Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio. Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice. Now along with the guys.
From Guillotine Leagues dot Com. Here's your host, Paul Jargia.
Welcome to Semi Finals Week. It's Fantasy Football Weekly. I'm Paul Charchi and co host today are Scott Fish and Matt Harrison.
Hey guys, Hey charch how are you doing? How is how is house arrest going for you? And is the ankle bracelet itchy?
Well?
Yes, I am at home, which is part of my three step process of finding ways to make my radio show podcast audio quality sound like hot garbage in three different weeks. So I had to do it with the flu once and that sounded bad. And I had to do it in Vegas from an echoee hotel room was shaky Wi Fi and that's sounded bad. And now now I'm at home with COVID where we have both the you know, the remote internet connection and my voice is shot because I got COVID. So this is like for
the hardcore of our hardcore listeners, very very grateful. Then on top of everything else, the house arrest because of the whole ty Chandler pantsiless incident going down last Saturday. I can't help it if ty Chandler just put together the best running back season that Alexander Madison has ever seen, and so of course I was pantiless.
Have you put pants on yet? That's the real question, not even right now.
Oh you don't have to. I guess I'm.
Glad you said all that because those other shows that you were at home were my shows, and I just figured you were dodging me for something.
Well that's not mutually exclusive, got you coming up on the show. We've got three tough questions. Of course, we still take a chance an players you're in a pinch at some position, we're still here to help. And then, of course we've got all the matchups, and we got the full slight of matchups going all the way into Smiths Day, finalizing with that big one on Monday night that could be a Super Bowl preview. We'll get to all of those, beginning with Scott Fish Indianapolis taking out Atlanta.
Here's Indianapolis not getting enough national attention for being in the playoff hunt. And here we are late December. Very impressive run for them against the Falcons. Let's start with Jonathan Taylor expected to return. Zach Moss not gonna go in this one.
Yes, by the way, on that indie team that Shane Stike and he can coach, man, he can coach. I think they got a good one there. Yeah, at least now I do. Jonathan Taylor, Yeah, full participate in practice Thursday and Friday is good to go. Moss missed some practice, Zach Moss missed some practices. He says he's gonna play through his injury, through his arm injury that he sustained last week. But I feel like it's gonna be mostly Jonathan Taylor in this one, and it's gonna go, especially
if Moss doesn't doesn't suit up. It's gonna be mostly back to the Taylor show of old, where he's getting fifteen plus touches, he's catch the ball. This Falcons team, though, it's their second best against runners, allowing just three point seven three yards per carry, so not much there no rushing touchdowns on the year, which feels so fluky to me that I'm giving Jonathan Taylor a B grade with that fifteen plus touches and I think he scores a touchdown.
I'm gonna call it. This is the first touchdown against first rushing touchdown against the Falcons. In this one, Rashad Way Tuba Hubbard, they both went over one hundred total yards and back to back games they get tagged by volume. I think Taylor's gonna be fine here, B grade over to the passing game. I have a C grade on Gardner Minshew the second. It's the ninth best matchup for quarterbacks. Minshew's been a top twelve quarterback in two the last
three games. Atlanta has been tough recently, but that like that's against Bryce Young and Tim Boyle and players like that.
Those are real players, are they?
They are there are But before that they'd given up three hundred plus yards and or multiple scores in four straight. I got a C grade on Minshew. Here, Michael Pittman's gonna play. He's full practices and to end the week he cleared concussion protocol. It's it's a good note for the listeners. Sometimes a huge hit can be, you know, a concussion you can get over, and sometimes a light hit is one that takes quite a while. Trust me,
as a guy who's had a lot of concussions. I've from what Yeah, I've had plenty of concussion, concussions and concussions obviously.
Yeah.
No, I've been coying Madden.
I know I've been. I've I've been knocked completely out, and I've had other ones that were just like barely anything. So you can get them of all varieties. But Michael Pittman, since he's going double digit targets in all but three games, including four straight before leaving last week. Even last week he had five targets on just twenty one snaps. I got an A grade here. It's not the best spot, but he just gets such incredible volume. Josh Downs. I'm also giving a C grade too. It's it is really
really tough to trust. So I am okay with you mentioned him, but it's just the Falcons are one of the worst teams against the slot Josh Downs. When he's had good slot matchups this year has shown up. Those are where his good games come come up, and this is one of them, shut up multiple times in those. So I would give it more if Piman was out, but it's just a secret. On Downs. On the other side,
I'm having trouble starting almost anyone for Atlanta. With Heinike in there, we saw one Heinike full game and then a couple of Partia partials. Those weren't spectacular at all. It's the middle of the pack matchup. But I have him and the almost the entire passing game on the bench. No, the entire passing game. I got Drake Lennon on the bench. He's been pretty hit and miss, but his hits are
against you know. His misses, excuse me, are against you know, good pasties that are bad against the run, and that's what the Colts are. They're gonna Arthur Smith likes to run more. I don't know how much Drake London is actually gonna get in this one. I'm not confident he'll get enough targets. And in the two partial Heinike games he got one target from heinikkey one and two in the other. And in the full game he barely got that much. Excuse me, in the full game he didn't play.
That was the one game he didn't play. So I don't know. We don't have a good track record of him with Heineke. Kyle Pitts and Johnners Smith are going to monopolize themselves to the bench. The Colts have allowed the tenth most tight nind yards, which is great, but only two touchdowns and tight ends that get under six targets don't do very They do very little against the Colts, and I'm not sure that either of them will get enough to be viable there in the run game. Bjeon
Robinson Tyler Algier both getting C grades. It's just such a good spot for the Colts in this one, or against the Colts in this one. They're bottom five and running back touches yards and touchdowns third easiest spot for running backs. Eight running backs have had double digit sea level or better days just in the last five games. Five running backs over one hundred yards in that span.
We don't know who it's going to be. It seems like he loves Algier, but because he Bejon didn't get anything last week, you know Arthur Smith is gonna flip it up just to an Is. So I'm giving a C grade to both of them.
Makes sense. It's tough to if you've found your way here on Bijon Robinson, it's not a clear path even now in the semi finals. Unfortunately.
No, Yeah, Jon's just that's a rough place.
To be right now, Yeah, I could.
It is well.
Yeah, anything attached to Arthur Smith is a rough place to be, right.
I don't blame anyone.
Remember Arthur Smith's old team, the Titans. They sure had it figured out when he was there.
Yeah, speaking of the Titans, Seattle taking on the Titans. That's a nice segue there. Let's start in the Seattle side map. I thought Kenneth Walker played great last week. We're starting to see him healthy and dominating like he was at the beginning of the year. So if you don't mind, let's let's start in Kenneth Walker. What do you think of him this week?
Yeah, I mean, don't be fooled by the recent snap counts. All of the important touches are going to Walker. Despite a narrow thirty two to twenty seven lead in snaps last week, Walker led touches twenty two to four over Zach Sharbonay, and he missed weeks twelve and thirteen with an injury. He wasn't quite right in week fourteen, but he was totally fine last week, and he is the
expected bell cow once again. If Walker gets twenty touches again this week, I think you could expect a similar output to what Devin Singletary did against the Titans just last week, which was one hundred and seventy total yards on thirty touches.
That's huge.
So I'm going to give Walker an A grade. Sharbone on the bench and is only a handcuff at this point. I don't think that you can trust him really on your bench if you're in a Fantasy semi final either you could drop him.
With sharbon Ay and Walker, that defense is missing like six starters going into this game.
Yeah.
Absolutely, Let's talk talk about some of those missing starters when I talk about the wide receivers here. The Titans already bad secondaries in shambles right now. Christian Fulton on I are Sean Murphy Bunting looks like he might miss this game due to a hip injury, and this leaves Trey Avery in a starting position. He's allowed a passer rating of one for one in his coverage this year, and he lines up primarily on the right, and that's where DK Metcalf goes more than half of the time.
So DK gets an easy A grade here. Tyler Lockett gets a B and is an intriguing boom er bust player. This week against either the injured Sean Murphy Bunting or backup Eric Gerrer. Roger McCreery's their only real good corner. He usually mans the slot where Jackson Smith and Jigbo runs from. So I'm gonna leave JSN on the bench for this one. And their past thrower Geno Smith full participant in practice all week and he's expected to start.
The Titans are a super weird opponent though They've held eight different quarterbacks under two hundred fifty yards this year and only allowed five multi score games. But they've faced exactly one top twelve quarterback in the last eight weeks.
That was Tua that kind of held him in check.
So roll that all together with Gino's injuries and the fact that if he's banged up at all, they could just opt for Drew Locke to come in and relief, and he looked good last week. So the highest I can muster on Geno Smith is a and I got to start him in a league that's a super flex league, and I'm vomiting a little bit in my mouth about it. Over on the Titan side, there's not a lot to like.
Will Levis is dealing with an ankle injury and has not practiced yet this week, and Mike Vrabel confirmed that if Levis is unable to go, it will be Ryan Tannehill starting for the Titans, probably in his final game for the Titans. The Seahawks pass defense has been in a bit of a downturn lately, but here are the quarterbacks they've faced in the past few weeks. Jalen Hurts, brock Purty, Dak Prescott, brock Purty, Matthew Stafford, Sam Howell, Lamar Jackson.
That causes downturns right there.
