December 24, 2025 • 23 mins
It's Fox Sports Radio's official fantasy football podcast! Dan Beyer and Mike Harmon spend this midweek edition of the show previewing the Christmas Day slate of games! With virtually none of them holding much NFL playoff implications, do we think the viewership Netflix was hoping for will take a hit? The guys set the stage for each game from a fantasy standpoint, laying out the starts and sits for each matchup, and going through some overarching storylines.
Hosts: Mike Harmon, Dan Beyer
Producer: Ian Roddy
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, you want experience during your football season, Well,
buckle up, sweet cheeks. What's all We've got all the
experience in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This is I want your flex.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
With Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon. Mike and Dan break
down everything you need to set your lineups, from position
rankings to starts and sits. The guys help you make
those hard decisions. And now let's get your flex ond.
Here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
All right, it's not how the NFL planned, But the
good thing for the NFL is their.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Fans play fantasy football.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
And if you're in a championship game, you don't care
if the Cowboys and the Commanders don't have any playoff
hopes unless Joe Milton's gonna get snaps in place of
Dak Prescott.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Welcome in. He is, Mike Harman, I'm Dan Byer, that's
Ian Roddy.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I mean, could that be the app the scenario, Mike,
like the crazy stuff that could happen in Week seventeen.
I'm thinking just sit act, maybe watch Dak throw out
the Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens and have teams try
to win their fantasy championships. But with this slate of games,
this tripleheader that we've got on Christmas Day, there could
be a whole lot of things going wacko in Week seventeen.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
It's such an opportunity if you play it straight, right,
because we've watched the SIEV like Washington defense all year long.
They're gonna be rolling with a backup, right, It's gonna
be Josh Johnson most likely, unless there's some grandiose change
between the time we record and the game actually kicks off.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
So yeah, Dak Prescott, Joe Milton.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
That is a curve ball from hell on Christmas, which
makes which is the worst of all things.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I mean, come on, it's like that Jack Black movie.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
That I watched that was pretty funny where it's dear
you know it's not Santa anyway. Yeah, No, that really
would change up all the math. Like with Prescott, I'd
be looking at what do I have on my.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
As my reserve quarterback? Do we have to go down
that road?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Because I mean, by sure metrics, he's a top five quarterback, right,
he's without question? But Wowul would that be absolutely diabolical
by Schottenheimer and Jerry Jones.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I can't believe he does that on a Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I would hope not.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And I think that you can play Joe Milton in
week eighteen. You know, there's depending on what you want
to do with Joe Milton and what the future is.
That's probably for another time for the Cowboys. But it
does add a curveball for what is a schedule that
again is lacking in any playoff real intensity, and so
(02:44):
you see that. I mean the Commanders and their injuries
and everything that's piled up for them. You're not thinking
they're going to bring much of a fight. So maybe
it's an opportunity for the Cowboys to end up making
a switch, or maybe there's a quicker pull on Dak
than you would think. I mean, if there's if there
is a tiebreaker or a coin flip situation that you're
(03:05):
dealing with with your quarterbacks, I think that's enough to
flip it to go the other way. He may play
three quarters and be great, but Washington's probably not gonna
follow suit. Least, I don't think as much in in
reciprocating the points being scored, even though the over under
is fifty.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And then if you're Dallas, what have you? What have
you got to lose.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
It's just one of the dilemmas that you have to
face now in this NFL, which, by the way, is
not a good thing. It's not a good thing that
we're having all of these teams being eliminated two weeks
prior to the end of the season. But there these
are the issues people are going to have to face.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
Yeah, looking at the betting odds as it stands.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I'll push back towards George dak for the fact that
they've got his completions at thirty three.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, that's a lot.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Does he really need to throw the ball that much
against Washington?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I Meanilliams isn't gonna run a bunch. I don't know's
that just seems kind of odd for me. Let's see
past completions. At least do that one. Okay, it's twenty
four and a half. There was an exact that was
a higher mark, but twenty four plus is still a
significant amount of action. Right, So well, when we look
(04:21):
at that, that number I think is high enough to
warrant a all right, we play him. We may make
sure you have a nice frosty beverage or two to
numb the pain. If it goes against us, and Joe
Milton does come trotting out there, but perhaps that's done
only once they've taken care of business. So for Pickens
and CD Lamb, two guys that you'll have in your lineups,
(04:43):
no question at the wide out position. But and Pickens outperformed,
at least from my thinking this past week. We'll look
to see if we can do that again as a
back end top ten play and CD as a top
five at least playing it straight.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
For Javonte Williams, perhaps a little bit of a kickback.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
We're not seeing as much with him on the ground,
so he's a high end two, but with the ceiling
much lower.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, it's the curveballs that bring you to this point
and now you're going to have to deal with them.
