting hit behind the line of scrimmage more often and so it's more difficult to break those tackles versus, you know, big freaking fast dudes against defensive backs and all that type of stuff. But, uh, I did want to note that one. If you are anything like me, you wait until the last minute to get certain people in your family gifts. Can be extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, even sometimes parents, grandparents. I have the perfect one for all of you. Yes. Bang. It's the Aura Carver mat frame. The cool thing about Aura is everything's online. You can just straight upload from your phone pictures into this frame. one, your parents, grandparents, whatever will not annoy you any longer to say, "Hey, send me a photo of your child, my grandchild, so on and so forth." And two, I mean, you can even look at this. Take off this slide. It's already set up perfectly to just be wrapped. It looks nice. It has free unlimited photo storage. Again, as soon as you take a photo of, let's say, your kids soccer game or man, they take their first steps, boom, upload to your Aura Frame, and they see it instantly from their living room. It's going to turn to like their favorite activity just to see the new photos every single morning. So, for a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting aura frames.com to get $35 off Aura's bestselling Carver Matte Frames, named number one by Wire Cutter by using promo code the show at checkout. That's a frames.com. Promo code the show. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast. So, order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

Let's go to the Minnesota Vikings because I think we can say we have two more positive starts from JJ McCarthy over his last two games since the Brazmer incident. Right now, I also believe it is notable to point out uh who the Minnesota Vikings have played during that period of time. This was the Dallas Cowboys secondary and defense and prior to that was the Washington Commanders. They did score 31 and 34 points in those. So, I don't want to say not important that JJ McCarthy >> isn't playing well. It is definitely important, but what I want to see is also the next three games to continue it on to make the conversation easy, let's put it that way, when we get to the summer. Because as we saw just a couple weeks ago, every national insider and local beat rider was hinting that no matter what, the Vikings are going to bring in competition this summer and those games against the Giants, the Lions, and the Packers to close things out.

>> JJ McCarthy's arm strength really stood out in this one. There was a couple nice drive throws from him and but that's kind of been the case throughout the entire season and we saw that at Michigan. Like arm strength was never the the worry here. To me, it was just kind of how his feet were connected and then him spraying the ball. We haven't seen quite as many sprays except there was one big one to Justin Jefferson, which should have been a long play. But, uh, even on the Justin Jefferson drop, like that was JJ McCarthy throwing it with plenty of velocity, throwing over the middle, like a lot of the tight ends are having some big games here. Uh, Jaylen Naylor having some big games. There's been a couple like big kind of post routes uh to to Jordan Addison. So, like his ability to throw the ball with enough philosophy is like never been the question. To me, it's just accuracy and decision-m, his decision-m isn't quite as bad as where it was before. It's also not at a really high level right now. So, yeah, against tougher defenses who aren't just like sitting in zone coverage the whole time. I I think that's going to make it a little bit more challenging for him. But, he seems a little bit settled down. Even if it kind of looks wonky to me, it's like still like a big old wind up. Kind of reminds me of a short stop, just winding it up. But, he really can kind of create with his legs a little bit. and he can throw it on uh with plenty of velocity.

>> The Justin Jefferson stuff has been fascinating during that period though because what he's around the wide receiver 52 and 70s something over the last two weeks.

>> The last month he's a wide receiver 87 to my books.

>> Right. But like you're saying the usage is up there is wide receiver 32 and this past week it was more on Justin Jefferson than I would say on Jay McCarthy with that. So, I would just love to see another McCarthy performance like that because that would give Justin Jefferson a platform even if the people who drafted him probably in the first round are not uh watching the show or in the fantasy finals right now.

>> They they've they've been long eliminated. Um the rotation at running back was uh still the same where it was still more or less kind of a driveby drive rotation there which kind of eats at both of them and they're pretty inconsistent on the ground right now. I think a lot of the injuries kind of have made that offensive line feel not uh as good as before. Like there'll be some drives where they can knock these guys off, but uh down to down still not very consistent.

>> Is it just the wonkiness of fantasy football that Jaylen Naylor is JJ McCarthy's most productive wide receiver?

>> Yeah, I mean it makes our job very very difficult, doesn't it?

>> Uh Jaylen Naylor contract year. Uh we'll see if he can earn himself some money as we go along here too.

>> Okay,

>> let's also talk about the Dallas Cowboys on the opposite end. The conversation with them every week is the same because they are uh the most boring team I would say. Now, no touchdown passes here from Dak Prescott. That sucks for us. Malik Davis actually played a ton in this game. Um and Javvante Williams 15 carries, 91 yards and a score. And then you had the Lamb Florenoi and then Pickkins as wide receiver three. Any takeaways for you?

>> Um I thought Flores did a really good job. just very interesting to keep watching his defense because he he provides a lot of pressure and like sometimes just like a fifth rusher that's just like standing by the um offensive line. Sometimes they come out of nowhere, but it's always kind of like playing too deep behind him and it's kind of hard to execute. I thought that they did a really good job kind of um eliminating some of the crossing routes and then eventually Dak Prescott would find the right answer. So I thought the Cowboys offense for like the most part played decent enough football. It just things didn't break their way. Um George Pickkins had still kind of an odd game. I I would say. Um, so it's not quite where he was previously. It's like hard to get into the mind of of a certain George Pickins here. So, yeah, I think like you said, it's it's boring because it's always pretty damn good, but there's not really like new names here. I don't think like Brian Floreno is going to be like a long lasting name when CD Lamb and George Pickins are balling.

Let's go through some interesting uh AFC teams either at the number one seed or more importantly fighting for their own division and go to the Houston Texans who have been one of the most from week one to now week 16. Not going to say confusing but rocky roller coaster unpredictable because they were at their worst in the opening part of the season. The defense has always always been spectacular, but then Davis Mills popping in for CJ Strad, kind of like stabilized them for about a four-game stretch. And now that CJ Strad has come in, he is >> taking that stabilization and now also elevating it and matching the defensive firepower. And so they are playing their best football right now at the time you want a team to play their best football.

>> Yeah, I think CJ Stra is seeing the field really well. there. He's getting to his backside read plenty and then there's some times where he's just creating out of structure and throwing the ball back over the middle for some explosives. And then uh still like you have like the big chunk plays to Nico Collins. Those are still like him working over the middle more like the textbook Texan Straoud uh play where just hitting that little uh glance route, that dig route to Nico Collins and letting that dude absolutely fly after the catch. So the fact that it's healthy on offense, it's it's really enticing. and uh CJ Strad like even just breaking contain uh in the red area to getting a free touchdown to Dalton Schultz I think it was. He's just playing really good football right now and the offensive line is not a train wreck uh in the pass game. I still think that their offensive line run blocking is not quite as good but CJ Strad looks like the second overall pick and I think he's playing really good football uh about equivalent to his rookie year and that makes this team dangerous. So, if you have a healthy Nico Collins and you have some rookies kind of popping out of nowhere. Dalton Schulz kind of a old reliable at tight ends. It's not the worst offensive environment right now. I know they kind of been beating up on some bad football teams, but uh there's life in in Houston right now.

>> Well, guess what? They get another bad football team this week because they get the Las Vegas Raiders. So, we can just continue on this conversation and then that can be kind of a twoame sample because I would put the Cardinals as a bottom three defense in the NFL right now. I mean, it is kind of unwatchable stuff on that side of the ball, both tackling and getting moved up front and then everything in the back half on top of it.

>> Again,

>> the Chiefs game does stand out to me. There were some really good moments from CJ Stroud and then there were still some really bad moments from the offense in general and that is a fringe playoff team, right? So, I am not all the way in thinking, well, this Texans team is exactly that we all thought they were going to be. They are a true true contender. uh they are a contender and they might be the team that no one wants to face once you get to the playoffs. Number one, because of that defense, but number two, because they probably do have, and I don't mean this in an overly negative way, like just enough on offense to like really catch you and a quarterback that obviously sees the field and we at his best has perfect placement to uh pick you apart if you have any defensive malfunctions.

>> Yep, I see the same way. I think they're trying to be a top 10 offense. And right now, I do think they're kind of flirting with uh playing that well at this point. So, if you have the best defense and the 10th best offense, I do think you can go on a stretch. You can't have be the 18th best offense. And that's what they were for too much of the last couple years. Right now, I think it's the best they've looked in in quite a while. And I think that's a credit to the offensive coordinator. I think a credit to just figure out the right offensive line combination. And then I think because the offensive line feels more settled, CJ Strad then feels more settled. He's kind of going back to where he was previously.

Let's talk about the running backs here. Uh Woody Marks exits >> early in this one. >> Does get the fumble touchdown that uh I've learned a lot of leagues out there counted as a score, which we love. Now, filling in for him was Jawar Jordan. >> 15 carries, 101 yards. I watched all 15 carries. Um he had a 50 yarder. I gotta be honest, didn't see a whole lot that makes me think like, oh, this is another guy that we need to keep in mind here. And then on top of it, Dima Ryan did come out and say that Woody Marx's ankle should be fined and that they really aren't concerned about him this week. So, we will monitor that moving forward. But, you know, there are numerous occasions when we get to the fantasy finals where someone like Tim High Totower wins it for a league out there. You know, shout out Tim High Totower. Okay, I'm sure there's plenty of other examples. Uh, if Jawar Jordan is the only running back left on the Texans, obviously you pick him up and you play him, but I do not believe that this is going to turn into a split backfield or someone that uh is too good and he's just been suppressed so far.

>> Right. Right. Yeah. I I see it the same way. Dario got some reps uh with Jawar Jordan late in the game, but hopefully Woody Marks is out there now. With Woody Marks, every single other play he's in the injury tent and then he's in the end zone. So, it's just one of those things you have to deal with. And then Nick Chub also he was a rib injury. We'll see if he can come back. So I think lots to figure out with news as we kind of progress towards uh the weekend.