So the four games prior to that murderer's row of chuckers, they held four straight quarterbacks to under two hundred and fifty yards and only three passing scores in those four weeks. They're really They're bad against really good quarterbacks, and neither Titans guy is that. So the only Titan in the passing game that you could consider starting is DeAndre Hopkins. He gets a C grade because he's averaging double digit
targets and it doesn't matter who the quarterback is. Some extra coverage might float his way this weekend, though, as Nick Westbrook a Keene just hit ir with a hand injury. Traylon Burks or Kyle Phillips neither practiced it yet this week their game time decisions. They might play, but it could be Hopkins as the only wide receiver and they could easily double cover him. And as for the run game, I've been struggling whether I start Derrick Henry in a
playoff matchup this week on my own. He pretty much laid an egg last week, and if you're still alive despite that, He's got a very juicy matchup this week against the Seahawks defense. Over the last five weeks, Seattle has given up the most running back rushing scores in the league and have allowed the fourth most rushing yards to the position. However, they've allowed the third fewest receiving
yards to running backs in that time. That's with two games against Christian McCaffrey in that span too, So for that reason, ty J.
Spears is on the bench.
The Titans are eliminated from the playoffs already, and it seems like this could be like the very last Derrick Henry Bell Coow Day in Tennessee, like the swan song of Derrick Henry right here. So I'm gonna give him a bee, and I'm gonna start him in my league.
It's a bold move. A lot of people very hesitant after what happened last week, But I do like the matchup, as you mentioned, and maybe this is the this is the farewell. Who knows We're gonna squeeze in one fast one here because it won't take long to get through the Commanders versus Jets. On the commander's side, Sam Howell and the entire passing games on the bench, Howell coming off his worst performance of the year and an ignominius benching.
We're gonna talk more about him later. Terry McLaurin coming off a season high in targets and yards, but those are in garbage time with Brissette. Thank you nice.
That's a sad howl right there.
It is a sad howl. We need Robbie off season. You gotta get us a better howl. We've cried like four howls.
I'm going up to Alaska to the I will We need it Sea.
Let's talk about that later.
Obviously, the Jets are an elite secondary and they ranked number three in passing yards allowed, number three and passing touchdowns allowed. Brutal matchup for both Howell and the rest of the passing game. We've got Brian Robinson out this week. Chris Rodriguez, as you're expected lead running back. Jets allow the ninth most rushing yards, but only three point nine yards per carry. Teams can volume their way to ground production against the Jets. I don't know that Chris Rodrigue
exactly a volume guy. Jets have the third best run stuff win rate, and so I just I don't love it here. I mean total dart throw at best for Rodriguez, I'm giving him a bench grade. But if you're in a desperation spot somehow in the semi finals, fine. Antonio Gibson also on the bench. He never scores, and he's even unreliable when Robinson's hurt. And the only only angle
here is that the Jets. You know, maybe he'll catch something, but the Jets have been very good against receiving backs, including dominating guys like Bijon Robinson and Devon ah Chane. You can catch, so they're all out on the Jets side. Know Zach Wilson, Trevor Simeon starts. He has looked brutal through five quarters, completing forty seven percent of his passes, so that doesn't leave us many options, and it puts Garrett Wilson managers into a tough spot here. Obviously, the
whole passing game goes through him. By the way, get this, guys, Wilson ninety more targets than the next closest Jets receiver this year.
Wow.
Ninety that's a lot.
Yeah.
Wow.
Remember in the preseason that we thought that the Jets were just stacked at wide receiver and now they have Garrett Wilson and nobody.
You can barely start against the worst secondary in the league by a mile, and that's Washington. Players who get seven catches against Washington, which Wilson could even from Simeon, They're averaging one hundred and twenty five yards in a full touchdown per game. Washington has been smoked for twenty two wide receiver touchdowns, second most and this from Scott Fish. Washington has allowed ten touchdown receptions of over twenty yards
just the last eight games, worse than the league. C grade on Garrett Wilson is a boomer about option for you against the worst secondary in the league. And then lastly, Breeze Hall commanders are bottom ten in rushing yards receiving yards touchdowns and yards per carry allowed to running backs, and they've gotten way worse since they traded away. They're arguably their best two players on their defensive line, Montese
Sweat and Chase Young. Get a load of some of these recent running back performances against Washington, Kyron Williams a buck fifty five and one, a Chain and Mostard combined for one hundred and fifty four and three. Pollard one hundred and one, Barkley one hundred and forty and two, Kenneth Walker one hundred twenty seven and one, Ramandre Stevenson one hundred and thirty and one, Breeze Hall absolute lock
a grade. When we come back, it is time four nine players not normally in your starting lineup segment we like to call take a chance on me. We'll give you, hopefully in the semi finals. You don't need this kind of help.
You never know.
Maybe you do. We're here either way. When we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, take a chance on me. Nine players not normally in your starting lineup. We begin at the quarterback position and Scott Fish.
Yeah, I am going to go with a guy who currently leads the NFL in yards per game and touchdowns per game for these who have played at least three games, and that would be Joe flat three games Joe Flacco averaging three hundred and thirteen yards per game and two point three scores per game. Since taking over for the Cleveland Browns, they are dropping back to pass over.
Nine times nine times over.
Nine times per game, more than they were before. Houston. Did you press the button on this?
I I man, I'm just off. I don't usually hit the button, so I had to find it there.
I should have done that. Ye I knew it was coming.
You knew it was coming. Queue it up.
Come on us. Having the button bars is so fun. Houston allowed multiple scores in five straight before. Levis only got one last week. But Houston, they have allowed the seventh most passing yards. Pretty stingy on passing touchdowns. But I think it's a good game here for a Flaco.
All right, man, you'll take a chance with me quarterback.
I've got Jake Browning who's thrown four over two hundred and seventy five yards and three straight and had a pair of touchdown passes in each of the last two weeks. The last time he didn't throw for two hundred and seventy five or more yards was against the Steelers, who he plays this week. The Steelers have had a pretty decent pass defense all year, but that's changed in the past two weeks, where they've allowed three touchdowns apiece to Bailey Zappi and Gardner Minshew. And all of a sudden,
all of the Steelers' safeties are out. Minka Fitzpatrick out with a knee injury, Demante Kyz was just suspended for the rest of the season for targeting. Kean O'Neil's been out since Week eleven. Fourth stringer Trenton Thompson out with a neck injury. That leaves Elijah Riley and Darius Rush, who has have a combined sixty nine snaps on the field this season between the two of them to anchor
the back end of the secondary for the Steelers. They're wide open to be picked apart over the top Jake Browning.
I'm moving Jake Browning up my ranking right now. I did not realize that it was quite that severe of a situation in the in the secondary for Pittsburgh. Holy cow, I'm gonna go with Nick Mullins. A high risk play
for for sure. Mallins looked very inconsistent in his first start last week, but maybe that's because he hadn't played in two years, but still found his way to a seventy nine percent completion rate, three hundred yards and two scores even a game where he didn't look that sharp, you know, maybe knocks the rust off here and as a better showing against a worst secondary Detroit. Pro Football Focus grades the Lions at thirty first in coverage and
for a team that is Aiden Hutchinson. Weird that the Lions ranked twenty eighth in pass rush by Pro Football Focus and twenty seventh in pass rush win rate. Nick mullins, he's got justin Jefferson, will give him a try. Let's go to the running back position, Scott, Who's you taking chance with me? Runner?
Yeah?
I'm going with Ty Johnson, mostly because I love the possible game script of Buffalo against the Chargers. Here the Chargers fifth worst against running backs, including second worst against backs in the pass game, which is a part of the game that Ty Johnson excels at. It's just a great matchup. In the last two Bills blowouts, ty Johnson at about sixty yards in each he caught five balls. He scored. This is one of those where they should get a lead and be able to run the clock out.
And those two blowouts, by the way, much better run Dyes the Jets and the Cowboys, so he might even get more this week.
All right, Matt, who's your take a chance on me? Running back?
I've got Zeke Elliot because it looks like Rimandre Stevenson is going to miss his third straight week with an ankle injury. Elliott hasn't really popped off on the ground in relief of Stevenson, but he's done really well in the receiving game. Over the last two weeks. He's had twelve receptions ninety three yards in a score just through
the air. Denver has been dinged by runners all year, but they're bottom seven in every category against running backs, whether that's the run or the pass, and they're allowing an average of twenty eight touches and one hundred and sixty six yards per game to opposing runners. Almost all of that would go to Zeke, even if that's restricted a little bit. He's looking at one hundred total yards in this game, almost guaranteed.
All right, Yeah, I have Zeke in my top five this week, so Yeah, to me, this's an absolute lock. I'm going a little bit tougher spot than that. Danta Foreman, who I tried last week did not work out, but
that was against a far tougher Cleveland opponent. This week, Foreman gets Arizona, so this should be a easier They ranked twenty seventh in run stuff win rate, They rank thirty first in rushing yards allowed, They rank thirtieth in yards per carried aloud, and since returning from injury, Foreman has gotten one hundred percent of the rushes from inside the five yard line. Five of Arizona's last six opponents have scored rushing touchdowns. I think Foreman's up to make
that six of the last seven. All right, let's go to the receivers. We begin with Scott Fish who you got.