But if I was in a championship game, i mean
a third place game in my long term league, I've
got George Pickens, I'm just gonna play them. I'm not gonna,
you know, in this case, like there's with the other
(05:33):
options that may have on my team. But if it's
a coin flip, and I think that the real coin
flip happens at the quarterback position, or maybe you're lucky
to load up and you can play matchups. Deck may
be worth worth playing there. Let's go to game number
two on Christmas Day. By the way, side, don't with
these games being streamed? Would if you didn't have Netflix?
(05:56):
And I assume you guys both do, but if you
don't totally find would you order Netflix to watch these
games on Christmas Day?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Would you not?
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Just for the purpose of these games?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I don't think.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
Well, I'd stream the hell out of everything yea for
a month?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Right, So now I've got every Christmas movie Lifetime and
Hallmark and everybody else has ever made. I've watched a
lot of them. By the way, I will have a
blog to that effect. It's just been on in the
background as I work. But would I subscribe to I
don't know. Will they have the red zone thing up
and going on NFL dot Com for me?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I do not know that.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Like there's a lot of angles, but yeah, subscribing to
any of these services on a one off.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And maybe that's an archaic way of thinking about it,
but I would just think, like, if you're Netflix and
you're like.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Wait, we paid how much to have three teams? Not
in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Two of those teams don't have their starting quarterback, one
of those teams maybe benching their quarterback because they're out
of the playoffs, and then one team that actually has
playoff hopes needs a lot of crap for them to
get into the playoffs, like that's those are the Lions
and Vikings of the other Netflix game, and just the
value that week one that looked great, magnificent, Jayden Daniels,
(07:19):
Dak Prescott coming down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yes please.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
He probably thought at the time that the Commanders were
maybe the team that was going to be in the
playoffs and the Cowboys would be on the outside looking in.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Who knows.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Lions, Vikings two of the best teams of the NFC
last year, great matchup and now like awful. And Prime's
got the Thursday night game like they normally would do,
but they'll have it on Christmas Day with the Broncos
and Chiefs. And that's not too much better, so to
sign up. And that's maybe just it's not the overall scheme,
But I thought early on that was a way that
(07:52):
the streaming services were getting people to subscribe to their
product by having these games. And I don't think that
the Christmas stay slate would make anybody say, yeah, I
want to pay money for that.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, I just wonder, you know, And I've not been
reading the trades as to what kind of presentation they're doing.
I don't know if there's any concerts, special guests, whatever.
Ian We've already had Eminem this year. Can you trot
him out again even though it's in Mini Minnesota? I mean,
I don't know what else you can bring out there.
(08:24):
Is Ragnar going to make an appearance maybe for those
that know super fan on a motorcycle from back in
the day, Yeah, I sell the hell out of it.
I mean, I don't know what you can do to
really push the envelope other than hey, here's how you
avoid your family mm hmm. Subscribe to our Netflix. Yeah,
(08:45):
I got only you get all these movies and all
these TV shows and look, you can watch Stranger Things,
all of this stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
But yeah, I think it's going to be a bit
of a boom for the NBA. The best game of
the NBA schedule is actually Game number two with Spurs
and Thunder.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
And if you get.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Wemby and and the Spurs taking on the Thunder from
just what we saw in the NBA Cup, things could
be could be interesting and if you have to decide
one's on free TV or one isn't I know, I'm
sounding like a guy who's gonna be fifty soon.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And like get off my lawn. Like I'm like, but
like that's how it.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
That's how I like viewed this in seeing we have
two Netflix games and one Prime Video Games one Prime
Video game and we don't have any team really with
a realistic shot of being in the playoffs on Christmas Day,
and I just don't think that's great for the league.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Well, you and I are about the same age, Ian,
what do you think?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
I mean, Netflix Prime to some degree you think of
him as ubiquitous, like, well, who doesn't have one of
those subscriptions. But by the same token, you know, Netflix
has raised its price as a bunch to where maybe
maybe folks have dived off, and all of a sudden,
it's like, wait, I gotta do that for football?