One final note here and let me look at where he is. Yeah, Nico Collins wide receiver nine on the season despite a you know somewhat slow start over the opening what four games of the season. Uh, and then after the by-week, just 4.7, but he's climbed all the way up to uh 13 and a half PPR fantasy points per contest. Uh, and now has three straight 1,000 yard seasons under his belt. So, maybe not the perfect pick at the one two turn, but he hasn't lost you your league. Let's put it that way.

>> Yeah. Better than Brian Thomas.

>> Well, speaking of, let's talk about those Jacksonville Jaguars. I want to rant that, you know, a platform of consistency is allowing a lot of these players to have and play their best football of their careers. Anything you want to say about the Jaguars after reviewing the tape?

>> Well, yeah. First of all, the Jacobe Myers trade after it at at the time, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars had like a 36% chance of making the playoffs, and I was like, man, it's like a a lot to trade for if you're not even sure if you're going to make the playoffs. Well, like I have to eat all my words here because they're for sure making the playoffs. And one of the reasons why they're doing it is because of Jacobe Myers. So they're going to resign him. He's working over the middle. It's like all the exact throws that Trevor Lawrence was not making in September, he's making now to Jacobe Myers. So like that's fit exactly like a glove. So Jacobe Myers is the wide receiver 17 this month. Uh it was cool to see Brian Thomas have uh almost 15 expected half PPR points this last week. So he's getting more involved and they want to pass the ball. But really like to me Liam Cohen was so deep in his bags just specifically against the Jets uh linebackers. The the touchdown to Bashel Tutton that was pony personnel kind of runs in between in in the B gap against a linebacker pretty much untouched for a touchdown there and then whatever we're calling Travis ETN against these Jets linebackers. I mean it was like 80 yards of receiving touchdowns like largely untouched just like running right by everybody. So that was just cool like the difference and that really reminded me of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Liam Cohen just like yeah when running backs are running wide open for 50 yard touchdowns that's a sign that your offensive coordinator knows what he's doing. A year ago, I remember opening the show multiple times talking about Liam Cohen and Pony Personnel. this summer when they hired him, someone put the pony song, hit track, some might say, uh, underneath our uh, excitement analysis of Liam getting signed uh, as as the team's head coach because he was breaking down a play and saying why he likes to open with pony personnel uh, in the first series because they used to do that quite often and I know that Basel Tutin touchdown uh, was early in that game. We won't be getting many of those anymore. Because Basel Tuton's out for the remainder of the regular season. So, uh people like me can't talk about Bachel Tutin the rest of the year.

>> No, but nobody will talk about Travis ETN except over on Facebook, uh no one on Twitter cares about Travis ETN. He's going to be what, like a top five, top 10 running back the rest of the season. So, super exciting for him.

>> Uh and it was notable to me that even with Parker Washington back here, and this was to be expected. Brian Thomas Jr. remained out there in two wide receiver sets, continues his role as either the clear out or the vertical or the love of the game stuff, and then you constantly have Jacob Myers cutting off of that these dagger concepts, everything of the sort. And then Parker Washington then mixes in with along with Tim Patrick as like >> the three wide receiver set stuff.

>> Yeah. And that Trevor Lawrence roll out to the left sideline over the top. I mean, thing of beauty. Another AFC storyline to watch is the only team that can get a first round buy. I mean, that's between the Patriots and the Denver Broncos. With the Broncos right now, according to the Athletic Playoff Simulator, 73% chance of getting that first round buy. So, let's talk about the Denver Broncos. I had this game on Sunday. Wax poetic about again very long season of December bow versus September bow. What did you see when going back and reviewing?

>> This was one of the best games I've seen Bo play and he was using his athletic traits like to his advantage. And I think that's just going back all the way. I didn't watch him at Auburn. I think it's one of the advantage of us doing uh focusing on the NFL and then going to the NFL draft is we don't have the like player narratives in our head. We're just kind of watching >> the negatives that everyone has in the freshman, sophomore, junior seasons potentially.

>> Correct. So I saw a lot less dumbass Boicks in Auburn. And I was kind of focusing at Oregon and then at Oregon the narratives were he had like a 75% completion rate so he has like no live arm and I was like I I think this guy could really sling the ball down the field and that's what I saw here. That touchdown that he threw perfect layered stepped in the pocket up up whack perfect pass and then the rest of the game was all Courtland Sutton one- on- ones. I mean they had no answer for Mr. Courtland Sutton. So there was multiple uh out and ups just beating guys at the line. He can obviously high point guys, but he was creating just a bunch of separation on this and Bo Nicks kept putting the ball on the money. So, this was like live arm Bo Nicks. We've also seen Bo Knicks scramble around like a madman. And I think part of his athleticism, you see that because he doesn't take a lot of sacks and I think like you have to be a good athlete to avoid sacks uh in the modern league. So, I just thought this was like the traits version of Bo Nicks. Gives them a lot of ceiling because we know the offensive line's going to travel. We know the defense is going to travel. And if Bo Knicks can like kind of ride this thing out and progress down the season and go into December bow and they got to have a home game and they're not going to have a buy, I don't know, man. Looks pretty good.

Jaguars up next for them than the Chiefs and the Chargers. The worst of Bon Knicks is when he doesn't find that Goldilock zone of movement. It's either he moves way too much unnecessarily or he doesn't move at all. And there are some games like you can tell by the second series of which ones you're going to get. But in games like this, when he's able to move his platform, it changes the angles, I think, of the defense too that are kind of so used to, you know, facing not pure drop back passers, but ones that because Bo moves maybe more than any other quarterback across the league. Yes. You know, I'm not saying that thing, too. Yeah.

>> Right. It it just works extremely well. And so, they're just not used to again maybe some of the trajectory of these passes, where they're being thrown from, the timing of it on top of it as well. And so, yeah, that's what you get here. And on top of that, you get the shot plays from it, too. And on that movement, you get someone who doesn't take sacks. So, as we continue to say, so many questions across the league. And could you have questioned Boon Knicks' four games in the season, six, eight? Yeah. All this type of stuff. But we kind of at this point need to forget about those early season things. And more >> discussion needs to happen around this Broncos team at this point because you have a top two defense in the NFL, a fantastic offensive line, and then a play caller. If you need to script a shot play on second and two, which he absolutely loves, or some type of red zone weapon, he can do that for you. And then if the quarterback's on his found his goal zone, then this is like a real real threatening team, I feel like, just overall across the league.

>> Yeah, that goal zones a lot. Bonix is still not like reading the field like a normal like progression quarterback very well. I think that's why some of you get sometimes you get that where he's outside the Goldilock zone. So, I think all of those criticisms are still very fair for Boon Knicks. I will also note when you're not reading the field, how do you get better at that? You play more football, you know, like and I think that he's going to get better and better at that the more he plays. So, pretty exciting team. Yeah, I think Courtland Sutton was just outstanding in this one. That was a season high in usage. He's the wide receiver nine and wide receiver 11 usage this month. So, we went on that lull in like the middle of November. and this channel, we bought back on the dip and we're riding this thing high and I think that Corland Sun's a the most probably the unsung hero of the Denver Broncos.

>> I also want to shout out RJ Harvey who despite that early fumble got all the work out of the backfield and in five of his last seven games he scored as the running back six, running back nine, running back four, running back five and running back 22. That has been ever since you know JK Dobbins injury. So we are getting and we know who the Broncos lead back is if he does something well or if he makes a mistake. They are having everything flow through RJ Harvey who again between the 20s fine enough but for their packages inside the red zone it is such a win for us that RJ Harvey is going to be out there.

>> The Broncos are fourth in running back usage. So if Harvey even with his mistakes they're going to keep riding him out there. He's going to be a top 10 running back to to close the season out. So that was really impressive. did want to note the Broncos are also third highest in neutral pass rate this month. So like ever since they lost JK Dobbins, they've kind of doubled down with Bo Knicks and then they've just got rid of the Julie Mclofflin and Tyler Bedet

guys. So it's just like a lot more Bo Knicks pressure, and then R.J. Harvey is going to handle everything from the running back position.

Yeah. And and they do the escort screen stuff a lot too, in terms of R.J. Harvey and leaking out the backfield too. And those are kind of just extended runs because Bo can buy a little bit of time too, and coverage can push off, and then we get R.J. Harvey in the flats. So, it's a fun combination. Yeah, Harvey is a huge asset right now as we get to the fantasy playoffs.

All right, time for alphabetical order the rest of the way. Before we get there, two things. One, leave a subscribe. We purge subscribers during this period of time because people leave their fantasy league. So, if you are getting it this far and maybe you're a first-time viewer or you've never hit that subscription button before, do it now. It's totally free to all of you. And second, if you want to support us, the best way of doing that is to go and play on the dog app. Yes. Talking about underdog, it's in over 40 states right now, including 20 plus for a prediction market. So, if you're listening to us in Florida, Georgia, California, Texas, maybe a few years ago, you couldn't play on UD. Now, you can. Use promo code the show, click the link in the description down below. If you play five bucks your first time, we'll throw you 75 bucks in bonus cash on top of it. So, we've got drafts going right now with a whole bunch of different sports along with pick them prediction markets. So, go and play on underdog.

All right, let's talk about the Arizona Cardinals. I mean, Trey McBride is the only place to start here. He generated a career-high 97 yards after the catch. Just bouncing bouncing off defenders.