Yeah, I'm gonna switch it up because I had David and Djoku, but I feel like he's been good for long enough. Then, Yeah, he's in my top five tight ends. This week. We can't do that, so I'm going to don Tavion Wicks leads the team in yards per route run has has had three very startable or B level games. With Watson out, Christian Watson and Jayden Reed looking like they will both be out for this game, which lead
should lead to a bunch more opportunities here. Wicks will get the best matchup of the receiving core there in j. C. Horn allowing a one to sixteen passer rating against and this week Matt Lafleur and Pressers spoke really glowingly about Wicks, even saying he sees glimpses of DeVante Adams in him and saying the sky's the limit.
Wow, geez, well that's not it's a lot to live up to. I don't know. You want to put that on a kid? Yeah, all right, no, dy, who's your Yeah? Yeah, go ahead, Matt, you're your receiver this week.
You probably don't need a deep dart throw at tight end if you're in a Fantasy semi final. But I really like Tanner Hudson of the Bengals this week against the Steelers. Since Week nine, Hudson averaging four target or four catches per game, and nothing has really dropped off
since Joe Burrow went down. I mentioned with Jake Browning that the Steelers' top four safeties are out, but another interesting fact is that Pittsburgh has allowed a tight end touchdown in four straight weeks after only allowing one in the first ten games of the season. So if four catches, forty five yards and a touchdown will help you, I think that's about what we're looking at for Tanner Hudson this week.
That would help me. I think that would help most people. Yeah, I am also going tight end. Pat Fryarmouth, got to pick your spots here, but this is the spot because Cincinnati allows the most tight end yards by a mile, seventy two per game and worse lately, allowing eighty two yards to tight ends over the past five weeks, a span that includes a mammoth game from Pat Fryarmouth. We put up eleven targets, nine catches, and one hundred and twenty yards in Week twelve. Now, it's been a while
since we've seen Mason Rudolph start a game. Two years ago it was Friar Mooth's rookie year, and in that game again, the last Mason Rudolph start, Pat Fryarmuth was targeted nine times.
Oo nine times.
I've tried to draw that out.
Oh yeah, it worked.
You should have like whispered n times before.
Yeah, there we go, Scott. If you like Ty Johnson. Something tells me that James Cook is a lock here in this game against the Chargers.
Yeah, I got James Cook is a lock here. He's he's been RB three since week ten. Since since Joe Brady took over. He's averaging twenty four point one PPR points per game. His target share has doubled since Brady. He's running the same amount of routes, but he's getting double the targets. Not just that his red zone snaps have also doubled. Maybe Brady watched the film and he's like, wait, Latavius Murray's just not working. Why do we not have
Cook in here? Head over one hundred total yards in five straight Chargers as I mentioned before, really bad against backs and the Ti Johnson things. So I have an A grade, I could go double a rdvarc, I could go fonsie whatever. I got an A grade there. Over to the passing game.
Here's here's the thing. You the button bars right in front of you, so you can do any of those.
Yeah you know, I can drop that or I don't know where they all are. There's one there. We go, our wonderful Ardvark. Over to the passing game. Josh An, I'm giving the A grade too as well. It's the eighth easiest matchup for quarterbacks against the d that just gave up sixty three points and four touchdowns to eight. And O'Connell. Granted, it'll be a different defensive play caller this week with Brandon Staley fired and on, and the data shows when a coach gets fired, the team plays
better the next week. It's just what happens. So maybe it's a little tougher. But Allen has multiple scores in fourteen straight. Stefan Diggs, Oh man, it's it's been rough. It's been rough lately. But I'm going with him. I think this is a get right game. I'm giving him a B grade. You could talk me in new An A, but I'm going with a B just because it's so risky. Nearly nine targets per game under Brady. That's probably deserves
it nine times. But his catch totals four, six, four four, his yardage totals twenty seven, seventy four, twenty four forty eight. He's and no scores. He's just not getting he's just not getting getting it done.
There.
Oh, actually one score, the six catch, seventy four yard and a score game against the Eagles is the one that's more comparable to this defense than the Chargers a poor pass defense. So I like him here. He's got He's matching up against Michael Davis too, which who allows one hundred and sixteen point one passer ray against Just a good spot for him, so B grade. As for Gabe Davis, Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kinkaid, and Dawson Knox, this
is really frustrating. But since Dawson Knox came back, now Kinkaid has two catches for twenty one yards in the two games with Knox returning. Knox's Knox is not worthy worthy of it, and Kinkaid's going to come into this questionable as well. Also, he managed to Joe Brady coming over be coming oc. Gabe Davis has a goose egg in three of the four and once Shaquille once Dawston Knox came in, Shakir's numbers just completely dropped off and he has one catch for twelve yards since Knox came back.
So Dawston Knox basically took four players out with it just coming back, so they're all on the bench over on the other side, the Chargers are going to be without Keenan Allen, which makes me really hesitant to start a lot of players in that past game or start Eastern Stick. H Get this stat about the Chargers. The last time they converted a third down was week thirteen. What That's what seemed to me.
That is insane. Even all that garbage time stuff.
They haven't converted a third battle.
That's three weeks ago or two and a half weeks ago, whatever it is.
They didn't have a buy in there, did they.
They only have to check Mahomes is the only quarterback with over two hundred yards in the last five weeks against this Buffalo. You got you got stick on the.
Bench anyway, nobody, Josh, you don't even need to expand it.
Josh Palmer, I got a B grade on He can find mismatches, he plays left right hand slot about a third each he's he can easily avoid Rosweld Douglas uh so I and he got forty percent of the air yards with Eastern Stick last week. I got to be on him. The target's got to go somewhere. I do have Quentin Johnson on the bench. The first Stick game
good was good. The second one not so good, and he's gonna get Razuill Douglas, who get this, is allowing a twenty five point two passer rating against since coming to Buffalo's That's absurd. Just ten completions.
They worked the Packers on that grade.
Ten completions in ten completions in six games. Allowed two picks in a Folmer recovery. Just unreal. Gerald Evertt, I got a C grade on two Eastern Stick games. Eight targets in each, five catches in each. The yardage isn't quite there, but with Keenan out, he's probably gonna get a little bit more volume. It could be a volume seed. But I got a B grade. Ferguson and Kelsey the last couple weeks have done well against this team. Austin Eckler, I got a C grade, but I don't blame you
for benchingin nowadays. Prop Stackler, by the way, for coming in late in that blowout and getting a first down and celebrating it. You know, it's the little victories. You gotta celebrate the little victories. Bills are middle of the but in the second half of the season, you basically he's basically been a twenty touch guy. He could get to a B level game and if they don't decide to split it later on in the game. But I'll just give him a C.
All right, Matt, we need to move quickly through Cincinnati Pittsburgh. Fortunately, you know our take a chance on me is were replete with Bengals and Steelers. So let's start on the Cincinnati side, and let's start with the running game. What do you think of Joe Mixon here?
Yeah, he's still getting most of the running back touches, but Chase Brown starting to eat into that workload just a little bit. Brown's seen an average of eight carries over the last three weeks, compared to about seventeen per week for Mixing. Mixing was absolutely stuffed by the Steelers in Week twelve on the eight carries for sixteen yards, although he did add forty four receiving yards in that game.
The Steelers d did allow two hundred total rushing yards to the Colts backs last week, which was mostly Tyler Goodson and Trey Sermon. So with a bit of a downturn and touches for Mixon, I'm downgrading him to a B. But he's still pretty reliable here as far as the receivers and the passing game. Jake Browning was might take a chance on me quarterback, and Tanner Hudson might take a chance on me receiver. Jamar Chase is going to
be out this week. That means t Higgins becomes the focal point for Jake Browning yet again, just like he was last week. Higgins had two second half touchdowns and eight targets against Minnesota and his a dot in that game was twenty three point three. And we just mentioned all of the safeties are out for the Steelers, Higgins should be able to go pretty deep, especially with Levi Wallace, the corner who's he's going to match up most often with.
He's tied for fifth in the league with six touchdowns allowed in its coverage this year. So for all of you who've been disappointed in te Higgins all season, he
gives you an a grade right here. Tyler Boyd saw a little bit of an uptick and work when Chase went out, so he gets to see he'll primarily face Chandon Sullivan from the slot and Chandy Land doesn't usually see a ton of targets, but seventy percent of them are completed in his coverage over on the Steelers side Jason Rudolph week, but he's not a guy that you'd start in your fantasy semi final, but it's worth looking
at some of his past history with receivers. The last two times Rudolph has started a game was Week ten of twenty twenty one and Week seventeen of twenty twenty. In those Mason Rudolph games, Deontay Johnson averaged eight and a half targets five catches in eighty nine yards. And Johnson has averaged six and a half targets per game over the last month and a robust ninety three air yards per game. So I've got a B grade on Johnson. Pickens,
I'm a little leer on here. He hasn't scored our top one hundred yards in seven games and was held to just three catches in fifty eight yards in the week twelve meetings. So just to see on Pickens and Rudolph targeted slot guys Juju Smith, Schuster and Chase Claypool a ton in the twenty twenty games.
Two.
Alan Robinson usually runs from the slot, but he's not on the field very much, so I think this is Pat Fryarmuth running from the slot and charge alluded to it. He was his take a chance on me tight end. I got an A grade on Friarmuth. As for Naji Harris and Jalen Warren, this is still a horrifically gross complete split backfield. Over the last five games, the snap count is almost equal. They're both getting about fourteen touches per game. They're both getting about the same amount of
touches inside the five. Naji had fifteen carries for ninety nine yards in a score in the week twelve meeting, and Warren had sixteen touches and sixty two yards that game. You normally, if you normally start them, you can start them with a seed, but it's not a particularly good or bad matchup. I'd feel gross starting either in a Fantasy playoff game.