Speaker 6 (10:03):
Yeah, I mean, I just to me, there's so many
alternatives now, Like, even if Netflix is technically the only
place it's streaming, there's all these websites that you know
that people can go to. Obviously stream E's got shut
down and that was the big one. But there's all
these ways that people find alternative ways to watch these things.
I just don't know with that being available, that people
just go to fork over the subscription money that easily.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I just think I think on the Christmas holiday it's
different as well. Like on Thanksgiving, if that was the case,
you'd be like, Hey, Thanksgiving, it's football, it's new this year,
it's only streaming. We have to have it. It's tradition.
Let's just do it. Even if these games stink, people
will be around. But Christmas is just a sort of
different feel when it comes to the holiday.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Now, if you're in the.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Fantasy playoffs, you definitely aren't going to be signing up,
not maybe part of you know, the part of the
cost you'll have to take out of your winnings to
sign up. But again maybe your point is is that
everybody's already signed up anyway, so it's not going to
be that big of a deal.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Well, don't always comes down to and in all of
these businesses, once you reach some level of critical mass,
it's like what's the cost of that next customer acquisition?
And for Netflix, it's the much larger play for the
long term of trying to bring this on, you know,
umbrella in so it's kind of like a lost leader,
like a Costco Rutisserie chicken. And then once you're in,
(11:22):
you see the breath and scope of all the different
things that are in, and now you stay or once
you get signed up, you forget to turn it off
like a gym membership.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
That is correct that they've done that, And then I'm like, god, geez,
now I gotta have this for twenty eight more days.
I miss I missed the cutoff, and it's already been renewed.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
You can watch Stranger Things or something that.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yes, right, all right, We're going to take a time
out here, and I want your flax. We'll look a
little bit more at that Lions Vikings game injury with
the Vikings and JJ McCarthy plus Broncos and Chiefs. Is
there a reason for any Chiefs fan to show up
on Christmas Day? We'll talk about that, and I want
your flegs.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
All right.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We talked to a little TV, talked to the little
cowboys and commanders. Now let's talk Lions Vikings, the other
game that's on Netflix, Mike, Lions still have something to
play for playoff hopes are still kind of alive, but
on the outside looking in, and the Vikings have to
deal with a JJ McCarthy injury just right after it
looked like maybe Justin Jefferson was finding his role. The
(12:25):
Lion's Vikings a lot to be desired on Christmas Day.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, six for eighty six and that one that was
the height. You finally got some run, but a last
too late. Now you've got Brosber under center. Jones and
Mason got carted off, so it'll be more of Aaron
Jones here in week seventeen from the Detroit side fascination, right,
we got to have our ronco set it and forget
(12:51):
it for the three principles in the receiving and passing
game when we look at Gibbs and am On Rah
and Jameson Williams, Williams Moore a back end too, because
the outside against outside receivers.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Minnesota has been really good all year long.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
We've had a number of players that have been on
the cold sore list and that's exactly where they ended
up when the week ends. So this one's a little
bit of a trajectory down. So a'm monra a little
lower than his normal lofty position. Now he's a back
end top ten for me this week. I don't think
he'll push anybody off or have some hit cannery and
(13:26):
chaos at the end of a game. But Jared goffsto
better than a high end QB two this week against
this defense, Flores has him playing pretty well. Now what
you you would normally say this situation is like, well,
but they might have some opportunity to get a brasma
or what. Have you seen anything in the Lions defense
that suggests that they're going to be able to stop
(13:46):
anybody to do that? The answer is no, was so
to that end, it's one of those where for game script,
I don't see huge, huge returns in this one.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
By the way, do you think the Lions will run
their offensive pass interference lateral to Jared Goff and he
scores in the end zone? Play again like that was?