It was one of my favorite cutups to watch this week was Trey McBride after the catch. I mean, he just trucking everybody down like that's he was dunking on a lot of dudes last year and then this year yards after the catch-wise, man, he's just a total handful. So he trucked somebody into the end zone, but they're doing some screens where there's like four or five Texans laying on the ground by the time it's over with. So yeah, they can't get anything on the ground. So they're going to double down with the screen games to Trey McBride. And he's going to like double up the average like tight end six in scoring in fantasy points this year. It's like he's completely ran away. Right now it's Kyle Pitts and Trey McBride this month for tight end scoring, but over the entire season there's nobody even close to him. I do think that we will have to decide if he's a legit first-round pick next year. Assuming Jacobe Brassette's a starter.

Correct. The only way we are drafting Champion Bride in round one next year is if Jacobe Brassette is a starter.

I think he will be. Maybe. I I agree. I know it's been mentioned a thousand times at this point, but let's do an extra one. Trent McBride has nine receiving touchdowns in nine games with Jacobe Brassette this season after catching just five touchdowns with Kyler Murray over three plus seasons. I understand you can point to well, they've had tons of negative game script. Jacob Brassette didn't touch the football till they were basically down by 10 points here. Guess what? You've had really bad versions of this Arizona Cardinal team in the past with Kyler and it's just different. Something's hitting different here and it might just be because this quarterback can access every single area of the field or throw on the rhythm and the timing of everything too. So, we need Brassette and McBride to stick together for as long as possible because it is a match made in heaven.

Yeah, Jacob's under contract cheaply. They're going to probably release Kyler Murray this offseason. I I'm gonna guess they're going to fire the head coach and bring somebody else in there. So, they're gonna have to figure out if they can find somebody better than Jacobe Brassette. Like you said, the Kyler Murray Cardinals were never first in neutral pass rate.

I could even argue that they didn't have a single rep in neutral situation this game.

No, maybe they didn't, but the previous weeks they had.

Correct. You you mentioned the head coach being fired and we've talked about it before. I just want to put some numbers to this. Since this new Cardinals regime in terms of Jonathan Gannon and Monty Austin took over in 2023, this is where they finished. Okay, 2023 they were 4-13, fourth in the NFC West. 2024 they did finish 8-9, but that was third in the NFC West. And now this year they are again fourth in the NFC West by a mile and they are 3-1. Over that period of three years, they have a combined point differential of negative 190. Injuries have definitely been a factor, but this is the worst defense I've seen them have in years and years and years. Bidwell, who knows if he'll pay another head coach, but I guess my question is as we look through all these teams and a lot of teams are out of it. But you watch, I don't know, the New Orleans Saints versus the Arizona Cardinals, and there is not a different feel just for the effort, the ability to get off the field to actually make plays between the two despite them having very similar records.

Yeah. Yeah, I think the hard part for the Cardinals if you do find if you're going to fire the head coach like what head coach like obviously you're going to get a head coach but that division you got McVey, Shanahan, and McDonald. It's like you're just cursed if you're the Arizona Cardinals like when are when are either of those three going to leave their teams like you're just going to be beyond cursed and at a severe coaching disadvantage for like the rest of time. So, I don't know, man. Doesn't look good.

At the same time, if you're an owner and you look at those other NFC West teams, because so often, at least they used to, teams would make decisions based on, you know, those six games so frequently and that's who you're compared to and that's who you're technically competing with for the division and you are so far behind. I don't know how you can go into another season with this.

Right? Yeah. Yeah, they're they don't have enough talent.

Yeah. Final thoughts. I know you and Jacob had this on your last waiver show of the season. Bam Knight out, Michael Carter filled in. Hayden, I did see some CK in there. My guy Corey Ker, what if he's the guy, the Tim High Tower of 2025? Who knows?

Yeah, the problem with any of these guys is one, we're talking about how bad the Cardinals are, and that's going to continue. And right now, they're dealing with three offensive linemen that are out for the year. So, it's just a really tough situation. Dare I say one fill and offensive lineman in left guard John Gaines has had electric almost all pro tape over these last two weeks. John Gaines has been unbelievable. The man from the list a fourth-round pick out of UCLA finally getting his starts in the NFL. Uh and he's balling. He's absolutely balling out. So I I don't know if he's going to, you know, be the starter there at left guard, but maybe even just switch him over to the right side. He's finally getting his shot and he's making the most of it. So I just want to shout out John Gaines because of the list. Yeah, to be serious just really quick on the running backs. Michael Carter was the guy to get the goal-line opportunities and played most of the game. That was with Amari D. Marcado out there. So, I do think Michael Carter will be in my top 30 for running back rankings this week.

Atlanta Falcons are next. This game was an eternity ago. We talked about it on Sunday night. Did want to shout this stat out from NFL Pro on passes over two and a half seconds. Okay, so holding on to the football, Kirk Cousins completed 21 of 32 for 300 yards and two touchdowns. His most passing yards on such throws since week five of last season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was also 323. So, it kind of goes back to the conversation that we have and had on Kurt Cousins has seen everything that Todd BS has thrown out there and he is willing to hold on to the rock and find these empty spots and the voids in coverage with the extra men sent up front. Wonder if he would be a potential Dolphin, you know, after I'm guessing they're going to cut Kurt Cousins here. But yeah, who who who the hell knows? That would just be a composite. Who can throw the ball 25 yards first? Um yeah, no, this was impressive game. Read it out. There was a lot of throws to the sideline in this one. Just kind of finding the soft spots and yeah, I think obviously everyone knows the Kyle Pitts stuff. He's just running by everybody again, you know, like and that was the whole point of Kyle Pitts is that he could just run by a bunch of dudes and he happens to be six foot six and that's just kind of been the case.

Tell me if you disagree. If Drake London does play, that has to knock Cal Pitts a little bit.

Well, yeah, I'm guessing he's not going to have the third most points in a game ever at that point.

Well, no, but I even mean, you know, I would would you still put him as a top three tight end in rankings, top four tight end if Drake London plays? Um, I would put him probably after KD and I guess Brock Bowers, but I think it's hard to find like that tight end six. We've lost Kelsey, we've lost Warren, Mark Andrew's been up and down, so he would still be an absolute must play and he's still got a bunch of season. There was a quote that saying like

Kyle Pitts is running a lot of the routes that Drake London would run, which

There's some truth to that. There's also like that was just not a one for one. He's not an ex-wide receiver all of a sudden. So, um, yeah, just that we've removed Darnell Mooney. Darnell Mooney's behind David Sils like Darnell Mooney is a figment of our imagination. So Kyle Pitts is like the second target even if Drake does return.

Let's talk about the Buffalo Bills. Speaking of wide receiver rotation, Keon Coleman did finally play more snaps than Tyrell Shavers, then Brennan Cooks, then Josh Palmer.

Good for him.

Obviously, it didn't do anything, but that shows up in the box score at the very least. So maybe he's back in the good graces of this team. I did want to bring up the tight ends though because what we've gotten from Don Concincaid over these last two games was six for 93 against the Bengals and then three for 37 and two touchdowns against the New England Patriots. Now obviously Doninc Kade has been fantastic in his limited work this season. Once again though, he ran and played the third most amount of snaps on the team. Dawson Knox is out there for about 63%. He's a singular tight end because that's where they kind of rotate all these guys. Some Jackson Halls basically 50/50 between Don Concincaid, but he's in there for all two tight end sets and all three tight end sets and he actually matched Don Concincaid in terms of being out there for 50% of dropbacks. So, if that's the case, he kind of becomes the receiving option there in those two tight end sets with Jackson Halls as the blocker. And meanwhile, Duncan Kada is only out there for 17% of the two tight ends.

Yeah, the it's going to be the same rotation. Um, but they're still looking awesome on offense. So, Dalton Concade, even with his kind of snaps decreased a little bit, he's still the tight end 11 in usage. Dawson Knox, to your point, is the tight end 15 in usage this month. Um, so I think you can throw dart at either one of these, but I think Don Concade's still a top 12 wide receiver just because Josh Allen looks like a total freak. And because, you know, they still don't have any wide receivers stepping up. My my note similar to that though is the Bills neutral pass rate is still extremely low. So, this month they're 28 neutral passes. They're not dropping back as much until it's like absolutely required for them to do so. Um, so I think these rate sets that we're talking about, we also have to acknowledge that the Bills are like trying not to pass the ball unless they actually have to.

That's all I had with the Bills. Anything you wanted to add?

I mean, Josh Allen's the best player in the world right now. Like, it's not even close.

He's the best in bad conditions. You know, it's the size, it's the athleticism. He can just force plays and make plays that others simply cannot. And so he's an asset in those situations.

Uh, incredibly incredible asset.

Yep. I think he's by far the best right now.

Okay, let's talk about the Carolina Panthers. Um, anything you want to add after watching them since I talked about them and their lack of a sneak package on Sunday?

The your sneak package stuff has gone viral. They're asking the coaching staff about it and what.

Oh yeah, and by the way, Dave Canal said, "Oh yeah, it's something that we're working on." Okay. Why? Why not? Also, our guy, Coach Speak Index, pointed out that Seattle Seahawks coach Mike McDonald told Clint Kubiak when he hired him back in whatever said, "The only request I had was to get AJ Barner a tight end sneak package and uh we installed it in May. Why not do it then?"

Well, maybe they're getting, you know, Bryce Young a bunch of protein shakes and to get him out outside of 190 pounds. So, that's what Canales said.

Um I thought it was like one frustrating moment. I thought Bryce played for the most part like totally fine football. He was not like the reason the reason why they lost this game, but that was a pretty unfortunate rep on like the third and 11 where they settled for a field goal where I thought T.D. and McMillan should have scored a touchdown that worked over the top and Bryce just kind of left it behind without a lot of velocity on that one. So that was kind of unfortunate. There's also like a near catch from T.D. with Bryce breaking outside the pocket. Kind of left that one short a little bit. So, there's a couple little instances here and there that I that thought were the the difference, but um for the most part, the the defense, they just could not stop Tyler Shuck on the on the other side of the ball. So, we'll get to them later. Uh I thought everything else was like fine enough. It was just kind of a weird game where things like ultimately just like did not break their way at the last second.

