Worst. Episode. Ever

is the first week of the playoffs. Never there been a better week to have a first round by than this week. It's basically an if then episode of Fantasy Football Weekly for your coders out there. If we will be you're gonna be hearing a lot of if this guy plays, if this quarterback is in, then this, If this defense isn't ravaged by COVID, then this. So brace for a lot of that. We're gonna try to get through all the games, including the games that have now

moved to Monday and Tuesday night. Las Vegas and Cleveland is now Monday night, Washington, Philadelphia now Tuesday night, Seattle, Los Angeles now Tuesday night on Sunday. You're going to need to make some tough calls about Monday and Tuesday players whose status you don't know that you're hoping will clear the COVID protocols, but you're not gonna know. And mostly the answers I'm gonna be giving people are Start. Guys, you know we're gonna play. Start all your Chiefs and Chargers,

Go Start Travis Kelsey. Uh, we're gonna go through all the matchups. Of course, like always, no by weeks. This week three tough questions like we usually do. Let's begin with the Texans taking on the Jaguars my coast. I should mention Matt Harrison at Explosive out Put on Twitter, Brian Johnson at bat t x J on Twitter as well. Hi, guys, well this one will be a quick one. Uh, I bet it with Ars, especially in the playoffs, where I've asked you guys, don't bore our listeners with players who

are not on any playoff rosters. I don't want to hear about Rex Burkhead this week. Well, since there's a lot of COVID people in uh in the protocol this week, you might need a few Texans and a few Jaguars. So let's talk about the guys that you might need. Brandon Cooks is the obvious one. He gets a B grade here with Davis Mills back under the helm, Cooks was targeted copiously last week eleven targets eight for one

oh one last week against Seattle. In his first meeting against the Jags, Cooks went for a hundred and thirty two yards on five catches. Speaking of Davis Mills, hold on a minute, because the collective group that was here last week hammered take a chance on me, including Brian Johnson, who went three for three with Davis Mills. Take a chance on Penny Rashide Penny, which was a huge hit. And your third guy, do you remember Jalen Guyton, Yeah, Jalen, but that became too easy and I threw out Josh

Palmer as a bonus. So I'll take three and a half. You can have the three and a half. The Hooper Scooper was a big hit last week. All feel free to continue the Scott Fish. We gotta throw out the Craig Reynolds. It wasn't take on, but I was like, I've never heard of the guy before, but did not actually technically use him is just take a chance, I mean running back. Another guy that Scott Fish has mentioned a few times is Nico Collins, who just recorded his

career best day last week against Seattle. Uh. The intriguing thing was ten targets he saw from Davis Mills and Collins gets to draw the worst of the Jags corners. That's Tyson Campbell, who's allowing a passer rating of one oh five in his coverage. No playoff team is starting David Johnson. Both quarterbacks in this game, Davis Mills and Trevor Lawrence around the bench. So now onto the Jags you can start. Marvin Jones is the wide receiver you'd want to play if you needed a Jaguar. He only

gets a seed. Bright side is the Texans have allowed the eighth most receiving yards to opposing wide receivers on the season. You're not dipping down to Lavisca Chenalta, Lakwan Treadwell territory here and James Robinson he gets a B plus. I think he's a good day here. That was not even subtle that he is a B grade. Oh whatever, you if you believe some of the reports, there was a bit of a schism between Robinson and urban Meyer, and he was limited in Wednesday's practice, but suddenly he's

feeling a lot better on Thursday. The Texans are allowing the most rushing yards per game to opposing backs, the third most rushing touchdowns, and four point nine yards per carry. They're giving up a first down on basically every two runs. So you can start James rob Robinson with some confidence.

Let's I I hope that they pound James Robinson and it turns out that the the guy that was limiting his reps was not Darryl Bubble, because it could be urban Meyer wasn't already pounding people with his foot, and that's why he's not there anymore. Nicely, that's it. That's it. Okay, let's move on to our next matchup, Cowboys taking on the Giants. Brian for the Cowboys, this running game is erect. We don't know for sure if Tony Pollard is going to try to play through the torn plant or fascia

in his foot. Ezekiel Elliott has been bad and they actually gave more touches to Corey Clement last week. What do you do with this running game? Yeah, you pretty much just just start Zeke and I'll mention quickly the Giants and Cowboys did play in Week five. Will reference that game a couple of times here, but I'm gonna give Zeke a b. He had a hundred ten yards and a touchdown rushing, caught two passes and a receiving touchdown in the first meeting. Will likely be without left

tackle Tyron Smith in this game, though. That said, the Giants could be without Leonard Williams defensive end, which would be a big loss. But even when at full health, New York has allowed one plus rushing yards per game to the opposition. But like you said, you want to keep an eye on Tony Pollard. That'll that'll dim Zeke's prospects a little bit. But I'm still give as he could be here in a game that should be a positive game script for the running backs. For the Cowboys side,

Ceedee Lamb, I very positive outlook for him. He gets an a. New York has been brutal against wide receivers lately, allowing the fourth most yards the position over the past two games. Lamb had eighty four yards in a touchdown in the first meeting, and that's probably a solid floor projection for him in this one. So in a for cd uh, not an A for Mark Cooper, but I'm gonna give him a B. He also did well in the first meeting. He had sixty yards in a touchdown

in the Week five game. He has also scored in his two previous games against the Giants, so he has very good past performance against New York. So would be for Cooper and a CEE for Michael Gallup. He did not play in the Week five game. He was injured then. But it's a good matchup and I'm just worried that the script could fall out of favor for the wide receivers or Dallas, but they all have potential here. But just to see for Gallop, Gallops look good. By the

way he's gonna be. I think he's gonna get paid this office for sure. Where do we want him to end up? Kansas City would be a nice spot. Yeah, you know, I haven't thought that far, but I don't want him to be one of the other five guys in that rotation. Umari Cooper, just as a side note, looked as good as he's looked on the field since before he had the COVID and before that when he had the hamstring, so he had to go back almost two months. He looked downright, spry, and I'm optimistic about

a big game for Marie Cooper here. Yeah, it could be a big game for Dalton Schultz. He had six catches for seventy nine yards in the first meeting between the Giants and Cowboys. And it's a decent matchup for tight ends. Uh. The Giants are alloting more than five catches and fifty yards per game to the position, so a double digit PPR floor is in place for Schultz and uh Dak Prescott and obvious a when all three wide receivers in the in the tight end gets starting grades.

And uh, it's worth mentioning he had three plus yards and three touchdowns in the first game of the season between these two over to the Giant side. Not a whole lot to talk about other than season ticket holders supposedly getting a free medium soda at this game. I don't know. I read this on Twitter. It's fan appreciation days. If you spend you spent fifty grand on Worth Giants tickets, you get a free You don't even get a large Well, no, I think they're not allowed to sell large sodas in

New York City. That makes sense, you know what I mean? But yeah, it's not. But over se Kwon Barkley, he gets to see Dallas has held the posing teams who under sixty five rushing yards in four of the last five games, and their defensive line. Dallas has has a significant advantage over the Giants offensive line. And this one is a very soft to see for Barkley, who got hurt in the first meeting only atune as. Yeah, just to see. Uh, just a bench, double bench for a

sterling Shepherd and Kenny. That's just a bench, not a double bench. Can't have you never said you can't give a bench plus No, I know you can't because that gets you somewhere out of between bench and a C grade. There's no bench plus. Well, the double bench is fine because you can't extra bench. Somebody. I like how you're fine with the harpoon though what the don't even know what the harpoon means, So you're probably got the harpoon. Pass me, we got some harpoon, he used later in

the show. But benching Golladay and Shepherd, despite it being a positive matchup on paper, Uh, we'll get to the quarterback situation in a second for the Giants. But Shephard and Gala Day combined for twelve Let's not get to the quarterback situation. It will only take a second when we do. But Shepherd Golliday combined for twelve targets last week, just four catches for forty two scoreless yards. So they're on the bench. So is whoever the quarterback is Mike Glennon,

it could be Daniel Jones. Maybe either way you're benching then, But I will give Evan and Groom a see opposing tight ends or averaging nearly five catches sixty yards per game against Dallas. Ingram had four catches for fifty five yards in the first meeting, so double digit PPR points is possible. Listen, this is the ninth straight positive matchup on paper for Evan Ingram and he never comes through the tight end. Waste Land, you take ten points. He's

not giving you ten points because he never does. Alright, Still giving a Patriots take on the Colts, and there's only a couple of guys to talk about. Damien Harris gets a b great exp acted to be recovered from his hamstring injury for this game. Colts are good run defense, but Harris read it. Good run defense is this year, including Buffalo before last week's by Indians, allowing the ninth fewest rushing yards eighth fewest rushing touchdowns to opposing backs.

And Harris again uber hot before the injury, scoring eight times in his last eight games, a span over which he was averaging a whopping five yards per carry. So even in a tough matchup, Harris comes in with a B grade. We're gonna keep reminder Stevenson on the bench. He when Harris gets his the full workload that he gets, there's not enough left for Stevenson. And this is a trickier matchup than most. And the only other guy with

the starting great is Mac Jones. He's top two hundred thirty yards once, just once in his last six games, and over the last month, the Colts have allowed the league's fewest passing yards just one seventy seven per game, despite facing far better quarterbacks Josh Allen and Tom Brady. And he's one of the league's worst deep passers by the way, where yards and touchdowns come. You know what, I'm putting him on the bench, forget it. I've just talked to myself, Auto mac Jones, and all the receivers

are on the bench too. If you've got the playoffs, you don't need Jacobe Myers, Nelson, Aguilar, Kendrick Born against a team that's given up the fewest receptions yards and second fewest touchdowns to opposing wide receivers, they're on the bench. Let's go to Indianapolis side. Jonathan Taylor's an obvious a and I should mention here, not that you need any extrapolation on this, but the Patriots are actually shockingly easy to run upon, and they're brutally tough to pass on.