That was pure chaos in weeks six.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
It was better than the lateral that Mark Andrews.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
The best part Carl Scheffer's was the referee for that
game and says the ruling on the field is touchdown,
and so that everybody's thinking that he gave him the
good news first here comes the bat who's completely playing
with them.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
But yeah, it is a struggle.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
The Lions offensive line is just it's a big issue
right now. And you touched on, you know, Gibbs, and
we talked about him on the last episode. It's just
been been very frustrating and he can't even really count
on the wide receivers. And you're right about Minnesota, like
this is aside from this not having the stakes. Minnesota
(14:54):
Detroit last year had so much higher stakes and you
just felt like it was just gonna be a better
football game. Now nobody could really do anything with either
of these teams.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Yeah, as I'm looking at the.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
By the way, I should correct myself relatively speaking, like
the Vikings have way more offensive troubles than the Lions.
We're just not expecting the Lions to be what they
were previously. So I just wanted to clarify my point
so it didn't sound like a total idiot.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
No, no, no, you're knew you nailed it. You were
on the point. The Lions still have a what is
it a six to ten percent chance to make the playoffs.
For the Vikings after what has been a tumultuous and
odd season, it's a Super Bowl, it's an opportunity to
(15:44):
go and send a division made home. You didn't get
your heights that you hoped for. JJ McCarthy showed well
in spots the last couple of weeks, right, we saw
the offense turn a little bit. Yeah, it didn't mean
Jefferson points, but we at least saw some downfield throw
in a little bit more consistency before the injury. But
(16:04):
for that defense to try to shut down Dan Campbell's
reworked offense, I don't know. I kind of dig that
angle on it to where and Flores loves to throw
the kitchen.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Sink at people anyway.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, so here's an opportunity to put a dagger in
your division.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Mate.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Well, if you go to the Vikings game on Christmas Day,
kudos to you. It's also indoors, so that's one advantage.
Not the case in Kansas City, at least not until
twenty thirty one.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's a whole different story. The Broncos and Chiefs will be.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Playing on the Christmas night and Chris pull A Dokin
likely in line to get the start for Kansas City
is Gardner. Minshew's knee injury not as serious as they
first thought. But still you got a short week, a
knee injury that you thought was in acl Yeah, there's
gonna be no minshew. And now you have the Denver
Broncos coming in and after that loss to the Jaguars
(17:03):
on Sunday, I'll tell you what, if I have tickets
in Kansas City, that's a tough one to go to,
A real tough one to go to on Christmas.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
To put it in perspective when you add weather to
the effect. I know people that didn't go to that
Bears game on Saturday and I'll just stay home, which
I think I might just block them on my phone.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
But the uh, but for this one, yeah, I mean
that that's tough. Unless you're really just.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Loving uh and you want to yell hateful things towards
Sean Payton and bo Nix. There's really not a lot
for you there. This is one of those I think
I donate the uh, you know, the the spirit of Christmas.
Here's a family member, Hey, you want to go to
a game.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Go.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
I feel bad for the there's somebody who probably this
was there Christmas. Cant right, Like, do you get these
tickets a month or two in advance? You don't know
that Patrick Mahomes is gonna out. You still think that
the Chiefs are going to turn it on and the
Broncos coming to town, and you're like, you know what,
We're gonna wake up Christmas morning and the kids are
(18:08):
going to find Broncos Chiefs tickets in their stockings and
it's going to be this magical Christmas and instead of
Saint Nick, it's Chris Oladokin and that is what you're
going to remember from Christmas of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Like I'm laughing at.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
It, but it's truly awful, like truly like if this
is you know that there's a family or somebody that
wanted to do this and now this is what they
get stuck with.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Yeah, Denver's a twelve and a half point favorite. As
we sit here and record the podcast, over Under is
down to thirty six and a half. And again I
wish well for Ola Ducun, you know, an opportunity to
be I think starter fifty five on the year if
my grid is right, or fifty four or fifty five.