Yeah, I mean that ball could have been placed better. I think we also see catches like that every single week across the NFL too. Um Yeah. Yeah, I mean in that game on 15 plus yard passes he was Bryce was four of six for over 100 yards and a touchdown. So and then he was also the team's leading rusher. Like to me they kind of leaned again too much into the run when it was just simply not working. Uh and they didn't kind of give him a pathway to I thought continue on with a lot of positive plays and especially as a scrambler like you talked about that low throw to T-Mac. The next snap he, you know, scrambles for a first down and then there's like a fourth and three where there's a free rusher, he makes him miss and then he elongates that snap to T-Mac on top of it and obviously the Jaylen Coker touchdown I thought was fantastic.

Yeah, I was just mentioning that more from like the lens of what happened to T.D. I thought T.D. should have had the touchdown and had a much bigger game. And then also just like nitpicking the Bryce stuff when like these tiny moments where like a bigger, more muscular quarterback is just going to make a couple plays here and there. He still played pretty well. Like all the scramble stuff was a bonus and then obviously the Jaylen Coker stuff was a big one. Uh to your point about the running backs, so many carries in that first quarter, man. Like so so so many. It most of them were T.D. He got the only goal line carry as well. I think this is the split that we should be accustomed to. Cuba in the two-minute drill, a bunch of Rico Dattle at the goal line throughout the game, and then hopefully they can just run the ball more efficiently than they did in this one.

I wouldn't be surprised if they kind of try to force Robert Hunt back like since Brady Christensen left at right guard and they've gone through all these names, whether it be now Austin Corbett at right guard or it was Kurhan and before that it was Zavala. Like they're just not getting the same push at that spot. Like we haven't had one of these blow up Rico.

Instances and despite them running like the same amount of of carries in in those situations both against the Rams and here against against the Saints. So yeah.

It's the Buccaneers next and uh that's a must win for the Panthers.

Well, that's going to be interesting because nobody runs on the Tampa Buccaneers. They're one of the highest on neutral pass rates on defense and right now this last month the the Panthers are by themselves dead last neutral pass rate right now. So they want to run the ball. So that's a interesting game where they're I think they're going to have to get out of the script that they typically like and put more pressure on Bryce Young.

If we can just talk about the neutral pass rate stuff, they had a buy in there too and one of those games was against the Rams when it was like a total downpour and like terrible weather. Um I do think though their pathway is and we we talked about it what a handful of weeks ago prior to the Falcons game was these downfield shots 15 plus 20 plus yards down the field and ever since then like statistically that has been their most successful passes and they are creating chunk gains on those. So they have to match those downfield big play shots with a successful efficient rushing attack and they are just not doing that at this moment.

Yep. It all comes down to last couple games here. Chicago Bears. Feel like there's a lot to get to here. So, two wide receivers might be out for this team moving forward. We already know about Roma Dunay and how he was going to play until two minutes before kickoff and the stress fracture reaction, all that type of stuff. Luther Burton though in the first half was freaking awesome. Right now, he's sixth in the NFL in yards per route run among all wide receivers with at least 200 routes. He's also fifth in yards after the catch for a reception. I think we both saw the same video though of him getting carded to the locker room. I don't know if it was after the game or after that injury.

It seems like it's what a a hamstring issue. Um

I thought it was ankle, but it was a weird play. It didn't look nasty on film. Anyways.

Yeah, ankle issue. I am not sure how they're going to fill in for that. Obviously DJ Moore goes out there, but Hayden, I just think they're going to lean into 12 personnel stuff all the time because when Luther Burton left, Coulson Level went on to start the final four drives with Kokat and play like snap after snap after snap out of 12.

Yeah, I mean they would have their fifth wide receiver on the depth chart at that point if they're going to go three wide receiver set. So I think they're just going to use Coulson Lovelin like largely as an exceiver. I think that he can handle it. He had the two diving plays and the two yards after the catch plays. I want to see more Coulson Lovelin. The Luther Burden tape, that play out in the flats where he stopped on a dime, worked around another guy, he makes awesome plays after the catch and that big kind of sit route over the middle against cover three. Even that he's just kind of dragging defender. So like Luther Burton's a very physical player after the catch for somebody that has like a lot of wiggle. So that's the exciting parts for the Luther Burton stuff. Um, and just truly like one of the best plays you'll see from from Caleb throwing the ball to DJ Moore there. And I'm gonna say it was not even a bad decision. Like DJ Moore had a step on the guy running the back of the end zone and he threw that up and over everybody else in in the forefront. Like I thought that was just a good ass decision and a perfect ball with a ton of velocity. So he makes enough of those plays where you can you just have to kind of swallow some of the inaccuracies because man like that is that's hard to find.

Yeah. You were right. It's an ankle, like we said, seen card off. Ben Johnson has called him dayto-day, but who knows what that means, man. Who knows?

He He didn't even fall to the ground when he got tackled on that play.

Well, he never falls down when he fall when he gets tackled.

Right? No, that's the credit.

Yeah, he's too physical.

Um, he does have that ability to create the hidden yards. Like on a box score, you'll see a second and 16 catch and it's like, oh, he turned into third and one, that must be a 15 yarder. Like you said, Noah is a flat and you know, a lot of wide receivers would get tackled by that first defender. So that would be a third and 10. Instead, he makes that person miss and then the next one would be a third and six. He makes that person miss and he gets it down to a third and one.

He did that a couple times in this one, too. So yeah, his his yakability mixed with Ben Johnson is extremely exciting. But yeah, if he is out and Roma is out, they are going to live in 12. Live it.

Yes. Yes, completely agree. Uh, we talked about the running backs at length, so I don't know if there's anything to to add there.

I mean, yeah, you're gonna have to start probably both of them. DeAndre Swift is absolutely balling out of his mind, but they're nothing. The common guy didn't have a big game, but he's still got goal line carries and split the work with DeAndre Swift. So, but DeAndre Swift right now is just he's been he's been incredible.

Yeah, and it is the Packers defense and like Michael Parsons made some really good run defense plays last week and already that's how you wanted to attack this team. And so I would expect a heavy dose of the running game at home against this Packers defense.

Cincinnati Bengals, um I think I read that for the Bengals, this was their first time being shut out since week one of the 2017 season.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a long time. Uh this one sucked to watch.

Well, what was weird about this, I thought it was one of the best games you can see for a team that was shut out. They were moving the football like for most of the game. game. It was just like a terrible sack, like a very untimely misthrow from Joe Burrow. It was definitely one of Joe Burrow's bad games, but it was not like to me like an unwatchable performance. Like the reason why the Ravens didn't have that many plays on the other side is because the Ravens or the the Bengals were kind of moving the ball up until they couldn't. So, I would throw this under like weird game. Maybe not a coincidence that Joe Burrow's tiny hands and this one was out outside and they're just like he was maybe affected by that a little bit. Um and then we'll see at this point now they're fully eliminated if they're going to get T. Higgins back. He didn't go to IR or anything like that, but that was his second or third or fourth registered concussion in like two or three weeks. So, we'll see. Mike Casicki did not come through for us, so that was another little takeaway.

Again, they do face the Dolphins down in Miami. So, you know, that would be an environment where the Bengals would get home for us. So, we will see.

Uh, I'm still expecting Joe Burrow to be the starting quarterback of the Bengals in 2026. Like.

I think he's just tired right now.

Yeah, I I think I mean, he went through all this injury and the rehab process of it all.

I'm sure it's just draining. I mean, it's like another freaking season. Um, but I would think it would be last case scenario for him to not be the starting quarterback despite what the conversation might be because of his comments.

Yes, he's just mad online.

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Now, Cleveland Browns are up next. Um, Shador Sanders, going back, this stat stood out to me. He struggled significantly when facing four or fewer pass rushers, completing 13 of 28 attempts for 59 yards with three interceptions. Again, albeit one of them wasn't his fault. When not blitzed.

Yes.

So, it's been interesting. We've seen him in that Ravens game and that was no practice and just coming on the field get overwhelmed by pressure looks, but in this one it was drop and do coverage, force him to read and to hold on to the football and negative play after negative play other than that, you know, perfect throw to Judy who he dropped it.

Uh was was the case. So, um I'm not going to call it concerning. I just think it's another data point and game watched here of Shador Sanders who was going to start the rest of the season.

Yeah, I I'll call it very concerning. You know, I think they're not pressuring him a lot because they know he's just going to hold on to the football and whenever he holds on to the football after like three seconds, he's the worst quarterback in the NFL statistically. So, he's running into pressure like he's drifting. I think two weeks ago, his best game, he was able to kind of drift and then go up the field and scramble or he would get outside the pocket then hit someone down.

He wore down his his right foot as the plant foot and the dry foot, you know, and

We love to see that. And then this week it was the opposite where he was just drifting all over the place, wasn't seeing the field. And then there was a play out in the flats that should have been a pick six. So there was like throw, right? It was rough.

And that that was just terrible. Like this was just a it was a terrible game from Shador Sanders. And there's too many times where I think he's breaking contain getting caught from behind. I will say Shador Sander, it is refreshing to see a Browns game where they can throw the ball at big post route D like Isaiah Bond for example and he does throw with touch like say 10 yards to 30 yards down the field he could throw the ball with a lot of touch that to me has been and will be his standout trait. He just doesn't see the field and even if he does kind of turn out to be a quarterback the traits are just pretty limiting. So, I'm guessing that the guys that are keep coming onto our show and commenting that we have the Shador Sanders tape evaluations wrong, I'm sure they're not showing up this week um after this last game, but like you said, he's going to get the rest of the season. Um because you can't go to Dylan Gabriel. He he was really bad, too.