So just sees.
Yeah, I'm with you on that. It's a it's a tough spot for sure, and as we as we had to break. I don't know if you guys saw the blocking effort put forward.
By George Pickens. Oh, George Pickens, Yet he.
Doesn't want to git well, oh no, yeah, I got it. Yeah, I wouldn't want to run block. Yeah, you know, that's part of the job user, Come on, that stuff does not sit well with your teams wide receiver man, what is it? Holy cow? I don't know when he come back. What we do know is Lions and Vikings gonna match up. We'll talk through that matchup and perhaps another big game from Jared Goff find out when we come back. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly, Paul Jargi and Scott Fish and
Matt Harrison with you. De Trod and Minnesota will play for the first time this year this weekend, and there's a lot of players to start here, and a lot of reason to feel pretty good about a variety of different Vikings and Lions. Let's start on the Lion side. I'm on Ross Saint Brown, clocking in with a A grade. He's the rare slot receiver who gets reliably used near the stripe. He's tied for fifth in red zone targets. He accounts for thirty seven percent of the Lion's targets
in the red zone. The Vikings defend the slot with a wide variety of players, but very commonly, defensive coordinator Brian Flores uses safety. Josh mctellis, who ranks his Pro Football focuses twenty eighth coverage safety, so he's just okay, but he gives up an eighty eight percent catch rate that is gigantic, So don't see any reason to not expect good things from Aman Ross. Saint Brown comes in with an A grade, also coming in with strong grades.
B grade for Sam Laporte here coming off a huge grade. This is a trickier matchup though, than what he has seen In recent weeks. The Vikings have been grading against tight ends behind the play linebacker Ivan Pace Junior, who ranks his Pro Football Focus's tenth best coverage linebacker, and he's allowed the lowest yards per reception of all linebackers, just five yards per reception. Vikings allowing only five receptions
and forty six yards per game to tight ends. None have found the end zone in five weeks, so a B grade on Sam Laporte a little down from what we're used to seeing the other receivers for the Lions. I get the feeling one of them is probably in of a good game, especially because Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy's has been ruled out of this one. But the problem is Josh Reynolds, Khalif Raymond Jamison Williams. They all split
time almost evenly. Impossible to really know which one might benefit here, so I don't know them on the bench.
How many yards per game does Jameson Williams average against the Vikings?
About fifty eight?
I think I think it's forty one in a score it might be on one catch.
Yeah, so I've got A grades. I've got B grades here. Jared goff feels like a safe play, always better indoors, where he scores double of touchdowns from his outdoor games, including last week's five score finanza. Vikings defense. Yeah, there you go. The Vikings pass defense had been downright stifling before they'd yielded to Jake Browning last week, and some of that came in overtime too. The Vikings ranked eighth
in pass coverage by Pro Football Focus. They've surroundered multiple passing touchdowns and only two of their last nine games. So I wanted to I want to give Jared goffin a grade here, but I can't do it because the Vikings pass defense has generally been very good. I do like Jamiir Gibbs a lot. He's out touched David Montgomery six to three in the red zone over the last two weeks, which is surprising, including getting the only one touch they've given a running back from inside the five
yard line. That'd be a major shift if they start giving Jamir Gibbs goal line carries. Here. He's averaging five and a half yards per carry on the season, including at least six yards per carrying each of the last three games. He's also reliably notching about three receptions per game, and the Vikings give up the fifth most receptions per game to running back, so jumior Gibbs a safe B grade. Montgomery C grade and a difficult matchup for him, particularly
since he's not going to help through the air. As I mentioned, that's where the Vikings are most vulnerable to running backs. Minnesota's only given up fifty rushing yards to a running back once since Week six, and that includes shutting down the likes of Christian McCaffrey, Bjohn Robinson, Alvin Kamara, Josh Jacobs, Joe Mixon. In fact, the in fact, only DeAndre Swift has surpassed sixty five yards against the Vikings
all year. I can only get you to a C grade on David Montgomery, and that's what the hope for a touchdown Viking side. I told you Nick Mallins might take a chance on me quarterback. He comes in with a C grade. Justin Jefferson A grade. I love that you saw ten targets from Nick Mullins last week. That was a great That's a great indicator here. Detroit much worse against the pass than against the run. They rank
thirtieth in coverage by Pro Football Focus. Detroit corner Cam Sutton shadows bigger, physical opposing number ones like Jefferson, and he shut down Denver's Courtland Sutton last week in a Sutton versus Sutton matchup. Over the last three games, Sutton has allowed only thirty six total receiving yards, So a tough matchup for Justin Jefferson and I almost gave him a B grade here, but I think on volume, I can't get myself to do it, and I'm keeping him
at an A grade. Jordan Addison with the big game last week and with Sutton and on Jefferson, that means Addison draws far inferior coverage from Jerry Jacobs. He's allowed a league worst seven touchdowns, and Addison's nine scores leads all rookie rookie wide receivers, So I like the touchdown here. And what's more, Addison is a deep ball threat and the Lions give up thirteen yards per reception, which is a gigantic number. So I like Addison. B grade on
him and for TJ. Hockinson while we stay with the passing game, A rare B grade for me. Hockinson has remained consistent. He's racking up between like fifty and sixty three yards in his past four games. That's good, but that's not explosive output the Lions haven't allowed. Hey, there you go. The Lions haven't allowed more than sixty six yards to a tight end all season. They're only averaging five receptions on per game. So there's just not a lot of upside here for Hawkins, and so I can
only get you to a B grade. Looks like Alexander Madison's going to be active for this game, So where does that leave you with Ty Chandler. Kevin O'Connell suggested Chandler will start and be the lead back and he should be in one NFL start. Last week, Chandler posted more rushing yards than any game in Madison's career. Very tough matchup, though, Detroit Pro Football Focus's fourth best run defense. The Lions have not had an opposing running back top
sixty seven rushing yards against them. They've given up a league low sixty two rushing yards per game, and they're giving up the six fewest receptions to the position and no receiving touchdowns to running back. So very tough matchup for Chandler. I can only get you to a C grade there. All right, Scott, let's go over to Green Bay taking on Carolina. You already told us that you like Wis as a deceiving option. Yeah, Dust, you like from the passing game for the Packers.
Sure, sure, Let's stick with the wide receivers for a secon second, because Jaden Reid and Christian Watson are both likely out. One is doubtful, one is questionable. But they missed practice every day to end the week. I'm playing it as if they're out. Jaden Reid is the one that might go. He's questionable. If he does go, I would give him a C grade, but I expect both to be out. I do have Romeo Dobbs on the bench.
He's consistently a three to five catch guy. Didn't even get that much work after Jaden Reid went out last week. He's usually getting in your thirty in the thirties for yards. He hasn't scored over a month, just two red zone targets in last month. I don't think that's where the targets go. I think they go to Wis and I think they go to Tucker Craft as well. With Luke
Musgrave gonna miss this one again. Kraft has scored twice in the four games without Musgrave, has four plus catches in back to back yardage totals of fifty seven and sixty four. That's that's very that's very nice for a SEA level tight end, maybe even a B level. The volume matches what similar targets have been doing against the tight ends for similar tight ends have been doing against the Panthers. So I have a C grade there with those. I have a very hesitant, very very hesitant C grade
on Jordan Love. He's getting it done, He's finding ways to get it done. He's got multiple scores in five to the last six five to the last six games. This just this is just a really tough Panthers pass defense, mostly because teams just run with their running backs on him. That that's really what it is. Over the last eight weeks, the highest passing yardage day was two hundred and two yards. That's that's nothing in the past game, but there's been a couple of multiple score games. This is a fun
note on the Panthers. They've allowed nine rushing yards to quarterbacks this year total.
Wow.
New England is second. New England is second in that court category with one hundred and six. Panthers have allowed nine rushing yards. Over to the run game. AJ Dillon's questionable with that thomb. Even if he plays, He's we mentioned before, he's not getting inside the five stuff. He's less efficient. Less pass game works with Jones playing, I got him on the bench and I'm giving it an a
grade to Aaron Jones. Just an awesome matchup against the Panthers run game along in the fifth most yards and the most touchdowns. Hopefully he gets those snaps back up. He got a decent amount of touches last week, ninety the touches, but the snaps he he only played about half the snaps. Let's let's hope that increases with the second week and fully off the injury report over to
the Carolina side. I don't have any of the past game starting at all I know that the Packers have allowed back to back NFC Player of the Week awards to the quarterbacks. Thanks thanks Brian Johnson for that note. Rest in peace.
Brian's not dead. He just moved.
No, he moved, and he took like a red Eye flight. I just wanted him to rest, to be peacefully rested in his new city with the red Eye flight there. But yeah, Adam Thielen, in recent weeks, the targets have gone down. Early in the year, he was hyper targeted and that's what helped him. It's now split multiple ways. Jonathan Mingo is a low volume two to five catch wide receiver with When you're sharing less than two hundred yards every game from Bryce Young and it's between three
or four options, you're just not getting it done. So bench the whole passing game. And I have a B grade on Chewba Hubbard. Here's the last month of touches for Cuba nineteen twenty five twenty four with yardage totals ninety to one hundred and five yards. Grim Bay is allowing the fourth most rushing yards and eighth most running backs scores. But Cuba needs a lot of touches to do less than four yards per touch, so he's not very efficient with it. So just a B grade on Chewba Hubbard.