(18:54):
So we got that, but I mean celebrate the greatness
that is the what the Broncos have been. I guess
it is a rare convergence. Though, in a day and
age where there's a lot of lamentation and handwringing about
ticket prices for things secondary market, the only game this
(19:15):
weekend actually from the Thursday and Saturday game, so those
first five where the get in price is over one
hundred bucks is the Baltimore Green Bay game, and even
that's only one hundred and thirty one. Everything else, you
can go to the Chiefs game forty dollars, Minnesota eighty five,
(19:35):
Washington's fifty seven, and the Chargers out here it's a
eighty one. I saw a billboard that said that yesterday.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
You can see the Broncos and Chiefs for the same
price you could see Saints Titans. Right now, if you're
looking on the same set that I'm looking at for
the lowest tickets, it is forty one dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
That's absurd.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
How about the Arizona versus the Beangals, Baby, let go.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
The weather in Kansas City, by the way, is gonna
be very nice, like it's gonna be a very warm Christmas,
so the night's not gonna be cold.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It'll be cool, but.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
I we're talking like temperatures in the mid forties for
the evening. Yeah, they could have They're gonna have sixties
on like Christmas Day. Wow, it's pretty good at the forecast. Yeah,
when some of the country's going to be hit with storms.
But that's so the weather won't be a factor, but
the actual product on the field.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Is going to be.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And I know, there's nothing you can do with interest,
There's nothing you can do with the torn acl It's
just unfortunate that this is what we've got to deal with.
And now with the calendar the way that it is,
with these games, it's difficult to flex holiday games. I
wonder if it will be considered. I wonder if they
will hold off because they held off on the Saturday schedule, right,
(20:54):
they took five games and said a couple of these
could be Saturday games, a couple of these could be
Sunday games. And then as it fell out, it was
Texans and Chargers coming up on Sunday that are on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Excuse me, followed by the Ravens and Packers.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Those got the Billings because they actually had playoff contention.
So I think you could do that, like when Christmas
is on a Friday, maybe not on a Thursday, but
on a Friday. You could probably do something like that
and say hey on Christmas Day, on those games, these
are going to be the games.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
We're going to have. Yeah, it's uh, this late is
not good.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
Sticky wicket, and no doubt Netflix and Amazon will raise
their hands to try to, you know, force issues going
forward for fantasy purposes. Bo Nick's back end QB one
Courtland Sutton high end second wide receiver along that that end.
For Kansas City, Pacheco gets a nod as a back
end too, just based on volume, right, I mean, are
(21:48):
we expecting any great heights. No, but you know, all
we can all we can speak to is opportunity and
he should have at least some semblance of a workload,
maybe a couple of dump offside of the backfield, So
we look for a little bit of run there. McLaughlin
no better than a flex deep flex and Harvey maybe
(22:11):
a back end too, because he has been active in
the passing game to a degree, so we can get
a little bit of love in the run game. But yeah,
for Kansas City, that's tough. I mean, the Travis Kelcey
had one catch for six yards. I mean, unless they
just say, well, we're gonna throw the ball to him
regardless if they go on a box and one because
(22:31):
it's Christmas, we're done and it's Travis Kelzi. I mean
other than that, it's like that's a lot of wishing
and hope and based on where production has been the
last few.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Weeks, Yeah, that would be.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah, the Travis Kelce final Swan song man, that would be.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah. Maybe maybe that gives you reason enough. That's a
good point.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
If he calls it quits, this would be his last
home game, I'll give you a reason to go check
it out. Maybe see Taylor Swift on that day. That
would be enough reason to do.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
So.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Please serenade the guy as he walks off the field.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
She may need to be their emergency quarterback. That's getting
so bad for the Chiefs my goodness. Well all right,
that's going to do it for our Christmas Day preview
for I Want Your Flax. We'll be back with a
full rankings episode coming up the day after Christmas, so
that will be there for you where you always get
your podcasts. So for Mike Carmen and he and Roddy guys,
(23:33):
have a great Christmas. Likewise, and yeah, we will talk
to you on the other side right here, and I
want your FLEs
Ladies and gentlemen, you want experience during your football season, Well,
buckle up, sweet cheeks. What's all We've got all the
experience in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This is I want your flex.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
With Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon. Mike and Dan break
down everything you need to set your lineups, from position
rankings to starts and sits. The guys help you make
those hard decisions. And now let's get your flex ond.