So, they're picking fourth overall if the draft was today. Two teams ahead of them though are the Giants and the Titans. So, they aren't involved with the quarterback sweepstakes here. So, yeah, they might get in the phone and and make a move up. I am maintaining it just like I said when Dylan Gabriel was named the starter and when Shador Sanders was named the starter. I do not believe that either of these guys unless Jimmy Hasslam forces it with Shador Sanders that they are going to be the starting quarterback in 2026.

And then they've already said Deshaun Watson's under contract. They can't get out of that and that he's going to potentially be a bridge quarterback. So yeah, we'll see. I I don't The Browns quarterback situation is horrific as is their offensive line for backup offensive linemen right now. It's hard to judge everybody, but there was individual plays where I thought Shador was was horrific.

Quinn Sean, speaking of that offensive line, started 11 of 12 drives, had 80% of done work, 66% of the overall snaps, and was totally irrelevant. So again, it talks about the environment here.

Yeah, the Browns have so many issues on offense like moving forward. Like they have nobody returning on offensive line for next year, but

They do a lot of picks.

Four.

They're going to need to hit on them. Jaguars pick 38, 69, 104. We know that extends into believe next season as well.

Just get Mendoza and like end the madness. Let's trade up for Mendoza. Use all these picks. Let's get Mendoza and let's keep it moving.

Well, let's move it over to the Detroit Lions in a loss. I thought Jared Goff was simply sensational, man.

He really was.

The throws that he was layering over defenders was freaking awesome. We all know about Aman Ross St. Brown and Jameson Williams. That combo. Dan Campbell has it cooking even if the Lions kind of feel like a long shot to make the playoffs at this point.

Yeah, their secondary is just so beat up right now that that's pretty unfortunate. Did want to quickly mention Aiden Hutchinson. He's a long shot right now for comeback player of the year. Did you like broke his leg and is going to have 10 plus sacks and then he had that awesome pick where he almost housed it? Um I feel like that's a little bit off. feel like we should give Aiden Hudson a little bit more credit for bouncing back fully and playing the full year and gonna have double digit sacks, but the secondary is just a joke.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's it's it's rough. They they've had so many injuries. Um they do play, as we say every week, like aggressive downhill, but at some point that can only take you so far on top of it. I mentioned they have a 26% likelihood to make the playoffs right now. Um they play the Steelers, the Vikings, and the Bears. They have to win that game against the Bears and they have to win it against the Vikings to have a chance. Um, we'll see. It's uh, it's been an enjoyable team, I think, to watch this season. I will be interested to see if they make any other changes this offseason and if the OC that was removed from the play caller just gets a one-and-done firing and if Dan Campbell wants to keep the play calling duties or if he wants to bring someone in to take that role. I mean, if I was Dan Campbell, I'm just gonna continue doing it. It's been, I think, really working. Like you said, Jared Goff was on the money and it was just like the working over the middle repeatedly, which is like very hard to do down the field. Um, and they've been their fifth right now neutral pass rate over the last month, with Dan Campbell calling plays, which we typically don't see. So, uh, yeah, they got to hit on some defensive backs. Their interior offensive line is not quite as good as where it was, but I think for the most part it should just be this skill group with Dan Campbell on the sticks again next year.

Okay, let's discuss the Green Bay Packers. It sounds like Christian Watson's injury isn't significant. I mean, it looks significant on the field. I don't know if there's been an update. You can correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah.

If he's going to be out weeks or the rest of the regular season. Uh I haven't seen an update on it so far.

So, he went he was hospitalized. It's like an SC fracture. fight on, but it sounds like he's not going to play this week, but he will. He's not out for the season. So, you know, we're in this middle ground with Christian Watson. It's never easy, you know. Um and on top of that, I went back and if you remove the plays with Christian Watson on the field, the routes were either 18 or 19 routes exactly between Reed, Dobs, Wixs, and Golden. They all play the exact same. So, right now, it's let the me best man win. Uh, I think it's a two-man race between Reed and Matthew Golden. Um, but it's going to be hard to rank these guys super aggressively because like that's that's a huge rotation.

I don't think any of those guys have earned the money in the bank that Christian Watson did for Lor and Romeo Dobs in the past. So, I think it's just going to stay a rotation. I wouldn't be surprised if Matthew Golden and Dantavian Wix played the same amount of snaps and run the same amount of routes and then you have Dobs doing his thing and then Jane Reed doing his thing. But that that's way more than a banged up Matthew Golden had played in previous weeks.

Yes. Yeah, completely agree there. And then also Josh Jacobs doing his thing where he's all of a sudden bossing guys in the corner of the end zone. So yeah, they're gonna probably rely on Josh Jacobs a little bit more. Um so yeah, tough loss for for them. Uh mostly like just long term for them, but um they still got um a lot to play for here. I I really hope Matthew Golden could show something this this next week.

Let's discuss the Indianapolis Colts here. What about Phil and company who's getting another start and not against the Seattle Seahawks? That's a big W.

Certainly is. I'm not sure if the opponent was holding Philip Rivers arm strength back or not. Maybe not playing outside's going to help, but yeah, I mean, they're just going to throw everything's going to be within, you know, negative five yards and 15 yards down the field and they're just going to have to work around that. But Philip Rivers is in his bag. It was as close to Shane Steichen playing quarterback as you possibly could have imagined.

Yeah, we we always joke that like Kyle Shanahan wants to control the quarterback out there and you know the Shawn McVey Jr. golf days of getting at the line with 30 seconds and then talking to him for you know the final 16 until the microphone cuts off.

Uh speaking of Shanahan, this game is on Monday Night Football national television Hayden uh Monday night. Monday night against the 49ers.

I think the Colts have to win out. So, I think that's why Philip Rid is going out there. They're not mathematically eliminated. So, we're gonna see old Philip one more time.

Yeah. Sen said that.

Hey, we didn't sign him to not play him.

So.

Okay, maybe we'll give him the whole year. My You can't start any of the receivers.

No, you can't.

I think and I'll say same thing with Tyler Warren. You just can't.

Yeah. Let's talk the Kansas City Chiefs. They also have a quarterback injury. It's not just the ACL here for Patrick Mahomes. It's also the LCL that is torn here. So this is December. I am assuming he is going to play in week one, but this is certainly going to make it an uphill battle. Not a single ligament tear. It's a multiple one at this point. We covered it. The biggest change is how he opened the season as their best rushing threat, as their only explosive rushes. He had the most, you know, yards of his career on the ground. That has to disintegrate immediately and takes a huge weapon and a huge phase out of his game that he's had to do and lean on right now.

So the comp is Carson Wentz in December ACL and LCL tear back in 2017. Wentz missed the first two games of that season. His rushing production was cut by a third in that season and then he was also dealing with other injuries and please Mahomes do not have the Carson Wentz rest of his career where just like you're just not athletically the same. Hopefully in that decade things have just gotten better medically for Patrick Mahomes. But yeah, you're not going to be able to do this version of Patrick Mahomes from this season where he's running around. They have to get back to a normal drop back game. I think that's Andy Reid finding somebody else to kind of not Matt Nagy as offensive coordinator. Some some wrinkles to the offense I think would be refreshing. And then I'm assuming Travis Kelce is going to retire. So this is going to be a huge offseason storyline that we'll get to.

Who can you start with? Gardner Winchu at quarterback.

I guess Rashi Rice, but it can't be the backs. The backs rotation, it's disgusting. I'm guessing the Chiefs team holds bet it's going to be what 18 points or something like that. But

I bet it's No, I think it is right on that like it's 39 and a half total I believe. But they're facing the Titans, you know, like running on the Titans going to be tough, but everyone has thrown I would say worse quarterbacks than Garner Menchu have completed passes against the Titans defense this year.

Probably. So yeah, Rashid Rice will 100% be in my top 30. Maybe Kelsey Hangs rounds like my tight end 12 or something like that, but yeah, worthy's gone completely irrelevant. And then I think that the backs now that it's a full-blown rotation, you can't start either.

So your guess was 18 and a half on the road. They actually had a 20 and a half team total.

The Kansas City Chiefs.

Well, the problem is Xavier Worthy would be the other option. And when they were at projected for 29 points, he wasn't he wasn't scoring fantasy points. So yeah.

Okay, we'll move it on. Next team is the Las Vegas Raiders. Uh Hayden, they face the Houston Texans this week. Here's the question for you. Guess the team total.

Okay. If I if if it was I would say it should be 10 and a half. I'm guessing it's around there, though. Is it 11? No.

It's 12. But I mean, if you had a 12, I mean, that was incredibly low. I mean.

I don't think I've ever seen one below 12.

So, if you had to pick one, if you had to pick one, are you going higher or lower than that? I know you would say lower. 12 points. I mean.

Well, they didn't hit 100 yards this game, right? It was like 79 total yards. Yeah.

75. And I watched him the I actually watched the Raiders. I was fascinated by this. So, I actually watched the Raiders all 22.

Genty, no chance. And then the second they try to throw Genty a screen or something, it's like, what are we doing here? Everyone expects it. The Brock Bowers targets, you're not even getting seam routes. Like remember like the Gino Smith like it was the out and ups by the sideline. At best we got you on a a ball to the flat speed.

Yeah.

It's the best you got. So like.

Yeah.

It's pathetic. It's pathetic.

12 points on the road against the Texans.

Oh, it's on the road, too.

I mean, that's D. Imagine being a Texans defender all week and being like, man, we turn around our season. Can't believe we did it. We've battled so hard and then here in week 16, we just get to unload on Kenny Pikman and company. Unload.

Offensive line.

Yeah, the defense the Yeah, their left tackle, right tackle combination against these freaks, it's just it's.