They're allowing one hundred fifty four total yards per game to opposing running backs, that's fourth most, and through the air, they're giving up the fourth most receiving yards. And Taylor can catch a literally, you know, he chips in a couple of catches every game. Sure, uh Niahim Hines is not an option really in this game, and I don't

think you're gonna need him here. The only other player I've got with the starting grade is Michael Pittman, and he's the only Colts I think, the only other cold outside of Taylor you'd ever consider starting in the playoffs, but it is a bad matchup. Nobody has shut down wide receivers more consistently than New England over the last five weeks. Entire receiving positions are averaging seventy eight yards

per game over the last five against New England. So if all of the Indian receivers are gonna get seventy eight yards, Pittman gets half. His one on one matchup is brutally tough against emerging star cornerback J. C. Jackson. He has a passer rating against him in his coverage of thirty nine. That's not that's not good. Carson Wentz is on the bench for the reasons I think you've already already heard as we talked about the wide receivers here and you ken pick spots to start Wentz, this

is definitely not one of them. Let's take a break when we come back, take a chance on me. Nine players not normally in your starting lineup. It's a weird week and there's gonna be a bunch of different angles to start guys you would not normally start. We're gonna do our best to give you players we think are going to go with positive matchups, but it really who knows. I got a nice we're throwing darks. I got a

nice weird angle coming up. You do, all right, Willie will stay tuned Fantasy Football Weekly to hear Brian's weird angle. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. A segment we like, he'll take a chance on me. Nine players who may or may not contract COVID between now and when you try to start them. True at the time of this, I got one that's not gonna get it. I'm well, he just came off the list. He's quarantine in a box. Well, Dolf. He just came off the list because he had it

and recovered from it. Then, yes, probably saying now he just came up off the list because he was like a close contact and anyway, I don't know, we'll find out soon. All right, Let's go to the quarterback position, Matt. I got Jimmy G again. Third week in that's the third week probably for just for you. Yeah, Jimmy G against the Seahawks in week thirteen and two, that's when I used him. Fish used him last week against the

Bengals to and two. We're going back to the well against the Falcons, who have faced maybe the easiest slate of quarterbacks I've ever seen this year. The notable names they faced, like Heineke Dimes, Zack Wilson, Simeon, Trevor Lawrence, and the Panthers awful trio of quarterbacks twice. Yeah. Still, they've allowed the third most passing scores in the league at two touchdowns per game, and have allowed the sixth most completion So Jimmy g will get two scores in

this one. All right, Brian, you take a chance at me, quarterback. I'm going to a toungo viola at home against the Jets. Miami won't have Jalen Waddle in this game. That well, not officially outs, not literally enough in the week that it's there's a chance he comes back for this. I think the odds already won't play, but hopefully he does.

But even if he doesn't, I don't care. I like too against the Jets, And how can you not when the Jets have allowed these sixth most passing yards per game at two fifty four per and outside of Taysom Hill last week, New York has surrendered multiple passing touchdowns and eight straight games that includes the two touchdowns and two d seventy three yards they allowed to tah when these teams were submitting week eleven, and the Jets are

already going to be without starting cornerback Justin Hardy. They could be without the other starting cornerback, Michael Carter the second so to a Tonga viola. Bear in mind, I'm an emotionally damaged Vikings fan. I'm pretty I'm as as are all Viking fans this season, aren't we all? Uh? And that's part of what's driving me to recommend Justin Fields on what it's currently Monday night. Well, hopefully that

will hold. That will hold the all the Bears problems with COVID, Maybe they move that to Tuesday as well. Rutching yards can mitigate a bad passing game and feel just finally being allowed to run the ball. Over his last three full games, he's averaged seventy four rushing yards. That puts him You're you're basically starting running backs rushing numbers out of Justin Fields, and the Vikings have faced exactly two mobile quarterbacks. Kyler Murray ran for a touchdown,

Lamar Jackson ran for a hundred twenty yards. Fields will also help through the air, because the Vikings cornerbacks are dreadful. No Viking cornerback ranks higher than one in coverage by Pro Football Focus. Darnell Mooney can beat the Vikings deep. Alan Robinson, if he's able to go, can win on routes and hands. Jachim Grant has turned into a factor. There's a lot of ways. Justin Fields can get helped through the air as well. I like him by ground,

sea and air. Let's go to the I'm looking forward to the sea part. Let's go to the running back position. Matt, I got somebody who's from Seattle. Oh nice, Maybe we just need to uh let Rashad Penny cook in a peacock to Brian against last Sound right there if you're live from Pugech sound so. In the last three years, Rashad Penny has had ten rushing attempts or more in five total games. He scored a touchdown in four of those five games, including two last week in a total

of hundred and thirty seven yards. And Alex Collins was just put on the COVID list. Now this game is now Tuesday, but right now it's just Penny and DJ Dallas left on the roster. He's facing a Rams team that is missing a lot of people. According to COVID, and the Rams have allowed a touchdown to six running backs who have led their team in touches over the last seven weeks, so a touchdown is basically guaranteed for Rashad Penny here. All right, you know I mocked Penny

last week. I can't do it now, so you know you guys shut me up on that. Brian, you take a chance at me running back? All right, weird COVID angle time. I'm going. I'm going back to the Dolphins. And no, not Miles Gascon. That's too easy. I'm going Salven Akhmed, the backup running back. Both have been activated as never easy, by the way, and more easier. That's part of the play here, like he just disappears at times.

It gets benched or is this play is awful? So and and the speaking of awful, the Jets against running backs, they're allowing a hundred nearly a hundred eighty combo yards and two touchdowns per game, which is stunning. They're actually the worst team against any position out of every defense against any position, I believe, by a pretty large margin.

Astronomical numbers. So Salvin Akhmed, there's gonna be enough to go around for him and this one again, and if Gascon disappears, you could have a top five running back on your hands. And we know, well, even if Gaskin doesn't disappear, just out of if you can get to eight touches on Salvin Akhmed, maybe that's enough. He'll get

double digit touches. I just want to see Jared Doakes activated from the practice squall that they I forgot that Duke Johnson to look, there's a long laundry list of running backs, but I went with Akamed, So let's go Salvin. Donte Foreman is your leader among running backs for Tennessee, and he's the latest to go up against the Steelers. This is another really struggling run defense. You saw Dalvin Cook roll up a monster game just in the first

half against the Steelers last week. They're allowing the fourth most sushing yards and a league worse four point nine yards per carry. Two opposing backs and the starters over the last five weeks have all crushed the Steelers. DeAndre Swift, Austin Neckler, Joe Mixon, Devanta Freeman, and Dalvin Cook. And granted, dot Freeman is not nearly as good as those guys in general, but they averaged a hundred forties six total

yards and two touchdowns. So if even if he's half as good as those guys, Dot de Foreman sitting on potentially in eighty yard game, seventy five yard game and a touchdown, Matt, let's go to the wide receiver slash tight end position now as of this recording, I'm taking David in Joeku because as of now the Browns would be missing tight end Austin Hooper and Stephen Carlson on the COVID list, Harrison Bryant is questionable with an ankle injury. Plus Jarvis Landry is on the COVID list, and Cream

Hunt is out. The old line is a mess. And right now, no Baker Mayfield, no case Keenum, it's Nick Mullins starting. And a great stat from Kent wy Rock in games which Nick Mullins had at least of the snaps, so these are his days. In San Francisco, George Kittle's averages were ten targets, six and a half receptions, nine yards, and half a score per game. All of those numbers are way better than Kittle's career averages, so Mullins likes to target the tight end and David and Joke Wu

has the talent. We saw him go for a hundred and forty nine and one in a game against the Chargers this year. We all know the opportunity is here and this now he gets the one of the worst tight end defenses in the league. The Raiders are bottom five and receptions, yards and touchdowns allowed to the tight end position, and they have allowed a touchdown to a tight end nine times in their last nine games. Brian, you'na take a chance and we're running back white receiver. Sorry,

I'm going Buffalo's Gabriel Davis against the Panthers. Now, the Panthers's out Manny Sanders is out and the Panthers on a great matchup for why but Davis will not draw step on Gilmore. That will probably go to Stefon Diggs. We'll see most of that coverage. But this is really how good Gabriel Davis is when given an opportunity. He is second over the last six weeks and yards per route run only behind George Kittle, in ahead of Justin Jefferson, and in this this season, he is number eight in

Fantasy points per target. He was eleventh last year. He just needs opportunities and he's gonna get him on Sunday. So if Gabriel Davis is out there, especially in a dynasty league, this guy is like top twenty wide receiver potential moving forward this season and next years. Rolling forward to next year, I'm going a J. Green against Detroit. It's Detroit, so maybe this is a little obvious. DeAndre

Hopkins is out. Green becomes the go to wide receiver for this passing offense and he's coming off his biggest game of the year. He runs This is really weird. A J. Green runs eight percent of his routes from one side of the field. I've never seen that before. He is pegged to the right side of the field, which puts him up against journeyman cornerback Nickel Roby Coleman, who as of two weeks ago, was sitting on a

couch like the rest of us. He's only because he's only playing for Detroit because of the loss of cornerback Jerry Jacobs, who was only playing because of the loss of Jeff Okuda, and now they're to Nickel Roby Coleman. Coleman's only played one game this year, but last year with the Eagles awful, allowing a passer rating of one twenty four in his coverage A J. Green's gonna eat him alive. I like that when players don't have a team,

they just sit on a couch. Are always on the couch or on the street's street free agents, Yeah, sitting on the street. Pittsburgh is taking on the Titans. Will start on the Titan side. I told you I love Foreman as might take a chance of me running back. What do you think about the passing game that is languished for most of the last two months. Yeah, I'm

giving Ryan Tannehill a C grade. He hasn't really had his full complement of weapons in a long time, which is somewhat excusing his average stat line of one yards and zero point eight touchdowns per game over the last six weeks. He's only good for his rushing ability. Yeah, Still, he's very accurate, and this matchup favors running over passing, So just to see, but you know, actually probably a bench.