Here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
All right, it's not how the NFL planned, But the
good thing for the NFL is their.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Fans play fantasy football.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
And if you're in a championship game, you don't care
if the Cowboys and the Commanders don't have any playoff
hopes unless Joe Milton's gonna get snaps in place of
Dak Prescott.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Welcome in. He is, Mike Harman, I'm Dan Byer, that's
Ian Roddy.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I mean, could that be the app the scenario, Mike,
like the crazy stuff that could happen in Week seventeen.
I'm thinking just sit act, maybe watch Dak throw out
the Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens and have teams try
to win their fantasy championships. But with this slate of games,
this tripleheader that we've got on Christmas Day, there could
be a whole lot of things going wacko in Week seventeen.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
It's such an opportunity if you play it straight, right,
because we've watched the SIEV like Washington defense all year long.
They're gonna be rolling with a backup, right, It's gonna
be Josh Johnson most likely, unless there's some grandiose change
between the time we record and the game actually kicks off.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
So yeah, Dak Prescott, Joe Milton.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
That is a curve ball from hell on Christmas, which
makes which is the worst of all things.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I mean, come on, it's like that Jack Black movie.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
That I watched that was pretty funny where it's dear
you know it's not Santa anyway. Yeah, No, that really
would change up all the math. Like with Prescott, I'd
be looking at what do I have on my.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
As my reserve quarterback? Do we have to go down
that road?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Because I mean, by sure metrics, he's a top five quarterback, right,
he's without question? But Wowul would that be absolutely diabolical
by Schottenheimer and Jerry Jones.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I can't believe he does that on a Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I would hope not.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
And I think that you can play Joe Milton in
week eighteen. You know, there's depending on what you want
to do with Joe Milton and what the future is.
That's probably for another time for the Cowboys. But it
does add a curveball for what is a schedule that
again is lacking in any playoff real intensity, and so
(02:44):
you see that. I mean the Commanders and their injuries
and everything that's piled up for them. You're not thinking
they're going to bring much of a fight. So maybe
it's an opportunity for the Cowboys to end up making
a switch, or maybe there's a quicker pull on Dak
than you would think. I mean, if there's if there
is a tiebreaker or a coin flip situation that you're
(03:05):
dealing with with your quarterbacks, I think that's enough to
flip it to go the other way. He may play
three quarters and be great, but Washington's probably not gonna
follow suit. Least, I don't think as much in in
reciprocating the points being scored, even though the over under
is fifty.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And then if you're Dallas, what have you? What have
you got to lose.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
It's just one of the dilemmas that you have to
face now in this NFL, which, by the way, is
not a good thing. It's not a good thing that
we're having all of these teams being eliminated two weeks
prior to the end of the season. But there these
are the issues people are going to have to face.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
Yeah, looking at the betting odds as it stands.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I'll push back towards George dak for the fact that
they've got his completions at thirty three.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, that's a lot.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Does he really need to throw the ball that much
against Washington?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I Meanilliams isn't gonna run a bunch. I don't know's
that just seems kind of odd for me. Let's see
past completions. At least do that one. Okay, it's twenty
four and a half. There was an exact that was
a higher mark, but twenty four plus is still a
significant amount of action. Right, So well, when we look
(04:21):
at that, that number I think is high enough to
warrant a all right, we play him. We may make
sure you have a nice frosty beverage or two to
numb the pain. If it goes against us, and Joe
Milton does come trotting out there, but perhaps that's done
only once they've taken care of business. So for Pickens
and CD Lamb, two guys that you'll have in your lineups,
(04:43):
no question at the wide out position. But and Pickens outperformed,
at least from my thinking this past week. We'll look
to see if we can do that again as a
back end top ten play and CD as a top
five at least playing it straight.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
For Javonte Williams, perhaps a little bit of a kickback.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
We're not seeing as much with him on the ground,
so he's a high end two, but with the ceiling
much lower.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, it's the curveballs that bring you to this point
and now you're going to have to deal with them.