They're not getting to 12 points. It's the line should be 10 and a half.

Oh, sorry. It's just a maniacal laugh we had to get out there. Let's talk about the Los Angeles Chargers here. So they enter 2025 losing seven straight games to the Chiefs and then it swept them this season. We know week one and then in week 15. That just shows you that like Harbaugh going to an organization that has just been snake bitten and injury riddled for decades at this point and still are this year is still that level of a coach to kind of bring everything together and at least instill some level of confidence in the backups of the backups of the starters that also are playing well. Um, and Justin Herbert, by the way, is only behind Peyton Manning among all quarterbacks and passing yards in the opening six seasons of their career. He only needs 650 to pass him in the final three games of this year.

Yeah, that'll be close. He has I mean the offensive line just so bad that it just depends on the matchups and whatnot. We'll see if we get Quinton Johnson back in this one, but yeah, it just their offensive line just it's gotten to the point where it's like

You can't even run like a real offense. So, they're like trying to run the ball more the last couple weeks with Hampton back. Vidal and Hampton splitting things up. A lot more Hampton this week than two weeks ago. But that the normal drop back game, they can't push the ball down the field anymore. And that's when like the Chargers offense when they beat the Chiefs the first game was like really fun to watch because they were able to push the ball down the field.

Yeah.

It's been a long time. We talked about Quinton Johnson working down the field. It's been two months since that and we're just not going to see that again.

Well, and this past week in his absence, Trey Harris played the most wide receiver snaps of the team as kind of their bigger body working down the field.

Uh we hit on a lot tackles being injured. It's the backups, the backups for those guys. The interior. It's basically everyone that they've actually wanted to play and that isn't good either. So, it's a combination of all five. Um, I did want to hit on the running backs here because the snaps were 63 to Vidal, 37 to Hampton, but as you said, the touches were in Hampton's favor, but that's because Kamani Vidal was back there for 77% of the drop backs for pass protection purposes. Like if your offensive line and if Spags blitzes you at an unreal rate and

Who knows if Ebra is going to do that on the Dallas Cowboys defense but

You have to have someone that you trust to at least hold up and give Herbert enough time and so I think

No matter what, Vidal, unless you know the game script gets heavy in their favor, is still going to see the most snaps. But that doesn't mean the most touches.

Yeah, I think snaps and touches are totally different, and I think that this is a perfect example. Hampton was the uh running back to get a goal-line opportunity in this one, uh, versus Kamani Vidal. And the teams facing the Cowboys have just been passing the ball a lot. Um, so over the last month, which is basically the Quinon Williams trade, offense is against Dallas pass the second highest rate. So hopefully we'll see a lot more dropbacks in this one. The Cowboys can't defend any, but they got a rookie coming off a torn ACL back there. Don Bland Diggs, all these guys are all hurt. So, um, they should be able to pass the ball. So, Lad McCon, I think he's the one that's like super frustrating to try to rank because this month he's, he's a wide receiver 54 on wide receiver 43 usage this month. And I think I'm gonna have to rank him as like a top 20 guy, right?

Just based on the matchup. That was my question. You know, this is the time of year where our co-workers slide into our Slack messages and ask, "Hey, just one favor. Haven't bugged you all season long, but yeah. Can uh can we get some lineup questions here?"

Yeah. And, uh, I'm getting a lot of that from that. And my answer is, you would like to think for the talent that he is and Justin Herbert, that this is one of those games that they can do it now. I mean, the Cowboys pass rush is a lot better off than it was, you know, a month ago, two months ago, right? But at the same time, Herbert is buying just enough time and literally launching these passes while jumping into the air, just to create some space for him to attack these coverages. And you can attack the Cowboys coverage. So, I, if I'm here or not for the wide receiver ranking show, I am walking with you on ranking.

Okay, good, good. Yeah, wish us luck.

Talk about the Rams then. Another wide receiver you discussed this with Jacob. Who is the Devonte Adams replacement? Uh, I have an answer.

Is it a 6-foot-7 long blond-haired guy, or is it somebody else?

Yeah, it's 13 personnel. Uh, yes. I mean, all three tight ends played over 75% of the snaps this past week. You know, in previous seasons, we've heard Jordan Whittington is the Puka Nacua replacement. Every time you listen to a broadcast of the Rams, the broadcast mentions Nacua. Like, I'm sure Sean McVay talks about him at some point in the pre-production meetings, but I think they're just going to have Nacua out there and then three tight ends 75-plus percent of the time. And, uh, because of that, uh, your ranking of Colby Parkinson was a week ahead of everyone else.

Well, what's craziest thing about that is Adams left late in that game. So their like three tight end stuff was just like, that was a statement by them. And that was against the Lions, who remember have way better linebackers than DBs. So if they were going to go that crazy three tight end sets against a team that you would think that maybe would pivot away from that, like I think that this is the sticky part. Like, this, we're just going to get a bunch of this. And like Terrence Ferguson is the closest to a real wide receiver of the three. Yep. But they trust him the least because he's a rookie. And then Colby Parkinson is kind of the best of both worlds where he can line up in line. They'll kind of, uh, get him out wide a little bit too. And then he can kind of boogie after the catch as well. So I'll be ranking.

And Davis Allen's run some nice, uh, clear outs for him, too.

He definitely has. He's, he loses the race for sure, uh, between the three. Absolutely last. Um, so, yeah, Colby Parkinson this month, he's a tight end four this month and the tight end eight in usage. Um, and they, I'm sure that they're projected for 30 points blindly without even seeing who they're, who they're facing.

Where's that?

This is what I want to talk about because this is a huge conversation point because you and I discussed this in the start-sit show. You know, we've discussed Asahgn Gentier. We've discussed Kyren Williams. And last week, the Rams were projected for 30 points, and so I was into Blake Corum. That was my flag plant.

It's much different when you're projected for 22ish points, and that's what they are because they face the Bears. Okay. This week.

Very close. So, the Rams on the road are just one-point favorites in this game. They're projected for just under 23, with the Seahawks for just under 22. So, I don't think I can copy and paste the same exact thing to the same conversation of Blake Corum. Even if they are still splitting series by series, because I do believe that if they trail, Sean McVay will kind of bust up that series by series stuff and lean more into Kyren. At the same time, the 1B or the running back two on a team is more likely to score a touchdown when you're projected for 30 versus less than 23.

Yeah, that, yeah, it's a huge difference. They've been putting up 40 points more times than not recently. So, yeah, if, if the Seahawks.

Thursday night as well.

Okay. Yeah, Colby Parkinson will be inside my top 12. He's not going to be like some elite play. Uh, just looking at the team total and whatnot there. No one's been able to answer Kobe or Puka Nacua this year. So, um, yeah, Blake Corum is going to be, I think, difficult for me to rank because that, that team total does make a, a huge, huge difference there.

I mean, it's as simple as that math, right?

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

You know, he's more likely to score a touchdown when you're projected for a touchdown. More, more points, more.

It's, you got a great point here. It's hard to argue against.

Uh, all right.

Oh, one, one last thing on the Rams. I didn't know this. You might have known. Did you know that Dana White and Puka Nacua are like really tight? Because Puka was best friends with Dana White's kids, and that Dana White like sponsored the football team and like before high school, like, like when they were young. So, got it. Uh, that's Uncle Dana to to Puka. They're that close. I didn't, I had no idea about that. I just thought that was fascinating.

Right? Also, probably Uncle Dana to like the Nacua boys. So, it's, uh, Nacua and Nacua.

Yes. Interesting.

Uh, I know nothing about the Nacua boys, just that they exist.

Next, New England Patriots. Um, there's a lot to hit on here. First misread by me on Stefon Diggs. Stunned to see him play only 50% of snaps, uh, after what he did to the Buffalo Bills the first time. But, uh, then we'll follow that by saying that since week 10, Tyvon Henderson is fantasy football's running back three. Not only did he have, you know, those two long gains, but he also had two carries inside the 10-yard line. Didn't score on those, but, uh,

Right. That's pretty damn good stuff.

Yeah. On that, uh, the inside the 10 stuff. Rhamondre got two plays and then was subbed out at like the six-yard line. Then Tyvon got the, the last couple plays from like the six-yard line. So, uh, you won't see any of that because when I'm talking about goal line, I just count that inside the five-yard line. Technically, those weren't weren't that. But, yeah, it's like not like an exact split. They trust Rhamondre more on pass protection. So, it's kind of like that Hampton stuff where he might play more snaps, but Tyvon, when they want to run the ball, he's been the answer. And you can score 65-yard touchdowns untouched with Tyvon Henderson. So, damn good. Uh, they play this week the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football, and they are three-point underdogs to the Ravens, uh, despite the records.

That was my point, like with the Ravens, like they might not make the playoffs, first of all. And also, when they are in the playoffs, like if they go into Denver and stuff, what's the point spread? The Ravens against the Broncos? It'll be like almost a coin flip. Like, I just, Bills, Ravens, it'll be close to a coin flip. If they face the Patriots, they'll probably be favorites. Like, it's just like a weird, weird football team.

Less than 23 points the Patriots are projected to score in that game, man. So, yep. Some interesting totals this week is, is basically what I'm getting at here.

I know you have, uh, disbanded from the New York Giants and instead you have adopted the New Orleans Saints. So, let's go there next. Uh, I had that game on Sunday. What did you want to talk about when watching the Saints? I didn't mention, by the way, that Devin Neal left after his touchdown with a hamstring injury. I forgot to bring that up.

Yeah, Devin Neal's banged up, and then same thing with Devon Vele. Um, so we'll see. And in theory, Alvin Kamara could return. They might have to get him out of, uh, Cabo San Lucas to bring him back to the facility.

Right?

I don't know.

Vele sounds like he is going to miss this week, and it's more of a, a week-to-week thing at the very least.