I'll give Julio Jones a B grade, though Pro Football Focus has Julio's matchup against cornerback Cameron Sutton ranked at point four out of a hundred this week, Sutton allowed two touchdowns in his coverage last week in Minnesota, and Julio was a bit disappointing last week, but the Jaguars game was never in doubt for the Titans and they didn't need to throw, and Julio still led the team with six targets. Over on the Steeler side, Big Ben gets a B grade. Looking inspired in the comeback attempt

last Thursday, faces a very similar secondary in Tennessee. They've allowed either two yards or multiple touchdown passes in ten out of thirteen games this season, and Roethlisberger is thrown for multiple scores and three of his last four. So you can fire up Big Ben. You're obviously firing up Deonte Johnson with an A and Chase Claypool gets to be if you're super desperate for a wide receiver, you could throw a harpoon at James Washington. Uh. The Steelers

receivers torched a similarly bad Vikings secondary last week. Uh They're those two secondaries are shockingly similar. The Titans have allowed the most yards and receptions to the wide receivers this year. Pat Friar muth He gets a C grade. Titans linebacker Jayn Brown is asked to cover the tight end most often, he allows a catch on eight eight percent of his targets, and Friar muth Is scored in six of his last seven. And then Naji Harris gets He gets almost all the work and the hope that

he can duplicate what the Patriots backs did. Two games ago. The Patriots backfield trio combined for a hundred and fifty two total yards and to score on twenty five touches. Now, the Titans have held the Jaguars, the Texans, the Alvin Camaro less Saints to nearly nothing outside of uh in the running game. But the Pats game, which was two weeks ago, they they they gave up some stuff, so they faced one of the softer running back schedules in

the league this year. So I'm holding Nag at a B. It's definitely one of the more positive B grades I'll give, though. We'll just call that what we like to call it, B grade for Nagi Harris and this one a real positive. No, it's not, it's just it. What about it? I like that better? At least it's witty. I feel positive about killer Bees. When we come back, Panthers take on the Bills, We'll tell you if there's anybody who contrust out of that Panther's offense, presumably led by Cam Newton. Maybe I

don't know for half the game. Maybe Josh Allen comes into this one hobbled. What are you gonna do with him? Lots of storylines Panthers Bills and many other games. When we come back for the final segment of our number one Fantasy Football Weekly, Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Georgie and Matt Harrison and Brian Johnson with you if you've got questions about who to start, who to bench in this one of the most confounding weeks the history, So do we I can't tell you how much I

agonized over my lineup decisions on Thursday internal slack. We're we're always just asking each other what should I do? And I've never been more flammixed. And really, and when you're still live in a guillotine league at this point, you have all star rosters. At this point, everybody's great, and so you're just trying to swap good for great

between your players, and it's it's unbelievably tricky. Guillotine leagues dot Com from my player rankings updated as much as I can possibly humanly update and keep up, keep everything going, because it's just nuts. Right now, Let's go back to matchups, including Panthers taking on the Bills. Brian Panthers ended up quarterbacks swapping. Some would say benching Cam Newton throughout the game. I don't think you can start Cam new in this one because you can't. You don't know how long he's

gonna stay in now. They're gonna like rotate he and p J Walker in and out of this game. Most like the Bills are allowing passing yards and zero point eight passing touchdowns per game. The only points you might get some rushing from Cam, but you're not gonna bank on that, so you're benching the quarterbacks. As far as the receivers go, I'm gonna give d J. Mor as c He's got a hamstring issue, keep your eye on that,

but he is trending towards playing. I would probably bend him if As White all pro cornerback for Buffalo, uh, if he was playing. But White is on I R so I will give more A cee who has back to back games with ten targets. Robby Anderson saw twelve targets last week had his best game of the season, but he's on the bench. Going back to the quarterbacks, you don't You're not playing Robby Anderson in fift Come on, you're not that nuts. And the last guy we can

talk about for Carolina is Tuba Hubbard. I'm reluctant to give him this see. I almost want to bench him because it's really just a nightmare for scenario for him with Cam Newton at quarter act, well it is, and then he's not even getting that many so many touches anymore. Why isn't we're dually getting any I don't know, and

Carolina could be without both of their starting guards. The only reason I'm giving Hubbard to see is Buffalo has been getting gashed on the ground lately, allowing rushing yards over the last three games. So there's some hope for Tuba here, but very little. But if you're desperate running back in, we're pretty much desperate for anyone at this point, I'll give it. I'll give Hubbard to see. A lot more to talk about on the Buffalo side, started with

Stefon Diggs. Gonna give him a B. He will likely get shadowed by Stefan Gilmour in this game. It's a tough matchup, and Carolina is allowing the seventh fewest receptions and the sixth few whisty yards too opposing wide outs over the last five weeks. But there's no way you're bending Stefon Diggs. But just just to be for him. Uh see for Cole Beasley. Uh. Emmanuel Sanders was killing Beasley's production, but Sanders left the game last week early

with an injury. Beasley saw levin targets, so he gets a sea. But I like Gabriel Davis might take a chance on me wide receiver a little bit more. A J. Bouyer probably was going to be covering Davis for the most part, but he's gonna miss this game. So I like Gabriel Davis a whole lot. That's why I used my take a chance to me wide receiver. I do. Everyone loves Dawson Knox right Uh. This year, he's been arguably the best steal at tight end in all of

Fantasy football. He gets to be. Carolina has had a hard time handling tight ends recently, as Kyle Pitts uh really a wide receiver and Hayden Hurst just combined for sixty plus yards and a touchdown against the Panthers. The Panthers are allowing nearly fifty yards per game to tight ends over the last four games. That's decent production. Knox should have a good game here and uh not. Lastly, we're gonna talk about Devin Singletary in a second, but

we gotta talk about Josh Allen. Of course, no injury designation going into the game, so not concerned about the foot injury. It is a bad matchup though. Carolina owns the third lowest opponent passing play percentage at just so it's no real surprise. They are allowing the fewest passing yards per game at seventy eight yards per game. Uh Carolina has allowed or zero passing touchdowns and six of their last seven games as well, So not a good

matchup on paper. But Josh Allen, he's a unicorn. And the Panthers have only faced one true mobile quarterback this year and that was Jalen Hurts and he ran for two touchdowns, so that that rushing floor and ceiling always makes Alan startable. And I just mentioned Devin Singletary saw a season high snapshare last week. I was the highest for him or any Bills running back all season, but he's still on the bench. You just can't trust what's going on in that backfield and not very productive with

the runs. And Caroline has allowed the fourth few as fantasy points to opposing running back. So your bench and singletary, let's hope Zack Moss goes off. I got a lot of active I got a lot of best ball teams that would really appreciate that. Have that. All right, Cardinals take on the Lions, and it's you know, because it's the Lions, there's gonna be some some good plays here. Kyler Murray is an A grade despite the fact that

DeAndre Hopkins is not available for this game. Quarterbacks weirdly putting up modest numbers against the Lions, though in part because the running game comes so easily. But here's the thing. He's wrapped up fifty nine and sixty one rushing yards over the past two weeks while scoring two rushing touchdowns over the last two weeks, So just between ground and air. I like Murray with an A grade, and he's I think you're not predicting a sea touchdown for no Sea

touchdown here because this game is taking off. Actually, Detroit is right on a large body of water. It's on a great lake, is itch is it here on? Let's go. We're gonna go here on for this um and so yeah, then maybe a little by sea here is possibility for Kyler Murray. I'm not ruling that out. Zach Ertz gets a B grade. He's played by the way he showed up Friday, dinged up with something, but he's expected to go. He's played in seven games since arriving in Arizona, and

he's only gone under forty yards twice. The lines have allowed the eighth most receptions in seventh most yards two tight ends, and despite effectively only playing half of the season with his new team, he's second in red zone targets on the team and most since he got there. So I think a touchdown feels like a pretty wrong play for zach Ertz with his B grade. A J Green was might take a chance of a wide receiver from earlier. Christian Kirk is a plausible pivots seat. You

guys think see darts to C minus. It's just a dart throw C grade. He has a solid C grade. I believe he'll move outside and run Hopkins routes that puts him up against a MARII are you are a a competent cornerback who's only a lout one score all year and a modest passer rating of sixty seven C grade on Christian Kirk. Rondel Moore is on the bench and run out of the slot, which will give him some extra looks. But even when Hopkins was out earlier this year, rondel Moore was not at all consistent. So

we're gonna leave him on the bench. Let's talk James Conner. I told you Detroit's easy to run upon. Here's my concern and Connor. It's not the Lions. It's it's a great matchup and he will probably score a touchdown here. Lions give up the fifth most rushing yards and the second most touchdowns running back, so Connor feels like a given. But here's the thing. He's suffered an ankle injury late

last week's game. Chase Edmonds is coming back, and I do worry about him potentially getting rested to make sure the ankles okay. He's been really good. He's a valuable playoff asset. Cardinals up by twenty one. Connors on the bench for the rest of the game. Now, the lines are rarely getting blown out of games, but that could happen here. The Cardinals are so hot right now, so I've I've only put a B grade on James Conner out of that concern that it plays out that way.