But if I was in a championship game, i mean
a third place game in my long term league, I've
got George Pickens, I'm just gonna play them. I'm not gonna,
you know, in this case, like there's with the other
(05:33):
options that may have on my team. But if it's
a coin flip, and I think that the real coin
flip happens at the quarterback position, or maybe you're lucky
to load up and you can play matchups. Deck may
be worth worth playing there. Let's go to game number
two on Christmas Day. By the way, side, don't with
these games being streamed? Would if you didn't have Netflix?
(05:56):
And I assume you guys both do, but if you
don't totally find would you order Netflix to watch these
games on Christmas Day?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Would you not?
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Just for the purpose of these games?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I don't think.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
Well, I'd stream the hell out of everything yea for
a month?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Right, So now I've got every Christmas movie Lifetime and
Hallmark and everybody else has ever made. I've watched a
lot of them. By the way, I will have a
blog to that effect. It's just been on in the
background as I work. But would I subscribe to I
don't know. Will they have the red zone thing up
and going on NFL dot Com for me?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I do not know that.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Like there's a lot of angles, but yeah, subscribing to
any of these services on a one off.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And maybe that's an archaic way of thinking about it,
but I would just think, like, if you're Netflix and
you're like.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Wait, we paid how much to have three teams? Not
in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Two of those teams don't have their starting quarterback, one
of those teams maybe benching their quarterback because they're out
of the playoffs, and then one team that actually has
playoff hopes needs a lot of crap for them to
get into the playoffs, like that's those are the Lions
and Vikings of the other Netflix game, and just the
value that week one that looked great, magnificent, Jayden Daniels,
(07:19):
Dak Prescott coming down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yes please.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
He probably thought at the time that the Commanders were
maybe the team that was going to be in the
playoffs and the Cowboys would be on the outside looking in.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Who knows.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Lions, Vikings two of the best teams of the NFC
last year, great matchup and now like awful. And Prime's
got the Thursday night game like they normally would do,
but they'll have it on Christmas Day with the Broncos
and Chiefs. And that's not too much better, so to
sign up. And that's maybe just it's not the overall scheme,
But I thought early on that was a way that
(07:52):
the streaming services were getting people to subscribe to their
product by having these games. And I don't think that
the Christmas stay slate would make anybody say, yeah, I
want to pay money for that.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, I just wonder, you know, And I've not been
reading the trades as to what kind of presentation they're doing.
I don't know if there's any concerts, special guests, whatever.
Ian We've already had Eminem this year. Can you trot
him out again even though it's in Mini Minnesota? I mean,
I don't know what else you can bring out there.
(08:24):
Is Ragnar going to make an appearance maybe for those
that know super fan on a motorcycle from back in
the day, Yeah, I sell the hell out of it.
I mean, I don't know what you can do to
really push the envelope other than hey, here's how you
avoid your family mm hmm. Subscribe to our Netflix. Yeah,
(08:45):
I got only you get all these movies and all
these TV shows and look, you can watch Stranger Things,
all of this stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
But yeah, I think it's going to be a bit
of a boom for the NBA. The best game of
the NBA schedule is actually Game number two with Spurs
and Thunder.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
And if you get.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Wemby and and the Spurs taking on the Thunder from
just what we saw in the NBA Cup, things could
be could be interesting and if you have to decide
one's on free TV or one isn't I know, I'm
sounding like a guy who's gonna be fifty soon.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And like get off my lawn. Like I'm like, but
like that's how it.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
That's how I like viewed this in seeing we have
two Netflix games and one Prime Video Games one Prime
Video game and we don't have any team really with
a realistic shot of being in the playoffs on Christmas Day,
and I just don't think that's great for the league.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Well, you and I are about the same age, Ian,
what do you think?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
I mean, Netflix Prime to some degree you think of
him as ubiquitous, like, well, who doesn't have one of
those subscriptions. But by the same token, you know, Netflix
has raised its price as a bunch to where maybe
maybe folks have dived off, and all of a sudden,
it's like, wait, I gotta do that for football?