Yeah. So, uh, unanswered about the offensive, offensive line and running back situation. I do love the Calvin Banks tape at left tackle, but really the story here, it's dude Tyler Shough. The progression. Plays he got to the backside and threw it over the middle seven, eight times, and like, not even an exaggeration. Stay in the pocket, read things through. First read on the right side's not there. Work all the way back to the third, uh, read, and we're just throwing the ball on the money. Like, this happened, like, I'm not, I posted a full minute clip of it. And then sometimes a little out of structure, throwing on the run, but he was just dialed inside the pocket. Like, that looked very Ryan Tannehill to me. And I, that's what I see. I see 6'5, 220, could run a little bit, and then throw the ball over the middle. Uh, hopefully that's kind of the path that the Saints are going on, but I think it's to the point where I think that he would be a first-round, like his value to the real world is like a first-round pick. Um, so I think they've, they've, they've hit on something.

Well, he was very close to being that. I mean, he was the 40th overall selection.

Yeah.

Um.

Yeah. And I mean this in all sincerity, very savvy move by him to act up the slide. And he even said it after the game that like, oh yeah, I, you know, put a little extra on that and, you know, did the snow angels on the ground and.

He did not have to get up and and spike the ball in order for them to kick a 60-yard field goal. And instead, again, the 26-year-old savviness comes out, and he gets him an extra 15 yards. We know, uh, Charlie Kim is.

Dead to rights from that spot. Maybe even from 60.

Yeah. He's, I just think Shough's, like, I'm running out of like really negative things to say. Like, he's not, it's not perfect out there by any means, but among the rookie quarterbacks, this is, this is damn good stuff.

The, the Olave series, uh, the Panthers talked about this because they did that whole drive in about two minutes. And they ran hurry up, and they just kept the Panthers in the same coverage over and over and over again. And so I think a lot of what you're saying from that first to second was him, and this is a positive, knowing what the Panthers were going to do and knowing where his receivers were and knowing, hey, I can move this linebacker, and then that just creates this wide open void.

Yes. Because.

Yes.

Uh, yeah, it was good stuff. That's for sure.

Yeah, it really was.

Um, okay, let's talk about the New York Giants then.

Tyren Tracy totally owned this backfield. I mean, I didn't get to watch it live, but then going back through the numbers, um, 76 to 24, Justin Snaps did give up two-thirds of the short-yardage plays, but then he also got all of the hurry-up on top of it.

So, this is coming off an injury where he got carted off, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. He had two touchdowns. He had a 12-yard touchdown. It's a great run. Finished, uh, strong through contact about like at the three-yard line to finish through, and then his 18-yard receiving touchdown. Oh, poor Bobby Wagner. They got him out there, out and up.

Number one Pro Bowl leader Bobby Wagner in votes. I mean, we, we've got Bobby Wagner propaganda and Devin White propaganda, and I have had to erase so many tweets out there today. So many.

The white one was too bad. But I, I felt bad for Bobby Wagner. It was like very clear, all we have man coverage. All right, here comes Tyren Tracy. Run out and then up, and we'll throw you to the back pylon for a touchdown. So that was cool. Well, I will say with Devin Singletary, bad call might be because he didn't score a touchdown, but he was out there for every single snap inside the five-yard line for that Jackson Dart like concussion test. The most fugazi concussion test I've ever seen. Uh, Devin Singletary was the one getting the goal-line reps. Like you said, Tyren Tracy's getting pretty much everything else. So, Tyren Tracy this month is the running back 16, a running back 18 usage. Jackson Dart did get some quarterback design stuff. Um, so that was kind of refreshing. That's going to help him out for fantasy purposes. And then made a big-time fourth-down, uh, uh, touchdown pass out there. And then my boy Darius Slayton dropped a beautiful ball from Jackson Dart where he was trying to willy-nilly it like this and just ran out of concentration out there. So, you truly do hate to see it. The process was right, though.

Maybe we're seeing why the Giants for three offseasons tried to get rid of Darius Slayton. They paid him well, so they ultimately didn't stick to their guts.

Uh, here's a question, and again, we have the running back rankings tomorrow.

Hopefully, we, um, the Giants are home underdogs by three points to the Minnesota Vikings, a team total of about 20 points.

Can you trust Tyren Tracy in her fantasy semi-finals?

Uh, trust, no, but he will be inside my top 24. The Vikings do have a couple defensive tackles that are just ruining everything.

Yeah.

So, next up is the New York Jets. Uh, they fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. They've had just two takeaways all season, including zero interceptions.

Uh, I'll read this Josina Anderson tweet because it was amazing. Quote, "League source on Jets head coach Robert Saleh firing Steve Wilks." Quote, "When you give up 48 points at ease, it happens." I hate that for Steve Wilks because he's a good dude, but between you and I, our linebacker play has gotten worse. You lose Quinnen Williams, you lose the element of inside rush. Uh, you have an undrafted rookie quarterback in there. We weren't expecting him to be Joe Namath, but obviously there's disconnect out there with areas on the football team from a preparation standpoint. Yada, yada, yada. Uh, Hayden, between you and I, uh, that's a pretty telling quote. And the, you know, tens of thousands of people out there.

Well, I was.

Between you and I.

So, I wrote, "Between you and I," quote-tweeted it, and I was lucky enough to get a Josina DM.

Oh, that truly was between you and you and her.

Josina, between Josina and I, she slid into my DMs and, uh, uh, was talking some stuff, but that one, okay, absolutely killed me. I mean, unbelievable. Between you and I.

I will say.

There was a lot of truth to that quote. Uh, probably because it was off the record. Uh, but the linebackers playing like was absolutely true. We talked about that with ETN. Um, so, yeah, there was definitely some truth to that. Unfortunately for Steve Wilks, that is his sixth firing in six years. So that's tough.

Yeah. Now, interesting part about Steve Wilks was, other than maybe this year's Panthers, that's been the best version of the Panthers is when Steve Wilks took over for, um, God, I forgot his name.

Something like that. Yeah.

No, no. Who, who's the number? Matt Rhule, excuse me. Matt Rhule.

Uh, and then, yeah, they had that six-game stretch with Sam Darnold and Deontay Foreman, remember, of just running the football. Oh, yeah. And then a lot of people wanted Steve Wilks to be the, uh, the next head coach, but no, that went to Frank Reich. So, I actually think Steve Wilks could have done a better job than Frank Reich, but that's just me.

Well, yeah, the bar's pretty damn low there. But, uh, that stint, by the way, what initially got me on to Sam Darnold might have something. There were some beautiful Sam Darnold performances in that six-game stretch.

Then he went to San Francisco for that year, and, and kicked Trey Lance to the curb. Uh, but yeah, I mean, Steve Wilks, what, six jobs in six years is pretty nuts.

That's bad. It's not good. It's pretty nuts. Anything else left to say here about the Jets? I mean, I don't know if who's at quarterback this week. Um, they had that first series and Adonai Mitchell did all he could. Uh, and then after that, it was Gus.

I was not curious enough to watch this all 22. I was fascinated by the Raiders, but I was not fascinated by the Jets.

We might have to look back on it because look at the Adonai Mitchell.

Expected. I saw the slant route touchdown, like, I, I see him working the Brady Cook stuff. I'm guessing on the film, it's probably not great, but maybe Tyrod Taylor comes back, or Justin Fields wants to play again. I don't know. The, the Jets are very much Jetsing right now.

They are projected for many more points than they were last week. Right now, just under 18. It was what, 14 at this point last week. Uh, and they do face off against the New Orleans Saints.

Hey, a top 10 defense to you.

Philadelphia Eagles. Um, just the perfect get-right spot. I don't think there's anything else to add. We've, we've discussed this one at length against the Raiders, and I honestly didn't learn anything from this.

No, they just hit the big plays that they needed to hit. Um, it was a no-excuses game, and there were no excuses.

Uh, they face the Washington Commanders this week and are projected for a sizable total of 26. So, again, these are really nice performances to have. We talked about when there were obvious frustrations both from outside the building and inside the building, rightfully so, that these were the games on the schedule that you can play your best ball and have a good feeling about everything heading into the playoffs. And they did that last week and just continue it this week. Is that.

Yeah. Commanders are just as bad, if not worse, than the Raiders defense.

San Francisco 49ers, just when Ricky Pearsall looks freaking awesome, right? You know, then he gets injured. Uh, they got him early. Our call out for first-half receiving yards hit easily.

Easy.

And there were other plays left on the field.

Agree.

That could have been monster receptions. He got sailed on a pass by Brock Purdy. Got held in the end zone that put the ball on the one-yard line, too.

Yep.

But, you know, he had choice routes early on. He had, you know, the digs over the middle. He had, you know, long runway routes as well. It was just really good stuff from Ricky Pearsall that would have left me very optimistic moving forward, and, uh, now it kind of doesn't matter.

I'm guessing he's going to miss the rest of the regular season, then get him back for the playoffs. That's kind of how I would treat it. These PCL injuries just stink, man. They just linger and linger. So, he just kind of like fell on it, and then that was it. But I saw the same thing. He, he was awesome on on tape. I thought the choice route was something was a new wrinkle that he can do, and that kind of reminded me of his of his college tape a little bit. Um, they just have a really cool way of like getting these really downfield routes, and they can kind of pass protect you in different ways because they have players like Deebo and George Kittle that other offenses just don't have. So they can do cool stuff with their pass protection. But Purdy was on the run a little bit in this one. I thought that was a big-time, uh, upgrade versus before the bye. I like that little, uh, ball wave that he did to, um, ball wave.

Did you hear him after the game?

Yeah, he, he apologized.

Yeah, he's like, "I don't know who that was that did that. Like, I didn't need."

He immediately apologized.

So funny.