Chase Edmonds a C grade. If I knew for sure he was going to get high volume, then I would think that Edmonds could be a higher grade than this. But I'm gonna play it safe for the moment and give him a C grade in a which should be easy matchup, But I don't know how his workload is going to go in this game. Let's go over to the Detroit side. As you can imagine, there's not a

lot to go on here. The only starting grade I've got right now is I'm on ras St Brown, who has seen twelve targets and back to back weeks and in his last two games is averaging eighty yards per game over the last three weeks. The Zona allowing one seventies six yards per games to receivers, that is seventh most have given up four scores in those three games to receivers. So there's a chance here if even if it's just garbage time for aman ros st Brown startable here.

If DeAndre Swift returns from his shoulder injury, I'll give him a C grade, even though I don't know that he would catch any passes with the shoulder injury. If Jamal Williams were to come back and everybody else is out, then you could use him as a C grade. If they're both out and Craig Reynolds comes off the practice squad again, then maybe you could use him if you needed to. But all in all, I think we're just gonna leave those guys on the bench. T T. J.

Hockenson underwent season ending thumb surgery earlier this week. Jared Goff is unstartable in non Viking games, and Calif Raymond and Josh Reynolds usage is way too scattered to trust anything they may or may not do in this game. Brian no Matt, let's go to Falcons taking on the forty Niners. This Falcon's offense has been wildly inconsistent. Cordell Patterson his usage has been fascinating. Through the first eight weeks, Matt He was averaging five catches, fifty seven yards and

half a touchdown per game. Then, over the last month, they've dialed back his route running and his receiving to the point that Cordell Patterson is only averaging two catches for fifteen yards and has not scored through the air, and that part of his usage worries me because he's now turned into just a part time running back to that. I say, Pshaw, Church Pshaw, I say, um. He was averaging just over six targets per game in the beginning of the season. The last two weeks, he's had five

targets in each game. I'm I'm not worried about targets receptions, but targets equal receptions. At some point, you have to have a target to get a reception. That's the opportunity we're talking about. Okay, Matt Ryan sounds like the coach at the beginning of Hoosiers that said, you know, before Gene Hackman showed up, was like, you can't score if you don't shoot. I think that's you. I think that

was Wayne Gretzky who said that, um uh. In the last three weeks, the Falcons have faced three top ten run defenses, so Patterson's still put them numbers, and the Niners aren't a top ten run defense. They have allowed fourteen touchdowns are running backs on the season. That's the sixth most. They're also bottom half of the league in receptions and receiving yards to opposing runners. So he's still in a grade for me. Uh, let's move over to the receivers and get Russell Gauge and Kyle Pitt's out

of the way. I'll give Gauge a CEE and I'm gonna give Pits a B in this one. Both spend about half their time running from the slot, where they're going to face five nine slot corner Kawan Williams. That's a rather large mismatch for the six sixty pound Pits, and if they flex outside, they either get Josh Norman who's allowing a passer rating of one two in his coverage, or Ambree Thomas, who's Pro Football Focus is two hundred ninth ranked corner out of two. D Matt Ryan, I'm

giving him a C grade. His average stat line in games where the Falcons have not been involved in a blowout in in in what I mean by that they have they have not one by more than seven and they have not lost by more than two scores either. Yep. Uh, He's averaging two seventy two and two touchdowns per game. In those games, San Francisco is favored by nine and a half years, but that actually kind of works in Matt Ryan's favor because the two scores is where where

it becomes a blowout. I think Ryan's gonna be just fine. He's a C grade Deebo. Samuel's doing his best Cordarrel Patterson impression. He gets an A grade in this one. The Falcons are a defense you circle on your calendar. Plus Elijah Mitchell is trending towards out again, should mean more touches for Debot. The Falcons have struggled with past catching running backs all season, and with Samuel lining up in the backfield a lot, I imagine most of that

work goes his way. As I mentioned, Elijah Mitchell hasn't practiced all week with a concussion, so Jeff Wilson is your likely starter. Wilson was the only running back to take a handoff last week, and since he with thirteen carries. Atlanta has been okay straight up against the run, allowing three point nine yards per carry. That's actually ninth best in the league, but they do allow a lot of ground touches, so for that, Wilson stays to see. Brandon au gets an A grade over the last five weeks.

Auk comes in at wide receiver sixteen in total PPR points, and he had his highest target total to date last week with eleven. Atlanta's bottom eight in both receptions and touchdowns allowed to opposing wide receivers, not surprising. George Kittle gets an A even though he did sit out Wednesday's practice with a sore knee, but he was ramping up his work Thursday and Friday. He's had over a hundred

and fifty yards in each of his last two games. Uh. And every good tight end to face the Falcons this year has scored a touchdown every one of them. Uh. And Jimmy g finally he was might take a chance on the quarterbacks. So I like the passing game in this one. Kittle is a little dinged up with the knee. It's always he's always dinging up. It was a little dinged up, but uh, he's probably a little dinged up the last two weeks too. And how did that work for you? He has been so good and so dynamic,

so fast. Um, And I know Travis Kelsey is coming off a Bonker's game. You're just you're just hurt because I am been y did in your guillotine. I did, and it might cost it might cost me my season. I need Kintle. They can both have great games. Sure, I don't see any reason why Kittle can't have a forty two point I hope he does. I hope he does too, Brian, I believe we have time to work through the Jets taking on the Dolphins. The Jets side, I can't. I can't imagine there's anybody you would start

in a playoff roster. Yeah, there's gonna be no forty two point games or anyone the Jets maybe not combined along all among all players. I am going to give Michael Carter a see. Though expected to come off, I r the ankle injury, should operate in a Bell cow roll, but be warned that Tevin Coleman also likely to make his return. But he sucks. But it's it's a bad matchup for Carter. Since Week six, my ammy is allowing only seventy nine compoy yards per game. Uh, they haven't

allowed to touch down during that same span. Both their league lows so very it's even that I worry they don't give a full workload to Carter if he's not, and I don't have to bring it is he's a warm body. Let's put it that away. If you're desperate running back, We'll give him the sea for that, a warm bodied sea. And it could. I don't know. How do how do we have a sound bite for a warm body? I don't know. I don't know either believe it or not. I do have another another starting grade.

It's Jamison Crowder. Oh, come on, it gets a se uh Elijah more On I R as his Corey Davis. The Jets gotta throw somebody. It's not gonna be Key d J. Montgomery, Braxon Burrios, Denzel Mims or Vincent Smith. It'd likely be Crowder. He did have six I should have mentioned these teams had play in week Levin Crowder did have six catches forty four yards in a touchdown in the first meeting of a sea on Crowder, but only only only in PPR leagues. Ryan Griffin obviously on

the bench as Zack Wilson for the Jets. We are done with them. Over to the Dolphins side. Miles Gaskin gets an a grade. Um, I know I just like the way he delivered it gets an E grade. Like Gaskin, He's like he's an enigma. Really, this is an amazing matchup I mentioned earlier, and take a chance on me. The Jets allowing a hundred and seventy plus combo yards at one point eight total touchdowns per game two running backs, and that is why Salvin Achmed was might take a

chance of me running back. There should be enough meat on the bone for Acamed in this game, so both running backs startable for Miami. Jalen Waddle has officially been ruled out now, so bench him, that's for sure, but start Davante Parker. Gonna give him a b uh. He missed the first meeting between these two teams, but who he will be running as Miami's wide receiver one now.

He played seventy one of the snaps in his Week thirteen return, so he should be near full health following the Dolphins rare Week fourteen By last week, the Jets are so easy to run on the run on that I'm a little concerned about the volume for Parker, But again, he's gonna be the top wide receiver, so he gets a B or will he be no, he won't be. I know who is going to be at the top wider Mike gisick there it is who really plays wide receiver,

although he's obviously tight end eligible. We'll we'll speak to tight ends. The Jets are top eight and most fantasy points per game allowed to tight ends. Gausiki had five catches for fifty yards in the first meeting, but Miami tight ends as a whole top yards in that game. And I glossed over Isaiah Ford, who should be taking over. Well, he's gonna take the Jalen Waddle, uh Jalen Waddle role,

So I'm gonna give him a seen PPR. It is a soft matchup, So if you're desperate wide receiver, go for Isaiah Ford and uh to might take a chance at the quarterback. He's probably more of a usually our take coms or seas, but two is like more of a like find number nine right quarterback this week. I had him as an a but then when they lost, Waddle kind of teamed him take on wordy in my mind. But he'll still do just fine. Speaking of Miles Gaskin, it's my number two ranked running back this week based

on everything else that's changed this week. Just you know, you you get to annoy the fantasy fonsie. But what do you think it's he still scares me. It is an odd numbered week, does scientific? I think so? It

is week fifteen. We've got a couple of minutes before we break for the end of our number one fantasy owners who are trying to deal with all of our COVID stuff and and generally in the playoffs, you want to be dropping your mid tier starters, your courtland Sutton's of the world who you will never play in any normal scenario, to get backups to your stars who might

get COVID. And see, am I going to play any of these guys in the next three weeks if the matchups not awesome, drop drop them out right and go get backups to your starters that would be starters, it would be stars potentially if the starter goes down. So you know, that's just situational awareness that we need to have as fantasy owners. When we come back, we will continue through matchups including packers Ravens coming up shortly, plus three tough questions and there's some tricky ones that deal

with COVID. Fantasy commissioners managers will help give you some guidance on what you need to do in the trickiest week we've ever seen in the history of fantasy football. Fantasy football has never been harder than it is this week. It's the game we love and there's no stable footing for fantasy managers to try to make the right decisions this week. You know, I feel one piece of luck out of all of this. What's that half of the fantasy managers are out of it? Yeah, that's that's true.