When we come back, Three Tough Questions, a forward looking time machine style edition of Three Tough Questions. When we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, our number two. Welcome back our number two Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charchi and Scott Fish, Matt Harrison with you. This is a game we like to play called three Tough Questions, and we begin with.
This tough question number one.
Let's fast forward to week one of next year. Is Chase Brown the lead back in Cincinnati. We begin with Scott Fish.
Let me let me turn on my mic here once.
The classic Scott Fish right there.
Classic classic. They have a potential out with Mixing after this year, but it's also not super super costly to keep him and the cap hit plus what they would pay him is you know what they would have to pay a replacement like a pickup a picked up free agent would probably cost more than just keeping Mixing. So the question is closer to do they continue to run Mixing down and split the role or do we think
Chase beats him out right? Or is it an Alexander Madison Tdy Chandler situation where the more talented back is shelved longer than it should be despite all of us seeing that Chase is clearly the better player. Not exactly sure what happens happens by week one. I think with most NFL teams, you usually see them just stick with the old hat until he's until the new one can overtake. But you know what I texted you last week, I thought Chase could beat the start, be the starter next year.
I'm just gonna go with bold with it and say, sure, yeah, why not?
All right, Matt? Fast forward to Week one of next year? Is Chase Brown the lead back in Cincinnati?
Uh?
Do we believe that the Bengals, a team that's win window is now, is gonna stand pat and do nothing at the running back position? I simply don't. They'll sign someone or draft someone. It could be a split backfield in Cincy. But here's the list of free agent running backs coming up this year. Joe Mixon, Derrick Henry, Austin Eckler, Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, Tony Pollard, DeAndre Swift and those.
Are just the highlights.
You'd think that those seven guys are likely to be on an NFL roster starting somewhere. Plus, there's a decent crop of rookie runners highlighted by Jonathan Brooks, Trey Benson, Blake Klorum, Traveon Henderson, probably another three or four guys that we're going to start to like next spring. I just think that the Bengals are going to have another running back there, and if it's not Mixon, I think that they'll have somebody that they've spent a lot of assets on.
You know, if I ran the Bengals, I would draft a high profile, really good running back too, But they haven't. They've not shown a predilection to do that since Joe Mixon. Interesting, hadn't really thought about that angle. You know, I was looking at a seven year veteran in mixing with high mileage who's going to turn twenty eight and has averaged three point nine yards per carrying back to back years.
You cut that guy, right, I mean, you know you can find three point nine yard per carry guys washing dishes at Applebee's right now. So why keep Joe Mixon here? He's out Chase Brown looks good. I mean the eye test says he's pretty good and maybe better than a lot of those older veterans that you've just described. You know, Matt I. You know, those are all big name players who have been very important to their offenses for a long time. But they're all, like, all of those guys
really struggling right now. I don't know that Cincinnati makes a move for any of those guys. Maybe in the draft. Yes, I was tempted to make a last minute switch to go to your side to this match, just in the prospect that they draft they put real draft equity here into the running back position. But I'm not going to bank on it. I'm gonna trust my eyes. Chase Brown looks like a good player, averaging four and a half yards per carry, all the explosiveness, the big plays. You're gonna go with, Yes.
Tough question number two.
By the way, since you've got the time machine, I'll set and ready to go. Let's hear from the time machine.
Hm. There it is.
So we fast forward to week one of next year, just like we did with Chase Brown, Let's stay with the same team. Potentially, is Jake Browning a starter for any NFL team next season? For this one we begin with Matt.
My answer is no, Caleb Williams, Drake may Jaden Daniels, Michael Pennox, Bow Nicks, Quinn Ewers, JJ McCarthy. That's seven rookies who could be drafted and just be launched into a starting job, plus the potential openings or landing spots. They're not as many as you think. There's a lot of injured quarterbacks this year. But the open spots are Atlanta, Vegas, Minnesota, if they don't re sign Cousins, New England, Tampa, Tennessee, maybe Washington. That's only seven teams, and Kirk Cousins in
Baker Mayfield are top free agents. I think Jake Browning signs a nice backup contract somewhere.
All right, let's go over to Scott. Fast forward a week one of next year. Is Jake Browning starting for an NFL team?
Yeah?
Yeah, I'm in lockstep with Matt on this one. I've almost immediately said no. I feel like the only place Jake Browning gets a starting job is with one of those teams that drafts one of those and he fights him and battles it out and beats him.
In camp and holds the job for six weeks quarterback.
Won for like the early part of the season, and that's how he is the starter through week one. Otherwise he strikes me more as more like Keenum or Dobbs, you know, mostly just ex vikids where they show up up for a portion of a season and then they get it back up, they get a backup ro all somewhere in the next season. That's it's x Viking thing apparently, But no.
Jake Browning has played his way into the conversation as applausible starter for sure. Since becoming the starter, he leads the NFL INN adjusted completion percentage and this, and it's not thinking dunk stuff. He has the second longest yards per attempt nine and he's looked better than half the starters in the league honestly since he's come in. Now, obviously this is a deep quarterback class and everybody, all the teams that are positioned inside, like the top ten,
top twelve, they're gonna hit that pretty hard. But then what do you do about Atlanta, Las Vegas, Cleveland, which nobody mentioned, and that job is still potentially open. Tampa, nobody talked about Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh meets a quarterback, Yeah, is Joe Flaco. I don't think Joe Flacco's coming back, so I think the answer and if only for week one, only at the beginning of the year, any where he could beat out a rookie, I'm the answer here is yes.
Okay, tough question number three?
Fast forward to week one of next year. Is Sam Howell the starting where's the Howell sounder? By the way, is Sam Howell the starting quarterback for the Commanders?
I just love how we have this, but Barrown lock, yeah, right on top of it. Yeah, I'll start this one. This is a tough one for me. I can't remember who said it, but Sam Howell's stats this year are really empty calories. The offense is not good, he's every All of his metrics outside of volume aren't good. He even got bench last week. Things really need to be fixed. Will they draft a guy? If they do, can that guy take overtake Sam for week one? I'm gonna go no,
He's not the start. I think they might might try to find something else, but yeah, for now, I'll go no. But I could go either way on this one.
Okay, We're gonna put you on no, all right, Matt Is Fast forward a week one of next year. Is Sam Howell the starting quarterback for the Commanders.
I'm pretty negative today. I've got no.
And here's why. There's a new owner in Washington. He's about to fire Ron Rivera after the season, and either they're going to elevate Eric Bienemy to the head coach position or they're going to hire a new coach with an offensive pedigree.
If it's b Enemy, maybe he has some loyalty to Sam, but.
Maybe he's just been waiting for the shot for ten years and he's going to want to draft his guy. And the Commanders currently have the fourth pick in the draft, and a new owner probably wouldn't mind either making a quarterback selection at number four or even trading up to two or one with maybe Chicago if he wants the perfect quarterback to compliment his new head coach. I don't think Sam Howell has a chance to be the Commander's starter next year.
I would say I think not a chance is a little strong, but I'm with you. I think the answer here is no. I'm a little rattled over the past couple of weeks where Sam has looked Haggard and I guess when you absorb fifty nine sacks. Maybe the season is eventually gonna it's gonna beat beat you down, which has happened to him. You know part of it though, as a Sam Howell apologist. Washington has lost these last
five games, which is bad. They've given up twenty nine points, thirty one points, forty five points, forty five points, and twenty eight points. And people are pinning these losses on Howel. It's just like it's just like last year with Kirk Cousins. Right, defense is giving up these massive leads and opposing defenses know that Howel's gonna pass zero thread of a running game. But the Jacobey Brissett, you know, like last third of that game kind of rattled me a little bit, and
he came in and just powered that offense. It was garbage time. But I think Matt's fundamentally right. New owner Josh Harris is gonna replace everybody. You didn't mention the GM. They're probably gonna replace Martin Mayhew as well, and that GM. You know, new gms and coaches want their quarterback. They want to pick their guy. And when you picked fourth in the draft and a deep quarterback draft, you're gonna
get You're gonna somebody you like. So I think the odds are that Sam Howell's not the starting quarterback for the Commanders, and it makes me sad.
Ah, Well, maybe let's go to our next to MAT's squeally Howl next year.
Well that's true, let's go. Uh, let's go back to matchups. Jacksonville taking on Tampa Bay, Matt, this is uh, let's I'm going to start with the running game, since the passing game, you know it's it's CJ. Bethard, so probably so that probably doesn't bode very well. Travis Etn, who powered teams in the first half of the season, has struggled significantly in the second. What do you expect here against Tampa Bay.