Oh, that was gold.

So, they're making the playoffs. We all know it. They still a 13% chance of winning the division, which is quite small, but like, it's the Colts this week. So,

Yep.

Let's do it.

Hammer session. And it's the Bears and the Seahawks. So, we kind of get some playoff previews for them. But I do wonder like in week 18 if they even have anything to compete to play for.

Yeah, I think that's a good point. Um, they're rolling on offense, though. It's still, it would just not be the team I would love to play in the playoffs. The offense is dialed. There was a really cool rep.

Brock Purdy had to throw the ball over Jefferey Simmons, who was just unconscious in this game where he had to like literally jump and throw it to George Kittle for a touchdown, and then Jefferey Simmons like threw his helmet. He was so pissed off. Uh, but Brock Purdy was just like doing like, Brock Purdy was like on drugs on this one. He was so hyped up, moving around. I could, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. But it was, it was, it was a fun watch.

Yeah. Projected for 26 and a half, which, you know, with a lot of the weather and stuff going around, that's one of the highest totals of the week. So, uh, you know.

The only 49er that's really mattered all season long has been Christian McCaffrey. We've had these pockets of George Kittle. We've definitely had pockets of Jauan Jennings, but if Jauan has been kind of a fringe decision for you without Ricky Pearsall, like Jauan Jennings is kind of a must-play here this week.

Yeah, he might end up being like my wide receiver 15 or something like that.

Talk about the Seattle Seahawks. Uh, this running back room has been the most frustrating part of the fantasy season for me. Look, we've had some really good Kenneth Walker weeks. We've had some other Zach Charbonnet weeks, but then in a game where you expect them to dominate and to rack up points and be in positive game script the entire time, neither one get home, so I'm just done with it.

Yeah, they just can't run the ball well enough consistently. And Kenneth Walker is too prone to getting game-scripted out of things that even when you think that things should fall in line with him, the floor is just so abysmal that you just have to be humble with with it. And if you get a Kenneth Walker spike week randomly, appreciate it because it's one of three over the entire course of the season. They're just.

There are just too many mistakes up front right now. And I will also note it feels like the Seahawks aren't throwing the ball over the top quite as well. And I'm guessing that it's just because defenses are kind of figuring out the Clint Kubiak bit a little bit more. So, they're gonna have to find another way to kind of consistently win. They were able to open up a little bit with some play action with Sam Darnold in the second half, but the last like four or five games here for Sam Darnold and the offense, it's just they get some explosiveness, but has not felt like clean football as it did in the first two months.

Without Elijah Moore, they did run three-wide receiver sets about 15% more. That's not a huge bump, but they did go from like, I think the lowest in the league to about league average.

Right?

Um, so that is notable, and that's you're pointing out that is Rasheed Shaheed. Um, so big kick return two weeks ago, in this one he had about 70 yards. Um, that could be the difference maker for them if, like, teams are able to slow down to whatever effect JSN or just like Chris Godwin shutting down Sam Darnold the last time that they played. Maybe Rasheed Shaheed is going to be the answer for that the rest of the way.

This would be a good matchup. Uh, this is Thursday Night Football, and the Rams secondary looks really, really bad right now. So hopefully they can throw these big quarter threes like what J.Mo and the Monroe got him on, like, just hopefully they can get going. That would be like a perfect game for Rasheed Shaheed, just stylistically, it would make a lot of sense.

Three more teams. Tampa Bay Buccaneers are next. Uh, we already covered this game on Sunday.

Uh, anything you want to add here? I mean, they are three-point favorites on the road. If they win this one, then they have basically locked up the NFC South.

Yeah, I think just Mike Evans, it was a season high, almost 18 expected points, and at the same time, Amari Cooper, that was a season low in his usage, and then Chris Godwin doesn't do a whole lot. So.

Do we know anything about Mike Evans this week?

Uh, I haven't seen the latest with him. It's always something with his team.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I felt really bad for Colby Bryant, the corner he was going up against, like pulled off the street. And by the way, that second Atlanta quarterback spot has been picked on all season long.

Um.

And, yeah, I mean, it's just one of those national TV games that you watch and you can just tell, like, "Oh, we have a 6'5 dude that has, yes, 11 consecutive seasons of 1,000 yards." Yeah. We're just going to throw a 50-50 ball up, and you have no chance.

No chance. Yeah. No chance. Yeah. There are some vintage moments from Mike Evans, so that was that was pretty cool to see. Contract year for him, if it matters for him.

I think he might be sailing off into the distance.

He might, he might. Somebody would pay him a lot of money if he wanted to keep coming back, though. Uh, oh, the big, the big thing that we did not mention on the recap show that I did want to hit on. Shawn Tucker got all three of the goal-line opportunities on three different drives, subbing in for Bucky Irving. So, if you see Bucky Irving as my running back 18 instead of the running back 10, that's kind of the reason why. Bucky Irving is obviously capable of ripping off big plays and maybe he gets a goal-line opportunity, but Shawn Tucker was never vulturing Bucky Irving up until this point.

I'm assuming in his absence they were like, "Well, we can't just have zero Shawn Tucker." So this is how you split it up kind of three ways with Bucky getting the early down stuff, as we know Rashad White and his pass protection, and then they're like, okay, if we get inside the five, maybe even the 10, that's where Shawn Tucker comes in.

It's also like 20 pounds heavier, so it does make some sense.

I, when you have three talented players, that is one way of, you know, getting all three of them on the field. Uh, I have nothing to say about the Tennessee Titans who are projected for 17 points this week. I did see a number of nice extended plays that Cam Ward made, and then his wide receivers just flat out dropping them. Uh, I don't know. I kind of don't want to talk about this team anymore moving forward.

No, I, I didn't have the courage to watch their tape. I, I think I know what I've watched enough Titans to know what's going on over there.

Now, I do think Gunner Helm is somewhat interesting and maybe a name that you and I discussed in our Titans sleepers in that first week of what is it, June, or is it July? Anyways, because he was someone who went back and watched him at Texas was so fluid and made some acrobatic spinning catches, and then remember he just busted his ankle at the combine. I mean, it was three sizes that grew, and then his workout was horrific, right? And then you're not going to have a good workout with that. And you know me and athletic testing and tight ends, which by the way, shout out Britain Strange and Theo Johnson and a bunch of the other other guys. The formula works with all that stuff. Um, so he, that to me would like limit his ceiling. At the same time, we don't know his true athleticism. I still don't think he would test as one of these top-end guys that could, you know, reach top 12 at the position or top 10 at the position. At the same time, I think he's a really good role player, and he's an NFL tight end. At the very least, a tight end two.

In a league that now the tight end two is like a very valuable asset for these organizations.

Yeah. He's also like really big, too. So, him versus Chig Okonkwo, who's a free agent. I'm writing out my top 10, uh, free agents. Chig Okonkwo is one of the, the free agents there. So, yeah, I think Gunner Helm long-term will be.

Maybe interesting.

Yeah, and I could even see him being their starting tight end next year and not wanting to invest more in that other than like another veteran presence. So.

Yeah, I would be surprised if it wasn't like that.

Yeah, shout him out. Let's close things out with the Washington Commanders. Uh, I quickly want to touch on Biadasz here. I know it was versus the Giants, but again, I thought Biadasz, just visually, was pretty solid. Like, yeah, he makes his cuts, he gets up the field. I understand he was a meme, and that was a positive, and then meme, and it was derogatory when he got surpassed by Chris Rodriguez. But I still think there's something there. It does bother me though that like, hey, when he's healthy and Chris Rodriguez is healthy, they just prefer C-Rod over him.

Yeah, Biadasz is way faster. That was like a nice kind of cut to work up the middle for his touchdown. Um, they did start the game off with Jeremy McNichols, for what it's worth. So, even with like Biadasz playing, I thought largely well, it was not like you're our for sure guy. He kind of had to earn the work.

From Nick Mullens, too, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah. And just with Jaden Daniels out for the rest of the year, they need to be evaluating their young pieces, and I think that Biadasz is like one of the guys that they have. So, we'll see Mariota, Dybo, and Terry. Uh, and then we'll see if Chris Rodriguez. I'm assuming Rodriguez comes back, though, because he was like actually questionable to play this last game. So, I think we're going to go back to that like really frustrating committee.

They are given a respectable 19 and a half points here against the Philadelphia Eagles. Like we've seen much lower.

Yep. Because Mariota's respectable, that's why.

Revenge game for Marcus Mariota.

It is. It is.

All right. We'll close it out there. That for sure is the shortest Stats Versus Film of the season. You're welcome. Um, we'll be back here later this week with the ranking shows. Again, that's an incredible Thursday night performance, Thursday night game of LA and Seattle. Uh, Hayden, as always, will have his written rankings over at Underdog Network. So, go and check that thing out and, uh, go and play an underdog. Go support us, support the show, uh, in the company. Up the Villa. We'll talk to you all. Oh, go ahead. I was just say this is our last Stats Versus Film. Like, you guys on average watch this like upwards of 40 minutes. That's just really cool that you guys support this. This show takes a lot of effort for Josh and I and for, uh, our producers to work through this, but it is always worth it because you guys support this one more than any other. So hopefully it's unique. Um, and yeah, just, it's really fun to go through all the film and all the stuff. Um, and it's only worth it because you guys watch.

Yeah. And on top of that, I covered it in a comment about halfway through the season. I hopefully we are figuring out a way to incorporate some level of film back into Stats Versus Film. Obviously, we wanted that to happen the entire time. I think we were probably trying this in this very episode, but at the very least, keep that in mind for next season and some of our offseason work as well. So we are figuring out ways in order to have this show be as good as possible. We already, we are always thinking about those things. All right, Weeves Mosho, Hayden, up the talk to you all soon. See? See?