They don't have to deal with this headache. It's a good time. It's a good season to have a loss. Have not made the playoffs if you needed to. This time of year, you hear people complaining who had to buy? Yeah, this was like like if you had Travis Kelsey and Ross, Like, oh I kind of wanted those points. But you don't hear that this year. Now people are happy, finally happy to have their buy. Um, Matt Harrison, what's happening in shock fantasy? Uh? Super dash? Getting ready for the playoffs?

Making all of your tough lineup decisions a little bit easier from a statistical standpoint. I'm not sure I can make it easier from the health standpoint. Everybody unfortunately. Yeah, air Bear promo code gets you a nice little discount of shock air Bear, nice tidy little Thursday night. Yeah, I was wearing my air Bear T shirt that night. I'm with you, got mine too. This is a segment

we call three tough questions. Tough question number one, should we sabboth hajj drop Lamar Jackson Matt So in a redraft league, he's absolutely well obviously this is redraft only.

He's absolutely worth dropping. But should you drop him? No, Because in order to perform a sabotage drop, you would need to have done it already this week on Monday, so people would be picking him up along the way and and wasting their fab And if you do it next week, you are already advancing in your fantasy playoffs, and then only three other teams would be left in

your playoffs to maybe have a crack at him. So, if you're allowing playoff pickups, I assume others in your league in the consolation bracket are picking up players too, and then they'll grab him, and your sabotage drop is worthless. So don't sabotage drop him. Brian, should we sabotage drop Lamar Jackson. No, I wouldn't do it. I'm tempted to say yes, but he's got the Packers this week. We all know he's most likely not gonna play, but he does have the Bengals next week. They played once already

this year. Jack's seven passing yards, one passing touchdown, ran the ball for eighty eight yards. I think he's still he's almost It depends on your roster, but he's going to be startable next week, depending on him being healthy, and I think he will be. So I'm tempted to say yes, but I'm saying no. Let's let's just take the name Lamar Jackson off of this player for a moment,

just as just mystery player. Imagine the silhouette with a question mark in it, and that's the player we're described from. QB Ravens from Technoball cry exactly one touchdown in nine games this year, nine of twelve games, scoring exactly one touchdown. That appears to be average finish in full games this year is quarterback four. Most leagues have ten or twelve teams, so he's not a He's not even a starting quarterback

in an average week. He's sitting right next to Carson Wentz, who is largely un rostered in many leagues in terms of average finished per game. He has just three finishes this year as QB seven or better, three all year. It's Christmas and mystery quarterback has three finishes of quarterback seven or higher. That's it. So are you going to start him the remainder of the way this week Green Bay, Cincinnati or the Rams? No? Probably not. He's got a

bench grade coming this week next week. I haven't said it yet, it's coming next week in Cincinnati. I think he's gonna be sitting at roughly a C grade. But maybe if you take a chance on me a quarterback next week, maybe Championship week against the Rams, likely a bench or a C grade, You've probably got another quarterback who's better for you and more hazardous to an opponent. Why not drop him? Maybe to Matt's points. So maybe some not some consolation team's gonna pick him up. I

don't care. It doesn't hurt me. What hurts me is me starting Lamar Jackson. You can totally drop him if there's a good player out there, but if not, he could do you more harm than good. If you're in the playoffs, Lamar Jackson didn't get you there. Tough question number two. In a league that locks rosters for the playoffs, what should the commissioner do if a team can't feel the starting lineup because of all the COVID problems. As an example, Uh, you do not have a tight end.

You don't have a valid tight end. Every one of your tight ends is out and your rosters are locked. What should the commissioner like if you have Austin Hooper and Tyler Higbee is yes. As a perfect example, Brian Um, Well, this is speaking directly to private league's home leagues, whatever you want to call them. Um, the commissioner should make an exception if a guy has been officially ruled out put on, I r the COVID list, whatever you wanna

call it. You get one chance per player. I'll reach out to you and say who do you want you get? I will, you know, add this player to your roster. You don't to change your mind, and if he goes on gets COVID, I don't care. You get one chance. I'll make an exception. That's it. But I would do a manual override. Only you can only really do this in the private home leagues. Whatever. You can't do it in a public contest, operators, they can't do you can't ah.

This is strictly for friends and family home leagues, uh, Matt. Same question in a league that locks rosters for the playoffs, what should a commissioner do if the team cannot feel a starting lineup at one position due to all the COVID problems. First off, don't lock your rosters for the playoffs. And second, if you do, I think that you have to expand your bench for just this reason. For the

playoff teams. Then I think what you do is you do a fun little exercise and you have a draft for the remaining bench players that you could do at the How would you establish the draft order? I think that you would go the the number one seed gets the first overall pick uh to to fill out their bench.

If you're adding let's say five bench spots to your rosters, at the end of the playoffs, number one seed gets first pick and then and then you you have a nice little serpentine draft and uh and and finish out your rosters in that way. This is a better answer than my answer. A lot of work, though there's a great answer. I'll tell you why the problem with the solution that you offered, And I would take your solution, Brian, which was I'm gonna give a one time exception to

the guy who can't feeld a starting roster. You've got lock rosters, right, and I don't have a tight end. He get this, This person gets to pick from all of the available tight ends. It could be a huge advantage to be able to go through all the tight ends and just take the one player you want when nobody else has that option. What I love about yours, Matt, is everybody gets the same advantage. It's equitable to everyone, and because you're doing it by record, the team that's

earned it gets the first pick. Man, I love that. Just one three tough questions, that's outstanding, brilliant question numbers rendered You even gave your answer. No, I know that's really actually won my first time in nine years. Did you went? Uh? What was? He went four for six five? One? You're confusing, you're confusing. Take a chance of you a three tough questions? It was it was five tough questions and he went six for five, which is very just very hard to do. Um, it's the what's the how

did captain Kirk break the simulation. Thing was that the Kobe Ashi maneuver or something. Do you know what no idea, what you're talking Google Captain Kirk breaking the simulation or whatever? You know that that he Yes, you'll you'll see what I mean. It's not kobe Ashi, but it's something. It's something Maru koby Ashi, Maru something like that. Anyway, the answer I had was that I would I would grant you the roster exception, but I would give your opponent

the same thing and the chance to go first. I like you wars even better, which gives it to all the remaining team play. And you could still do it if you wanted to um this weekend, or you could do it before the Saturday night game happens. Everybody's got their their Thursday guys locked. But you could still do it before the Saturday night game happens. Or you can say just the obvious next guy up, like you know, like the next tight end on the depth chart on

the same team. You get it, then you don't have to reach out to the other You do it that way. But that answer is the best. I think Matt's answer

is the best. Tough question Number three should teams that are out of the playoffs continue to make roster moves during the playoffs, Matt Chart, I know that you and I have the same exact answer, so I'm not going to I'm not I'm I. I heard you on another radio show talking about this exact tough question, and I agree with you completely, So I will just take the already want to questions, Brian, What do you got Should teams that are out of the playoffs continue to be

allowed to continue to make roster moves during the playoffs and redraft? No, unless there's some kind of consolation bracket where there's money on the line or some kind of prize, but on a high level. No in redraft and dynasty, absolutely, because you're always improving your team for the future. You can't restrict a non playoff team in a dynasty league from making ads while the playoff teams that have their

essential free pick of all the available free agents. So no, redraft, yes, dynasty in a nutshell, if your league has provided some kind of incentive for teams that aren't in the playoffs to continue to compete, like, for example, weekly high score h a consolation bracket or a toilet bowl or something like that then yes, I mean, if you're asking those teams to continue to be competitive, then they need to

be able to continue to make moves. If the answer is no, you don't just get to play spoiler and play keep away with free agents. Sure, so the answers no in that case. So it's a two part answer, Brett, It's something more ru hi. Um, so what is it? The Captain and Kirk broke the simulation with So the simulation itself was called the kobe Ashi Maru. Yes, that was the name of the simulation. Okay, he was yeah, um.