Yeah, I've got him just as a C grade in this one. Over the last three weeks, he's had eleven, fourteen and ten carries. Well, he has scored in two of the past three games. He hasn't topped forty five yards in that span, and the matchup is just horrible. Tampa's allowed only five rushing scorers to a running back this season. Only four running backs have topped seventy yards all season against the Bucks. So it's just a C
for etn. On the passing side, as you mentioned, charge Trevor Lawrence has an ankle injury that he's been playing through for a couple weeks, and he's also in the concussion protocol. If he's unable to clear that, we get CJ. Bethard. If Lawrence is able to go, I do love this matchup for him. The Bucks are allowing two hundred eighty two yards per game, what's the second most in the league. And since Lawrence does run a little bit, it's worth noting that the Bucks have given up the second most
quarterback rushing touchdowns this year at six. So if Lawrence goes, I'll give him an A grade. They play Sunday afternoon, and if you have to decide between Lawrence and one of the Saturday guys, I think it's probably worth picking up Bethard as an insurance policy. I think I'd give Bethard a C grade in for the matchup alone. But as for the receivers, I'm going to grade them out as if Lawrence was playing. If it's Bethor drop them a letter grade. Okay, Calvin Ridley gets an A or
a Bethard B Wow. Brandon Ayuk, Michael Pittman, Drake London Dontavian Wicks all had huge days against Tampa's secondary in the last month, and with Christian kirk on Ir and Zay Jones looking like a game time decision at best, Ridley becomes a huge focal point in a good matchup. Ridley had thirty percent of the team's targets last week
and it's probably a similar number this week. Evan Ingram gets an A or a Bethard B. He's just a week removed from twelve targets as well, and Tampa's allowed the fifth most receptions and receiving yards to the tight end position, and after twelve weeks of no scoring, he's got three touchdowns in the last three weeks.
But that's it for the Jaguars.
Let's go over to the Tampa side, where Rashad White is the highest priced running back on DraftKings for the Sunday Slave.
Wow, what a world we live in.
He's my number one ranked.
Yeah, he gets an A grade this week. Jags are actually good against the run, top seven and yards per carry, rush yards and rushing scores allowed, but they're bottom three in receptions and receiving yards allowed to opposing backs, and the Bucks have given White at least two receptions in every game this year, and they I've seen him garner
at least five receptions four different times this year. Ten different running backs have got to the five reception mark against Jacksonville just this year, and they're allowing almost seven receptions per game to the running back position. So, especially in a PPR league, he's a definite A. If you're in some sort of weird non PPR league, it's probably.
Just a C.
But the A for PPR for touchdown your touchdown only league, Oh yuck. Mike Evans gets an A grade. He scored a touchdown in ten games this year. He has not scored a touchdown in four games this year, and the Jaguars have allowed the fifth most touchdowns to wide receivers. Chris Godwin hasn't practiced yet this week with a knee injury, but had the same injury last week and then played and then oh, by the way, saw twelve targets ten
catches in one hundred and fifty yards last week. I'm sure this is more veteran maintenance for the.
VET in Tampa.
The Jags have also allowed the ninth most receiving yards to opposing wideouts. So if Godwin is active, he could a B grade. That's a much closer to an A. I'd call it a B plus if Chart was here.
Oh wait, oh boy, I'm at home.
I can't do any you can't do anything. Sorry, no fake across the Death from strad exactly.
You could throw a dart at Kate Otten this week too, but it's just a C for him. The Jags have allowed the fourth most receiving yards to opposing tight ends this season, and Baker Mayfield had a perfect passer rating last week in lambeau Field. It's the first time of visiting quarterback has ever done that in lambeau Field sixty six years as the Packers home. I'm giving him an A grade this week for a lot of the reasons
I liked his wide receivers. In the last month, the Jags have allowed three hundred eleven yards and three scores to Joe Flacco, three point fifty four and a score to Jake Browning and three oh four and two to c. J.
Stroud. Let's keep the Baker bus rolling, all right.
We're gonna work in one quickie with Arizona in Chicago. Not a lot to talk about here. As you can imagine, with these offenses, Trey McBride, though, is just becoming an ob tight ends against the Bears are seeing the sixth most targets and the third most receptions in the twelfth most yards and he's just dominating right now. So we're gonna stick with Drey McBride as an a. The only other guy with a letter grade, James Connor, comes in hot,
but there's a very tough matchup against Chicago. No runner has topped eighty yards against the Bears all year, and since Week five, opposing runners averaging just fifty four yards per game. That is nothing. Chicago gives up a lot of receptions, but James Connor, get this, he hasn't topped five receiving yards since Week three. That's it. So zero participant in the receiving game startable only on volume here
in a C grade for him. The rest of the passing games on the bench, Kyler Murray is averaging zero point eight touchdown passes per game and his only reliable receiver, Markis Brown has been ruled out, so they are nothing to like there. And on the Chicago side, got a couple of A grades for you, Justin Fields would have had a mind sins game last week had Robert Tunyan
and Darneld Mooney not dropped easily catchuple long bombs. Arizona has allowed multiple thank you touchdowns in three of the last four games, and two of those quarterbacks three for four scores. Cardinals have only faced one mobile quarterback that was Lamar Jackson, who they held to seventeen yards, which is impressive, but they've given a four quarterback rushing touchdowns. Field could score here, although we haven't gotten a lot of rushing touchdowns out of fields this year. DJ Moore
another a grade for the Cardinals. Even after they've benched weekly roasty cornerback Marco Wilson, they still have got the worst set of starting cornerbacks in the league and DJ Moore very positive matchups no matter where he lines up, and he lines up all over the field. He's a deep ball specialist and Arizona gives up the fifth most receptions of forty or more yards, so easily easily easy
to see a big play coming here. Moore's been targeted at least nine times since Justin Fields return from injury in Week number one. The only other part of the receiving game. You might care about Cole Comet. He's got
a quad injury. You want to check his status. He's shaping up his game time decision over the past seven games, averaging that have very healthy six catches for forty seven yards and importantly the second most receptions from inside the ten yard line, and he scored the second most touchdowns from inside the ten yard line. In previous years, Arizona was terrible against tight ends, but that's all changed this year. They give up the second fewest receptions and the second
fewest yards to tight ends, just thirty eight. So I can only get you to a C grade on col Comet.
And lastly, Don.
De Foreman was might take a chance on me runner. I already talked about him. I like him here this week expected to go in a weird situation where he didn't practice Friday for reasons that were just listed as personal. But whatever, you should be able to go here, and I kind of like his opportunity. And I've got a B grade on Don de Foreman. When we come back, Cleveland takes on Houston. Joe Flacco hop we already talked
about that. Some Scott will bring us through the rest of the matchup when we return to Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back to a semi finals edition of Fantasy Football Weekly. Six more juicy matchups to break down for you, beginning with Cleveland Houston. Scott, you already tipped your hand earlier in this show that you are very high on David and Joko. He's my number two ranked tight end this week. What do you love about it?
Yeah? Well, since week seven, he is averaging fifteen point five points per game, twenty five percent target share in that offense, leads tight ends in targets inside the five six, plus catches in five of the last six, scoring three times in the last two games. And he's facing a Houston team allowing the second most receptions, third most yards and fourth and is overall fourth worst against tight ends. It's just a smash spot for a guy who is
just exploding, especially with Joe Flacco. Might take a chance on me quarterback at the helm. Also in the passing game, Amari Cooper, I'm giving a B grade two. He has seen his target skyrocket as well, with Flacco pulling in twenty two targets in the last two games. You'll remember that first Flaco game of Flacco's three games, Amari Cooper went out and Elijah Moore got hyper targeted with twelve targets. Since Stefanski mentioned in the post game that's because Cooper
went out. Now we're seeing what Cooper's doing with that huge volume. He'll be the number one option.
All number one up.
Most of the number one options against the Houston Texans have seen seventy two plus yards, almost all of them double digit PPR days. So I got a B grade here. You could talk me more into an A, but I'm gonna stick with a B. I think it's a little safer. I do have the run game on the bench. I know Houston's a mill of the pack run dye mostly to being bottom seven. But you know those nine to ten extra dropbacks Joe Flacco's taking, they're coming away from
the run games, and the Ford is splitting Jerome. Ford is splitting with Kareem Hunt and Pierre Strong. So if you're only taking half of a possible twenty touches in the middle of the pack matchup, the only backs that have really tagged Houston are high volume, Ford's not gonna get it. I have a bench grade on all the runners over there. Over on the Houston side. I'm sorry, Case Keenum. I still love you for the Minneapolis miracle, but I got you on the bench.
It's a Case Keenum revenge game, though they're.
All revenge goes at this point. For Case Keenum, come on, he gets the fourth toughest jog against fantasy quarterbacks. That brownstee is no joke, allowing the fewest passing yards. I got Keenum on the bench. Nico Collins is trending hords going with that calf injury. I missed, missed the first
few practices of the week, but then started practicing. If he goes, I expect him to go back to his hyper volume met volume work with Case Keenum in there seven plus catches in his three last three fully healthy games. It's not a tough draw though. I mean it's not an easy draw though. The Cleveland Brown's top six and receptions,
yards and touchdowns alloted to wide receivers. So just to C grade there, if he does not go, I give that C grade to no Brown because we saw last week Keenum sent all those targets right over to Noah Brown and he became the de facto one. As for tight ends, Dalton Schultz. He's also getting a C grade. You look at that number one ranked defense against tight ends with the Cleveland Browns and it does look a
little scary, But Keen Keenum targets the tight ends. Last week, schultzaw four catches for fifty nine yards, with second in targets on the team. Browns have allowed four tight end scores in just last four weeks, including three very decent tight end day So all those tight ends that they stopped were early in the year. They've led it up recently. So a C grade on Dalton Schultz and a B grade on Damian Pierce. I'm just Kadie Josh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that.
A B grade hurts and it's very personal. I don't know why you would do that.
B grade on Devin Singletary. Forty three touches in the last two games, including thirty last week with Keenum in it tells you they just want to run the ball a little bit more. With him in there, you keep it in his hands instead of Keenums. Perhaps only one back under fifteen touches topped seventy yards against the defense, but I think he might get over over seventy yards. By the way, the one back who tops seventy yards with under fifteen touches against the Browns Jalen Warren twice.