He was the only cadet in the star Fleet to ever beat it by reprogramming the simulation so that it was possible to win. So that was the name of the simulation. A franchise. I've never I you know, I only had two out of three questions, right, I'm giving myself a bonus point for that, So now I'm gonna go three out of three. You've never gone this yet. This was the first time I had not gone three out of three, and I found a way to give

myself an extra bonus and it was the start trek question. Yes, it was all right, let's go to uh matchups including Packers taking on the Ravens. Rogers, Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams are automatic a's obviously, especially in this matchup against a bad Raven secondary. But let's talk about Alan Lazard six and seven targets the last two games, and Baltimore is without its two best corner acts. I think he is

a COVID week dart throw. You guys like to call your darts see dartschis a c great I needs a dart throne, so we're gonna give him the s dart. Alan Lazard, A J. Dillon, and Aaron Jones are just se grades here. Each. Dylan got far more work last week, and I think it looks like the Patricks are trying to ensure that Jones is fresh for the playoffs. Baltimore is a very good run defense. They're only giving up

three point eight yards per carry on the season. That's the third lowest rate, and since their Week eight by more recently, Baltimore is only allowed a single run of more than fifteen yards since Week eight, and they've kept opposing running backs completely out of the end zone since Week eight. Week it was a long time ago nobody even knew what a macrowd was in weekend. Let's go over to the Baltimore side. Mark Andrews didn't suffer at all with Tyler Huntley at the Holme last week, so

we can safely start him again here. Although I don't think Huntley is gonna end up going, we do expect Lamar Jackson to go in this game. Green has limited tight end production, but when facing elite talents t J. Hockenson, George Kittle, Travis Kelsey, packers have been exposed. Each of them saw eight or more targets in average seventy five

yards and two of the three scored touchdowns. Marcus Brown C grade here, we'll bump him up to a well I'm gonna get I'm gonna move them to a B grade on on on the expectation that Jackson will go as expected here um mired in a sizeable scoring slump after a hot start and a touchdown though possible here because Green Bay has allowed the most touchdowns per game to wide receivers one point eight per game over the last five weeks, and they've done that while allowing the

twelfth fewest receptions, So maybe the touch on productions a little bit fluky here. If Gyr Alexander comes back, it doesn't phase me that much because it will be his first game back after two months, and I think he'll probably hit the field a little rusty and on a diminished snap count. So I'd still stick with the B grade on Marquis Brown. I've got Lamar Jackson on the bench, and I really I've really been back and forth on this. Now.

The presumption is that his mobility is going to be dramatically curtailed here um and if I got to rely on Jackson's arm topower me to fantasy points, that feels like that feels like trouble. As mentioned earlier, he's topped one passing touchdown in just two games. Average passing game is just two hundred sixty to six yards. Isn't bad, but the one point for a touchdowns is not good.

Almost exactly Ben Roethlisberg. Around the season, Green Bay secondary has been inconsistent, but on the whole has been good. So I'm keeping him on the bench. Shot Bateman came off the bench last week. Well, we're all talking about him like, this is the breakout game for Bateman. This is the breakout game for Bateman, never comes, never comes. We all give up on him. He doesn't even start the game, but then Tyler Huntley throws to him like crazy and he ends up with a good game. Last week,

I'm not chasing that weird fluky outpush. I need more consistency from marishat Bateman before we go there. Let's take a break when we come back, Matt, this Raiders in Brown's game is who knows which Browns are in? Which are gonna be out? This is not gonna be easy. Who knows what day we'll play it? Well, seemingly on Tuesday. Now. I don't think they can move it again. All I know is all right, Monday, they could move it again. Darren Waller has a better chance of playing maybe a

little bit. Uh, this thing's gonna be ugly. Well here Matt try to muddle through Raiders Browns when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back to Fantasy Football Weekly. It is the most grueling, difficult week in the history of Fantasy football and this show, as exemplified by Matt Harrison trying to break down the Raiders taking on the Browns in a game that has been moved from Saturday

to Monday. And Matt, there's so many shifting sands on this but I still got to believe that the Browns are going to be without many key components to their to their offense in this one, and their defense, which is a very important part for the Reds, like their

entire secondary may miss this game. Yeah. So, as I was writing up this matchup, because I write up what I'm going to say, Uh, twenty three players on the Browns are on the COVID reserve list, fifteen of which are starters, including as of now, seven starting members of the defense and eight backups on the defense. And I like Raiders in this game. That's good for the Raiders, right, And I think Baker Mayfield tweeted something like Derek Carr

is gonna eat his alive or something like that. Yeah. Well, let's start with the easiest Raider to rate, and that's Hunter Renfrew, who gets an A grade. Uh. He's the entire offense for them right now. Fourteen targets, thirteen catches, a hundred and seventeen yards and a score last week. Has also been targeted at least nine times in five of the last six games. He should see a fair amount of m J. Stewart in this game. Who hasn't

logged a snap this year. As both Troy Hill and Greg Knewsome looked like they're going to miss this game, Auster Moreau, I have him on the bench. Uh, Darren Waller looks like he's out with a knee injury. But now that the game has been moved two days later, it's possible that Darren Waller could play. No tight end except for Travis Kelsey has topped the fifty one yard mark on the Browns all season, So I got the both of the tight ends on the bench in this one.

Derek Carr, I'm giving a B grade two. He's averaging three yards per game in a score and a half, and with so many members of the Browns defense out, I think he can wiggle his way to at least to seventy five and two. That's B grade worthy in my book. And Josh Jacobs, I'm giving a B grade two as well. The Raiders had to abandon the run last week, Jacob still ended up with fourteen touches and has been very active in the passing game as of recent averaging just over five catches per game in his

last five. Only Leonard four Net has more running back catches in that span. Every non Ravens runner to face the Browns has had a good week since mid October, so Jacobs is fine. Here on the Cleveland side, Baker Mayfield and case Keenum right now both out on the COVID list. Offensive tackle Jedrick Wills, offensive guard Wyatt Teller, Austin Hooper, Jarvis Landry, and Anthony Schwartz are all on the COVID list. Not to mention, they lost tackle Jack Conklin a few weeks ago, and Kareem Hunt is on

the shelf with an injury. So Nick Mullins, and yeah, Nick Mullins is your starter. He started nine times for the forty niners last year career, and credit the Browns for having a Their third string quarterbacks got seventeen NFL star Their third string quarterback is the best third string

quarterback in the league. It's gotta be. He averaged a very respectable two hundred sixty three yards and one point three touchdowns last year, but with three of his five offensive linemen and three of his main five receivers missing the game, I don't think you can start Mullins with confidence. And I covered David and Joku and to take a chance on me segment because Mullins does target the end, and I think that's a great spot for in Joku.

Last week against Baltimore, Donovan People's Jones was the only wide receiver besides Jarvis Landry to receiver target just out of sheer volume. He gets a C grade here. Richard Higgins is the only active roster wide receiver right now besides d p J. Finally, Nick Chubb, who really has been flat out disappointing in his two consecutive games against

the Ravens with that bye week in between. So I'm surprised CHARGE didn't have a Nick Chubb should we drop him question, because you usually do that when a guy has a bye week. I I do overreact sometimes, but we're not dropping Chubb. But I don't know starting I'm giving him an A grade. He's still dominating. He's absolutely dominating the workload twenty touches last week, and the Raiders are absolutely brutal against running backs. They are ranking in

the bottom ten in just about every statistical category. And I considered d Ernest Johnson as a C. Dart harpoon here, but I don't think I could trust the workload of him in the fantasy placed on nothing in these opportunities to fill in for Cream Hunt. His one good game is when he got all the carrier, They're going to hand the ball to Chubs, and I'm so nervous about the fact that they can't get anything else going that all the Raiders will do is play to stop Nick Chubb.

The Raiders have tried to stop the run all year and it hasn't worked. Yeah, but then you have a function you have still do account for a functional quarterback and passing game, and he might be missing to lineman, I'm nervous. I'm way more nervous about Chubb than you are. Here. There we go. I can't take credit for this, but I saw on Twitter someone said this game should be impossible to be played because Baker Mayfield lives at the stadium. That's a great in fact that the entire stadium you

can go to Bengals take on the Broncos. Brian, this is the rare game that doesn't seem to have any really significant COVID related issues. So let's start on the Bengal side. Joe Mixon has been disappointing over the past I don't know three or four games. What do you think here? Yeah, Mixing has cooled down in recent weeks, partially because he's been banged up, but either way, his production has slowed, so just to be for him, He's also losing a lot of his receiving work to Somaj

p Ryans. P Ryan has out targeted Mixican Nixon six to two over the last two weeks. Uh. Not a great matchup. Not a bad matchup for running backs. The Broncos have allowed the sixth highest yards per carry but the sixth fewest touchdowns to opposing running back. So just to be for Mixing, I'm gonna give T Higgins B Mr. T Higgins. He has racked up three straight one plus yard games. Uh. This is a somewhat tough match up on paper, though Patrick Surtan and Ronald Darby are very

formidable cornerback duo. Over the last five weeks, Denver has allowed the eighth fewest yards to wide receivers. Despite that, I'm gonna give Jamar Chase a B as well. Uh. He always has a upside with his talent. Last week, Chase became the fifth wide receiver since the NFL a f L merger to record one thousand yards and ten touchdowns in his rookie season, joining Justin Jefferson, Randy Moss, Odell Beckham, and Mike Evans on a very prestigious list.

So a B for for Chase and Higgins, both wide receivers, but a bench grade for Tyler Boyd. He continues to be the odd man out in the wide receiver room. Not liking him this week. And lastly, just to see for Joe Burrow. Last week, Burrow not most multiple passing touchdowns for the first time since Week eight, ending a four game drought where he total just three scores through

the air. Unfortunately for Burrow, be tough to stay hot against the Broncos, who are top ten in fewest passing yards allowed per game and only lowest opponent completion percentage at just fifty eight percent. And what's more, no opposing quarterback has managed to top two passing touchdowns against Denver all season long. So just to see for Joe Burrow over to the Denver side, starting with the running backs

in Melvin Gordon canna give him a see. He returned last week to lead the Broncos backfield in carries with twenty four and snaps. Uh since he is a decent matchup for running backs. Are allowing five compo yards per game to the position, and that's why Javonte Williams gets to see as well. He will be active for this game. Basically back that fifty fifty split though, which sucks no offense. Melvin Gordon is still a very good football player. He was actually running fine. He is, man, it was funny.