He's just cele efficient. It's a top ten run dye, but I think the volume is going to get him there. I got a B grade on him. On Devin Singletary.
All right, let's go over to Dallas taking on Myami Matt and at this point Dak Prescott ceedee lamb. Just feel like in every week A grade.
Yeah, but if you survived the Dak Prescott goose egg last week with one hundred and thirty four passing scores and no touchdown passes, you've built yourself a fantasy jugger.
Not really.
In the prior twenty two game or prior seven games, he was averaging three point three touchdown passes per game, and in five of those seven he got to at least two undred ninety nine yards. Miami is okay against the pass I don't see how you could bench Dak right now. I'm giving him an A grade in the highest over under of the week. But it is worth noting that offensive lineman Tyron Smith and Zach Martin both
haven't practiced yet this week. Due to injuries. I think both might suit up, but if both of them missed, it's probably enough to downgrade Dak to like a B plus, and if Dak gets an a CD, Lamb gets an A. He's ran from the slot about sixty percent of the time this year, which means he's going to get the best matchup most often against Dolphin slot corner Cater Kohu, which leaves Brandon Cooks and Michael Gallups seeing a lot
of Jalen Ramsey and Xavian Howard. Cooks and Gallop each move around quite a bit, and Howard stays on the left, Ramsey to the right, So I'll give Cooks a C grade in this one. That's likely because it's a shootout. Gallop on the bench, though Jake Ferguson gets a be kind of a C grade. He's seen exactly eight targets in three straight games, with an average line of six receptions sixty four yards, and he had one score in there.
Although the Dolphins have only allowed three tight end touchdowns on the season and none since Week seven, so that's why I want to give him a BEE. But it's on the matchup alone. It's kind of a C. Tony Pollard probably sees a slight uptick in his work this week with Rico Doubtel injured and limited all week with an ankle. The problem is, unless Pollard scores, he's killing your team. He's had four games where he's scored this year and is averaging twenty PPR points in those games.
In the ten he hasn't scored in, he's averaging only eleven PPR points per game in Miami's only allowed three total running back touchdowns in the last seven games. So it's just a C grade on Tony Pollard. And if his offensive lineman don't go, he's on the bench. Over on the Dolphin side, Tyreek Hill limited all week. They didn't need him to beat the Jets last week, but I think they will suit him up to beat Dallas and if he's if he's active, he's an A grade.
Jalen Wattle gets an A as well. The Cowboys have look look like they have a tough matchup on paper, but much of that was against some pretty bad quarterback wide receiver combos this year. Courtland Sutton, Stefan Diggs, Adam Thielen, aj Brown, Devonte Adams, Garrett Wilson, DeAndre Hopkins all had really good days against the Cowboys d So I'm not scared there, you know.
I With Wattle, it's I always feel like when Hill plays, it's just, you know, he has that dud game where just Hill just dominates box scores. And maybe because he'll's not one hundred percent, Wattle is more safe. But I always feel like I can't trust Waddle at the A level when when he'll play.
Yeah, I'm still gonna trust him, just based on we don't know if Tyreek hills one hundred percent and maybe he tweaks that ankle a little bit and suddenly Jalen Waddle's the focal point in which should be a shootout if Tyreek and Waddle are a's. In my mind, Tua is as well. Gino Smith and Sam Howell each topped three hundred yards against Dallas in the last four weeks.
Raheem Mostert is a must start, especially after James Cook exposed this Cowboys defense to the tune of twenty five carries one hundred and seventy nine yards and a score on the ground, plus two receptions forty two yards and another score through the air.
That was just last week.
Mostart's seeing about ten more snaps per game and about five more rushing attempts over Devon ah Chan right now over just the last three weeks, although ah Chan has been leading in targets over that time at sixteen to four over Mostert. However, Dallas is the number one defense in the league against running back receptions. They only allow three, and a Chan is dealing with a toe injury. It's caused him to mispractice time both last week and this week,
So Moster gets an A grade. A Chan, I'm given just a C because I think this matchup just favors Mostart a lot more.
Okay, when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, plenty more games to get to, including the Kansas City Chiefs that used to be certain starters but not necessarily anymore. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelcey possibly benching in the playoffs. It sounds absurd. You may have better options. We'll talk it through when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly Final Segment Fantasy Football Weekly Semi Finals edition. Let's hope you're listening next week. I have that'd be the best.
Let's get to those two.
I want you to get there, Yes, yeah, we'd love championships. You never remember the money, you remember the winning. That's that's always the best part. We have three games on Monday, Christmas Day, and you've still got a Sunday matchup to get through. Let's advance to Las Vegas Kansas City. This is the earliest of the Christmas Day games. Josh Jacob's status as of the moment we're recording this still unknown.
You return to practice on Friday. In the old days, you would worry about the Chiefs, like getting ahead by twenty one and a half, and then the game script is such that you couldn't help you know, runners couldn't help you anymore. But that's that is not the Kansas City Chiefs anymore. And Josh Jacobs against Kansas City a month ago twenty four touches one hundred and twenty three yards in a touchdown. Chiefs give up four point seven
yards per carry to opposing running backs. That is second worst in the league, and they've got the second worst run stop win rate. So, Josh Jacobs, if you were fully healthy, I'd give him an A. But even with the quad injury, I'll just I'll knock him down one letter to a B. The receivers you care about are DeVonta Adams and Jacoby Myers. Let's talk that through because it's really fascinating. Adams was held to a modest game against Kansas City. In that game a month ago, seven catches,
seventy three yards, did not score. Good game, not great game, difficult matchup on the outside because Lagerius Sneid is emerging as one of the best young cornerbacks in the league. He hasn't allowed to score all year. He shadowed Adams in the previous game, giving up sixty six of the seventy three yards that Adams did get. So that is a lot as a big game by Snead standards to give up sixty six yards. But it kind of tells you can get something out of Adams here, but probably
not an explosive game. I can only get you to a B grade on DeVante Adams. Now, Myers is really fascinating because in this matchup last month he got more yards than Adams. He got a touchdown that Adams didn't get because he didn't have to see Legerius Snead. Same thing coming here in all probability. In the previous game, six different Chiefs defenders were on to Kobe Myers. Total boomer Bus play here, but the opportunities are going to be there for Myers with a lot worse coverage than
what Adams get. So boomer Buss guy, if you're like already behind because you're playing against I don't Matthew Stafford pookin a cool or whatever. Jacoby Myers intriguing play all right on the Kansas City side. We're at a stage now where Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelcey are merely B grades and that's it. Get this for Patrick Mahomes. Twenty five quarterbacks have posted three touchdown games more recently than Patrick Mahomes did back in Week seven. Unbelievable that we're
talking about this now. Last time when these when these teams met a month ago, he put up two hundred and ninety eight yards and two scores. It's totally solid numbers. And I think that's the same range you're gonna get here. The Raiders haven't seen many good passers, but they generally end up giving up in the high two hundreds for yards and they generally giving up around two scores. That
sounds about right for Mahomes. Here for Kelsey, where she Rice's emergence maybe taking a lot of targets away from Kelsey. Rice runs from the slot through the middle of the field that's in the past has been like exclusively Travis Kelcey territory, and over the last four weeks, Kelsey has only seen seven targets and five receptions per game. Those are low numbers for him. Now he has had at least eighty targets in three of those games, so you know,
the productivity is still okay. Raiders, though, have been strong against tight ends, not allowing more than fifty seven yards other than the ninety one yards the Kelsey put up in Week twelve. For ra she Rice a grade. Yes, I'm delighted that it's come to this.
Yeah.
Over his last four games, fourth in yards among wide receivers while scoring three times in those four games. The Chiefs lead the league in drops, but not because of Rice. He's got an eighty percent catch rate, The highest mark for a rookie receiver with seventy or more targets in the last thirty years is wow. I love it. Rice has orchestrated his best game of the season against Vegas in Week twelve. Eight catches, one hundred and seven yards and a touchdown. He runs from the slot a lot.
That puts him up against Nate Hobbs, who allows us seventy eight percent catch rate, and Hobbs gave up Rice's touchdown in the previous meeting. So I love her. She Rice here? Yeah, oh great.
That previous meeting was kind of his breakout game. By the way, She right was second in yards after the catch per reception, only behind Deebo'. That's I love it. Yeah, love it. He needs it with a three yard eight ot though.
Well that is true. You gotta you better do something after the catch at that point. Yeh Iszam Pacheco is going to return to this game. Medically cleared last week, but the team decided to play its IF and they sat him, and so he should be near one hundred percent health. He's gonna be rested and ready for the Monday game. He's posted a career high two scores against the Raiders in the previous game, and the Raiders allow the seventh most total yards to opposing running backs. But
I'll cost that is. Receiving numbers are way down. He's averaging just nine receiving yards over the last five games, although Jerrick McKinnon may not go with a groin injury, so that might give him a couple extra catches. All right, let's move over to our next game, which is the Giants taking on Philadelphia. Scott Saquon Barkley major bummer last week. Do you put him in your lineup against a good Eagles run defense.