I know what. I don't want him to but the reality is Melvin Gordon's good. He's the most hated man in fantasy football for no Reasonay, we just want Bell Cou Javante. We're gonna have to wait till next year, but Javonte is the preferred past watch. Melvin Gordon's gonna resign with the Broncos. Don't you put that evil on us. I'll be so disappointed. The Bengals are allowing seven receptions per game to opposing running back, So I like Javonte

still this week he gets to see. I don't like Jerry Judy a whole lot, considering he has scored zero touchdowns this year. He has been hurt a little bit. But just to see for Judy, the Bengals have allowed five eighty yard receiving games over the last five weeks. If Broncos wide receiver is gonna not eighty receiving yards is probably Jerry Judy is not gonna be Courtland Sutton. He's on the bench. Sutton is scoreless since Week six. He's been held under thirty yards in five straight games.

He's just been absolutely brutal. Thirty million and don't pass them the ball. Teddy Bridgewater is the fantasy eraser. Yeah, Suton easily drop herble in redraft formats, but we still got a hold in dynasty. Unfortunately I'm doing it. It's painful. Uh. Lastly, for the past catchers, Noah Fant gets to see Albert oh has really eaten eaten into fans production. But this

is a decent matchup. The Bengals are allowing five plus catches in nearly sixty yards per game to opposing tight ends, and over the last six games since he has surrendered five scores to the tight end position. So a very safe seat for fans and Teddy b The B stands for bench for no doubt about it. So the Washington game against Philadelphia has been moved to Tuesday, and I'm gonna do my best with what the information we have at this time, which is basically most of Washington's not playing,

and their starting quarterback could very well be Kyle Shermer. Yes, offensive coordinator Pat Shermer's kid, who I think was either corectdraft like a fifth or sixth th I have been drafted I think the Chiefs, and he got cut and he bounced around a little bit, and Ryan Fitzpatrick willis

Reid moment. That's Ryan Fitzpatrick's music. I'd love that. So with Kyle Schermer at the helm, and even if Kyle Allen defies expectation and comes back here, I only have one starter for all of Washington injuries throughout the team, including there down to their fifth string center, guy named John Toth, whose day job is as a plus sized male model. I'm working at a starting center. I hear

you an Tonio Gibson straight up on the bench. With defense is really only having to stop Antonio Gibson and not worry about the passing game led by Kyle Schermer. Uh Gibson averaging just his averaging under four yards per carrying each of the last three games, and Charles Leno may not start. That's their left tackle over the last three games. Only one team has a loud fewer rushing yards than the Eagles have. They turned into an elite run defense. It was a bad matchup any anyway, made worse.

I'm not starting Antonio Gibson in the whole passing game on the bench, including Terry McLaurin, wasn't playing all that well anyway. He had to get this. Mclarina has reached sixty yards once in the last six games. That's terrible as one touchdown over that stretch too, and brutal matchup with Darius Slay. The sleigh ride is back. There is no no, no, no, no, Hey, there we go. The sleigh ride is back. He's profo ball focuses fourth ranked cornerback.

Don't start Terry McLaren here, works to it kind of does Uh, you're one starter if you believe like I do that Philadelphia is gonna stake a big lead j D mckissic, assuming he clears the concussion protocol, he's expected to go here. The Eagles are gonna lead throughout and I can see Kyle Sherman just doing dump off short passes to j. D mckissic. In PPR leagues, he is

a c grade. Let's go over to Philadelphia. I've upgraded basically all of my Eagles by a full letter grade because of all of the injuries that the Washington defense has, including potentially all of its starting defensive line in this game. Miles Sanders has been great while healthy and playing. He's averaged over five point five yards per carry over his

last three full games. The Washington run defense had been fantastic, but again, if these guys aren't starting, maybe it doesn't even matter, and the Philadelphia is likely to get ahead and just run out the clock in this game. So I like Miles Sanders here. Um, Washington has only given up one score since the week nine by but maybe it doesn't even matter. You could you could play a desperation Boston Scott if you wanted to, But I don't

think I'm gonna go quite that deeper. We're gonna stick with Miles Sanders has gotten the vast majority of the work. I orige only had Jalen Hurts on the bench, but he gets an extra two days to heal that ankle, so maybe he can run a bit here, and even if he can't, the passing could come easily if Washington doesn't have all the defensive players it's expected to have here.

Over the past six weeks, the average game against Washington passing game is a modest two twenty one yards and one point three touchdowns, and that includes holding far better passers Derek Carr and Dak Prescott to a combined one score of the past two weeks. But again, if there's injury ravaged as we expect I think hurts and it hurts his foot is back, then maybe he can between running and passing, he can get up to a C grade on this. Dallas Goddard is a solid B grade

with zach Ertz out. He's top sixty yards and four of the past seven games the football team has been pretty stout against opposing tight ends, only two tight ends of top sixty yards against them. But again due to injuries, I think you can start Dallas Goddard pretty safely. And lastly, DeVante Smith. Over his last three games, Smith, averaging just

thirty three yards, hasn't found the end zone. Um in Washington's last six games, which includes matchups against Brady and Prescott, only Tyler Lockett and Hunter Rent for we were able to reach sixty five yards, So we're gonna we're gonna throw out Davonta Smith here, well maybe even give him

a secret. Well, I'm gonna go I'll well go ahead give him a because again, if watching his missing all the players we expect them to be missing, Smith's the best chance for somebody other receivers have a big game. He's the guy who want to start. If you're going up against someone who started, Travis Kelsey or something, I need something special to happen. Yeah, that's a great angle.

That is a great angle. When we come back our final three matchups, including Seahawks taking on the Rams another Tuesday, another Tuesday game with a bunch of injuries. What to do a DK Metcalf will talk about that when we come back for the final segment of Fantasy Football Weekly. Final segment Fantasy Football Weekly, Paul Charchi in, Matt Harrison, Brian Johnson with you in the craziest week in the twenty seven year history of Fantasy Football Weekly. You're gonna

have to stay on your toes. We encourage you to follow my rankings available for free at guilloteon leagues dot com. Will be keep trot doing our best to keep up with all the craziness and help you start your line up correctly. We do that on this show here, but it continues to be updated all the way up to kickoffs on Monday, Tuesday, Sunday. So we have games Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. This week crazy, poor Friday, Poor Friday. It's a bad deal.

And then it goes Saturday again. It's eight of the next ten days. There's gonna be pro football. Wow, that's not starting this weekend? Really eight of the next tent No, really no, no, No Friday this week and then and then Thursday game this week. They're done with Thursdays. They're done with Thursday games. I'm almost sure Seahawks take down the Rams. Matt And for the Seahawks, Tyler Lockett probably not available, may be available, maybe comes back by Tuesday.

It's possible. It's possible. Alex Collins and Tyler Lockett are the notable Seahawks on the COVID list. There's gonna be more in this game, but those are the only Seahawks.

Rashad Penny was might take a chance of me. Runner Russell Wilson has never thrown for a three yard game against the Rams and twelve career starts, and he has thrown multiple touchdowns only once in his last five matchups with l A. However, the Rams have twenty five players on the COVID list, including four starting defensive players, seven backup defensive players, and Aaron Donald was estimated as a limited participant with a knee injury because the Rams can't

meet in person, so it was an estimated limited participant for that. I'm gonna give Wilson a B grade because he's kind of facing a preseason style defense. Um. Some of the noteworthy guys who are out on the defensive side, Jalen Ramsey, Von Miller, It's it's pretty big, so um. So let's move on to DK Metcalf, who did practice in full on Friday and if lock It is out. Both Freddie Swain and d s Gridge are both deal

dealing with injuries as well. So Metcalf. He's been working through foot and back stuff, but he looks like he's ready to go. With Jalen Ramsey on the COVID list, that's a good thing for Metcalf. And it's worth noting that Metcalf has scored twice against the Rams in each of his last two games against them. And that's with Ramsey playing, so I think d K will play and if he's active, he's a B grade as well. Gerald Everett kind of becomes the de facto number two wide

receiver with lock it Out. And it's also a revenge game for Gerald Everett in l A and the first time they played this this year in weeks Week five, Everett was out in that game. So the Rams are normally the middle of the pack against the tight end position and a normal tight end coverage guy. Ernest Jones is still active as of now, but he's not that great at coverage, so he's actually allowed three touchdowns in

his last six games. UH. Of the twenty five Rams on the COVID list, the most important on the offensive side are right tackle Rob Havenstein, Darryl Henderson, Odell Beckham, although Beckham tweeted that he was negative on Friday, so I think he's going in this game. He could have been talking about, though you never know. And Tyler Higbee, who just tested positive on Friday, so he probably won't go anyway. Matthew Stafford he still gets an A grade.

Unlike Wilson, Stafford has thrown for three yards against the Seahawks. Every time he's faced them in a rams UNI and he's yeah, that's right. He's thrown for three touchdown passes in each of the last three games. Seattle is allowing the most passing yards per game, but weirdly the sixth fewest passing touchdowns, so that's kind of strange. Cooper Cup is my fantasy art Vark of the week. I like it.