Yeah, it's really tough. At best, it's probably your volume see alert. He has been averaging fifteen touches with Devido in but in the blowout last week, split snaps with Braida and Brada got a third of the touches. Game script is going to be a thing. But with Barkley, Walker, Dowdell, Pollard, CMC, Cook, Pacheco all had decent and days in recent weeks against the Philly Rundy that was awesome, like top five for most of the year, but the last four or four
or five weeks they've been tagged a little bit. So I'm gonna give him the volume C in the past grade that pass game. I actually have some grades here. I'm giving Tommy DeVito a C. Philly is the second best matchup for quarterbacks, and the game script should have him passing more. His really good passing day with the three touchdowns was against that also very poor Washington pass d so it's a little bit comparable. I'll give him the C grade here. I'm giving a B grade to
Darren Waller has played seven full games. In those seven full games, he had six or more targets in all but one. And despite playing a full game last week, he only played twenty six snaps, but he had four for forty in those twenty six snaps. Once he's closer to you know, ninety percent of the snaps, should have a much bigger game here. I am given a C grade as well to wan Dale Robinson. I really have trouble giving grades to New York Giants wide receivers at all.
But if you're really, really, really really in a pinch, Eagles allow the most slot points yards and second most targets. It's it's just a really good spots. The Giants very who the leading receiver is, but Robinson has been the consistent one, you know, three to five catches most weeks. It's just it's it's a great matchup where he plays eighty percent of the time in the slot. Over on the other side, Jalen Hurts and A J. Brown are
getting a's. I don't know how much I have to go into them with a J. Brown's only had a couple duds, and it's lagarious need in one other DeVonta Smith. If he goes, and mind you, he did not practice Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, he's questionable.
Do they need him to beat the Giants?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
He may not gooff.
If he goes, I have a B grade on him. If he doesn't go, I have a B grade on Dallas godd or Dallas Goddard'll get a see if Davonta smits, goes. But we have talked about this for two years. When Davonta Smith and Goddard are tied, it's like the vlume goes to the other one when the one when the one is out. So I will give the B grade
to Dallas Goddard, assuming Davanta Smith doesn't go. Thirteen targets in his last two games since returning, not a whole lot of volume, but he'll get a little more with this. And the Giants just allowed two tight end scores last week and a Tucker craft bit decent day the week before. In the run game, I'm only giving a grade to DeAndre Swift. Since his breakout against Minnesota, he's been very, very pedestrian, but he's still getting fifteen to twenty touches.
Hurtz keeps stealing the touchdowns. I'm gonna give him the volume. C I expect more running this game as they Philly pulls ahead and they just run later. I don't think I can give anything to Kenneth Gaywell gain Well, and I'm not gonna start Boston Scott do the accent despite him scoring in all nine games.
Come on, come on, he's played Boston Scott.
Now, including the playoff game. He's got ten touchdowns in nine games against the Giants. I just can't do it. He's got You don't think that.
If so, let's he just set this up. No, they're at the goal line where they would normally do a twist, two cheek, sneak or whatever. Yes, you don't. You don't think Nick Sirianni Boston Scott. I heard do what he's done every time.
If you're if you're balls enough, go for If you're desperate enough and balls enough, you might get six point one points.
It could just be a blowout to and and they might want to not give Swift all the touches.
That's very true, very true.
When we lose a touchdown out of Jalen Hurts box score because of this, it's going to be a major bummer, really will be. It's that it's not about Boston Scott. It's about Jalen Hurts losing a rushing touchdown and that that would worry me a little bit. Yeah, that part's a bummer. New England takes on Denver. Matt I got Ezekiel Elliott's right now sitting at run back five. I think you've already touched on the positivity of that matchup.
Yeah, he is.
Might take a chance on your runner. I should say, very solid A grade in this one, Hunter Henry the only part of the passing game you could consider. He gets a C grade against Denver, who's bottom four in receptions and yards to the tight end position, and they've given up the most tight end touchdowns this year with nine of those. So Hunter Henry C grade if you need him on the Broncos side. I'm not feeling a
huge Russell Wilson week this week. He's topped two hundred and fifty passing yards only once in his last eleven games, and he's thrown for exactly one touchdown and four of his last five. What's kept his fantasy managers afloat is that he's ran for a score in three of the last four games. The Patriots have only allowed two rushing scores to a quarterback all season, and four of the last five quarterbacks they faced have had two hundred and twelve or fewer yards and one or zero touchdown passes.
So just a SEA grade for Wilson Courtland. Sutton is kind of like the AFC version of Mike Evans. He's scored in ten games this year and not scored in four. I'll throw him a B grade as the Pats present a slightly better than average matchup for wide receivers. They've allowed the ninth most receptions to the wide receivers at about fourteen per game, and they do allow about a touchdown per game to the position. Who do you think
that goes to. It's gonna be Sutton. Finally, Javonte Williams is still getting most of the work, but his shares have been cut into recently by Jalil McLoughlin and samaj p Ryin. The problem is Williams only good Fantasy Day in the last month came against the Chargers, who are a terrible run defense, and the Patriots are not terrible at this They're second best in the league at yards per carry at three point two. They're only allowing one hundred and seven combo yards per game to the position,
which is sixth best in the league. And if Williams gets about sixty percent of the touches here, he's looking at like a sixty five yard game and his chances of a touchdown are a coin flip at best. So just a C grade for Williams.
All right, final matchup the Monday nighter Super Bowl preview, maybe Baltimore at San Francisco. Let's start with Let's start with Lamar Jackson. You know, for San Francisco, every opposing quarterback with six or more carries has scored a rushing touchdown or top forty three yards. So Jackson's gonna help you on the ground here can good passers generally fare
pretty well against the Niners. Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, Kirk, Cousins, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts average tw hundred and eighty four yards and one and a half touchdowns. The question is is Lamar Jackson in their category in their strata. I don't think he's quite there, And every other passer besides those elite level passers only post two hundred and nineteen yards and zero point eight touchdowns per game. Now where he could help you out his volume, forty nine ers
see the second most passes thirty eight per game. Distill all that into one letter grade, then we've got to be on the mo Jackson A see on Zay Flowers as the go to receiver for this offense. Leading the team in targets over the last three weeks, forty nine ers have allowed the third most receptions to opposing receivers.
Zay lines up all over the field and his matchups on the outside are difficult, but he's got this path of least resistance in the slot against Isaiah Oliver, which is very positive among all cornerbacks who's played at least three hundred snaps. Oliver's giving up an eighty nine percent catch rate that is the worst in the league. So I like Flowers out of the slot. Here an opportunity to start him. Odell Beckham had an inexplicable dud last week in a far easier matchup, but I don't know.
Maybe startable if you believe the Ravens are going to be passing from behind throughout the game. The forty nine ers see the third most wide receiver targets and the second most wide receiver reception, so you know he might be startable, particularly if Niners cornerback Deamador Lenor does not play and he's questionable, then I think you could give a throw to Odell Beckham, but that's it. Isaiah likely
touchdowns in consecutive games. Tough matchup, though, Niners allowing just forty seven yards and five receptions per game to tight ends thanks to the large part to Fred Warner, who's obviously great. He's Pro Football Focused's fourth best rated coverage linebacker, and before they allowed Trey McBride to go for a one hundred yards last week, tight ends have only gotten over fifty yards twice this season, but McBride did hit him for one hundred, so Isaiah likely started ble with
a C grade in this game. Gus Edwards C grade. Keaton Mitchell out for the year, so Edwards should see an upticking usage. Although you know what's gonna happen in Justice Hill is going to be frustratingly involved. Yep, forty nine ers allow the second second fewest total yards and the fewest touchdowns to opposing running backs only twenty one per game. Opponents to know the runs coming when Edwards
is on the field. He faces eight or more defenders in the box on thirty three percent of his rushing attempts, which is four highest among all running backs. And that makes it tough for Edwards goal line. Maybe you get a touchdown here, that's it for Edwards and a C grade. Let's go over to San Francisco. Brat Perdy and Christian McCaffrey obvious as and you would think Deebo Samuel would
be as well. He comes in his Fantasy Football's highest scoring receiver over the last six games, so I know you're going to start him, but he carries some sneaky downside. I want to explain to you here. First, Deebo's had four or fewer receptions in five of his last seven games. That is very low volume. That means he has to get touchdowns to make up for the low volume. And as you can guess, the Ravens don't give up a lot of touchdowns. Fourth fewest to wide receivers just half
a touchdown per game on average to wide receivers. Samuel runs from all parts of the field evenly, but hopefully more so from the slot on Monday, because the Ravens have given up one hundred yard games to Cooper Cup Keenan Allen and I'm on Ross Saint Brown great slot receiver recently, so you hope he can run from the slot. I can only give you a B grade on Deebo Samuel in a tough matchup. Brandon Ayuk runs from the outside,
isn't his favorable as the slot. He'll see cornerback Marlin Humphrey, who's been lights out since Week six, giving up just twenty three scoreless yards in his coverage, so I can
only get you to a B grade on him. And lastly, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel carves into his box score a lot in games with a healthy Deebo Samuel Kittle averaging just three and a half catches for fifty eight yards, and the Ravens allowed the eighth fewest yards and the twelfth fewest receptions the tight ends and only three touchdowns all season, so it's a tough matchup for Kittle and I've only got a C grade on him this week. It's a lot of talking. Yeah, thanks everybody for us list this.
Yeah, thank you very much.
Merry Christmas, everybody, Happy holidays. Great semi finals matchup, I hope for all of you, and we'll talk to you for the championship week next week. Bye bye. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.