That's a solid A grade right there. Van Jefferson, I'm giving him a B on the premise that O'Dell doesn't go. If O'Dell does go, If O'Dell does go, I think Van Jefferson still a C grade. Van will line up against DJ Read most often, where Jefferson has a five inch advantage in the height department. And then the last guy is Sony Michelle, who gets an A grade because it looks like Henderson is out for a third straight week. He's on the COVID list and he's still dealing with

now that they've moved it. Maybe if Henderson does go, Henderson gets the A grade. If Henderson doesn't go, Michelle gets the ego um because he would get to bell Cow again and he's averaged twenty two carries for a hundred yards over the last two weeks. Better if if Henderson doesn't go, because you know what to get out of Sony. If Henderson does go, I worry a little bit about a possible harsh a little time share. We call him Sony Michelle Cow, Michelle Cow. I like it.

Uh Well, Michelle Cow would face his easiest matchup that he's seen so far this year. Seattle is allowing the most touches per game to opposing runners at thirty four per game, and opposing bats have hit them up for a hundred and sixty eight combo yards per game this season. So even if Henderson does play, Sony, Michelle is still a plausible c start here. If Henderson does go, alright, it's gross. It's it's a Tuesday game. If you can start anybody ahead of these guys except for Cooper, Cup

I think and Stafford, I'd start those guys. Saints take on the Bucks, Brian and for the Saints, this is a tricky matchup a lot of different ways. Alvin Kamara is traditionally been able to find ways to fantasy relevancy against a very good run defense. What do you think about this week? Yeah, Well, we'll start with the Camara.

I'm gonna give him a B by now. Everyone should be aware that the Bucks are a brutal matchup for running backs, are allowing less than one combo yards per game to the position, just eight total touchdowns allowed to running backs all year, but one of those touchdowns that did go to Kimara. When these teams met in Week eight, Camara also totaled seventy six combo yards of that touchdown. That's kind of the floor and almost ceiling we're looking

at here. Temper your expectations with Camara, but certainly the star and the ceiling. It's at the same time. It's it's it's an uncomfortable spot to be in. It's a really weird room. Speaking of a weird room, the wide receiver room is pretty weird for the Saints with tray Kwan Smith, Marquette Callaway, and Esop Winston, all who combined for just six catches last week against the Jets. Love his fables, by the way, but New Orleans didn't need to throw much in that game. They will likely need

to throw more against the Bucks. I am gonna give tray Kwan Smith a CEE. He had a touchdown in the earlier meeting this year, and he swored two touchdowns one game against the Bucks last year and one in the other, so four touchdowns across his last three games for tray Kuwan Smith against the Bucks, so see for

him and his c for Nick Vannette. Saints tight end Vanette has seen the second most targets from Taysom Hill over the last two weeks, and the Bucks are allowing six plus catches and nearly sixty yards per game to opposing tight end. So if you're desperated tight end, Nick Vannette is worth a shot. And Taysom Hill, I'm not gonna give him an a, but I'm gonna even be He has a one percent completion rate in three career games against the Bucks. Now, granted his past attempts in

those three games were to one and one. He'll probably pass it more in this one. But of course, it's all about the rushing with Taysom Mill. In his last six starts, Hill was averaging sixty three rushing yards and one rushing touchdown per game. Josh Allen just ran for a hundred plus yards against the Bucks last week, also had three hundred plus passing yards, and I think we can call Taysom Hill a very poor man's Josh Allen, so a B for Taysom Hill over to the Tampa

Bay side, starting with Leonard Fournette. He will play in this game. He's been nursing an injury, but he will play. He gets a c just forty three scoreless combo yards on eleven touches in the first meeting. He'll likely get more touches in this game, though, as his last three touch counts have been twenty and twenty four and an absolute bell cow as of late. But a tough matchup for him as well. New Orleans is allowing just ninety

seven conboy yards per game to running backs. Another it's a tough magic from Mike Evans, too likely to square off with Marshawn Lattimore yet again. Evans did have two catches for forty eight yards and a touchdown in the first meeting, but in his previous five games against the Saints he has total just ten catches for a hundred

and thirty six yards in one touchdown. Those averages have not come out to a very pretty number for Evans, but Chris Godwin put up very pretty numbers in the first game against the Saints, he gets an A. He's had at least ten catches and over a hundred yards and back to back games. He could do it again and this one. The Saints have allowed these six most yards to wide receivers um and Godwin lit him up in the first meeting for eight catches, a hundred and

forty yards and in touchdown. So love God when here he gets an A, as does Rob Gronkowski. Uh, he really didn't play in the first meeting. He was coming back from injury. Probably shouldn't even suited up. Only saw five snaps, no catches. The Saints are tough matchup on paper. They've allowed an average of thirty nine yards per game

to tight ends over the last five weeks. That's not great, but when targeted seven or more times against the Saints, tight ends have averaged the healthy fifty five yards per game. That's good news for Gronk, who has seen at least eight targets in four straight And lastly, Tom Brady, what can you say about him other than he gets an A seventy five yards for passing touchdowns on the first meeting. Guy now probably gonna do it again, probably breaking news.

He's been good the Monday Night game. Well, the one of the Monday Night games now is Vikings taking on the Bears. Bears riddled with COVID and regular injuries as well. Notable defenders who will be missing for the Bears are expected to be missing Eddie Jackson, Eddie Goldman, already, Burns have all got COVID. Uh Ro Kwan Smith's got a hamstring.

He may not go in this game. They were already without Kali mac who was on I R and Danny Trevathan who was on I R. This is a a ravage defense and so there's great opportunities for the Vikings offense in this one. Justin Jefferson's an absolute lock. And not that you need to me to really even expand on that, but let me mention the two full games without Adam Feeling, he seemed twenty nine targets. So obviously they continue to throw to Justin Jefferson and they will

do so here as well. He's gonna get shadowed by Jalen Johnson for the whole game. But they did that against Davante Adams last week, and they Packers found ways to get Adams on other players moving into the slot and some other things. Vikings will do that with Jefferson here too, UM K j Osborne and obviously for Jefferson kJ Osbourne, I've I've bumped up to a B on

all of these defensive injuries. He would have gone up against already Burns, which was already a positive matchup, but this means they will probably have to go to our favorite whipping boy kindle fil door that's right back on the field and if it's not filled or might be Xavier Profit although he may not go either, he's questionable for this game. A K. J Osborne I've got as a B grade right now. Kirk Cousins feels incredibly safe here.

Multiple touchdowns in six straight games. I've already told I like Jefferson, I like Osborne, actually like Tyler Conklin too. Kirk Cousins, I'm gonna give him a B only because I think the running game is gonna be a big

factor here as well. Tyler Conklin startable. Bears have only a lot of four tight end touchdowns all season, but they were just picked apart by Green Bay's backup tight ends for seven receptions and ninety yards, and they've actually given up three tight end scores in their last four games. Constlin probably gets a few extra looks here. With theelan remaining out of this game, I believe he'll be out of this game. So we'll give Tyler Conklin a C

grade in this one. And again, all those missing parts could be a huge part for the Vikings and Dalvin Cookson. Obviously, this might have been a B grade in a trickier matchup without all of these starters gone. So Cook averages only eighty two combo yards and his only score or twice in five career meetings against the Bears, But who cares that all bets are off the only the only really knock on Dalvin cook wasn't able to catch while he was wearing that harness for his shoulder last week.

May not be able to catch much in this game. Still a grade for Dalvin cook Let's go over to the other side for Chicago. David Montgomery missed some practice with regular non COVID illness, but came back on Friday. We expect him to be able to go in this one. The Vikings defense finally healthy, but they were healthy last week, and Nagy Harris gouged him for five yards per carry

and two scores, So I still like Montgomery here. In three career games against the Vikings, he averages twenty five rushes for one four yards and a score per game. If you tell me David mcgomery is gonna get twenty five carries, I'm definitely in. I only have a B grade on him here because of the prospects potentially of the of the Vikings getting out ahead against this injury ravage defense, and maybe the running game gets phased out, and I worry a little bit about Fields eating into

some of his rushing output. Speaking of Justin Fields, he was might take a chance on me quarterback, So obviously I like him. If Allen Robinson comes back in time to play, I like him a lot in this matchup against the Vikings cornerbacks. As I also mentioned earlier in this show, he's got positive matchups at every stop but shod Brilan, Mackenzie, Alexander or even Patrick Peterson. No Vikings quarterback ranking higher than one coverage by Pro Football Focus.

If Robinson's out, you could dart through at Chachem Grant, what great would you get? Fields? I have a B grade at Justin Fields. Thank you for allowing me to clarify that I have a B grade on Allen Robinson if he goes a C grade and Jachem Grant. If Robinson doesn't go, Darnell Mooney gets a B grade. Vikings have allowed the most yards to receivers two hundred three per game, and the last seven opponents have all had at least one receiver hit eighties six yards. Mooney would

be that guy. Minnesota has also allowed to receiver to score in seven of their last I'm shocked that he's a B. He's a B grade. You think you should be a fine, A great. It's Christmas time. I'll give you the getting and you get an A cold commit returned to practice on Friday. If Eric Kendricks does not go for the Vikings, give cold Commit a starting see grade for your team. If you miss any part of the show. If you're listening over the air, this is

also a podcast. You can go podcast back and listen to it. If it's a podcast, listen look for us on your favorite sports talk radio station. We'll be back next week for a week that hopefully has a lot more clarity than this one. A grueling week. Best of luck, everybody, this is not easy stuff. We'll talk to you one week from today. Bye Bye. Fantasy Football Weekly is a

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