Speaker 6 (10:03):
Yeah, I mean, I just to me, there's so many
alternatives now, Like, even if Netflix is technically the only
place it's streaming, there's all these websites that you know
that people can go to. Obviously stream E's got shut
down and that was the big one. But there's all
these ways that people find alternative ways to watch these things.
I just don't know with that being available, that people
just go to fork over the subscription money that easily.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I just think I think on the Christmas holiday it's
different as well. Like on Thanksgiving, if that was the case,
you'd be like, Hey, Thanksgiving, it's football, it's new this year,
it's only streaming. We have to have it. It's tradition.
Let's just do it. Even if these games stink, people
will be around. But Christmas is just a sort of
different feel when it comes to the holiday.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Now, if you're in the.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Fantasy playoffs, you definitely aren't going to be signing up,
not maybe part of you know, the part of the
cost you'll have to take out of your winnings to
sign up. But again maybe your point is is that
everybody's already signed up anyway, so it's not going to
be that big of a deal.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Well, don't always comes down to and in all of
these businesses, once you reach some level of critical mass,
it's like what's the cost of that next customer acquisition?
And for Netflix, it's the much larger play for the
long term of trying to bring this on, you know,
umbrella in so it's kind of like a lost leader,
like a Costco Rutisserie chicken. And then once you're in,
(11:22):
you see the breath and scope of all the different
things that are in, and now you stay or once
you get signed up, you forget to turn it off
like a gym membership.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
That is correct that they've done that, And then I'm like, god, geez,
now I gotta have this for twenty eight more days.
I miss I missed the cutoff, and it's already been renewed.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
You can watch Stranger Things or something that.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yes, right, all right, We're going to take a time
out here, and I want your flax. We'll look a
little bit more at that Lions Vikings game injury with
the Vikings and JJ McCarthy plus Broncos and Chiefs. Is
there a reason for any Chiefs fan to show up
on Christmas Day? We'll talk about that, and I want
your flegs.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
All right.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We talked to a little TV, talked to the little
cowboys and commanders. Now let's talk Lions Vikings, the other
game that's on Netflix, Mike, Lions still have something to
play for playoff hopes are still kind of alive, but
on the outside looking in, and the Vikings have to
deal with a JJ McCarthy injury just right after it
looked like maybe Justin Jefferson was finding his role. The
(12:25):
Lion's Vikings a lot to be desired on Christmas Day.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, six for eighty six and that one that was
the height. You finally got some run, but a last
too late. Now you've got Brosber under center. Jones and
Mason got carted off, so it'll be more of Aaron
Jones here in week seventeen from the Detroit side fascination, right,
we got to have our ronco set it and forget
(12:51):
it for the three principles in the receiving and passing
game when we look at Gibbs and am On Rah
and Jameson Williams, Williams Moore a back end too, because
the outside against outside receivers.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Minnesota has been really good all year long.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
We've had a number of players that have been on
the cold sore list and that's exactly where they ended
up when the week ends. So this one's a little
bit of a trajectory down. So a'm monra a little
lower than his normal lofty position. Now he's a back
end top ten for me this week. I don't think
he'll push anybody off or have some hit cannery and
(13:26):
chaos at the end of a game. But Jared goffsto
better than a high end QB two this week against
this defense, Flores has him playing pretty well. Now what
you you would normally say this situation is like, well,
but they might have some opportunity to get a brasma
or what. Have you seen anything in the Lions defense
that suggests that they're going to be able to stop
(13:46):
anybody to do that? The answer is no, was so
to that end, it's one of those where for game script,
I don't see huge, huge returns in this one.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
By the way, do you think the Lions will run
their offensive pass interference lateral to Jared Goff and he
scores in the end zone? Play again like that was?
That was pure chaos in weeks six.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
It was better than the lateral that Mark Andrews.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
The best part Carl Scheffer's was the referee for that
game and says the ruling on the field is touchdown,
and so that everybody's thinking that he gave him the
good news first here comes the bat who's completely playing
with them.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
But yeah, it is a struggle.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
The Lions offensive line is just it's a big issue
right now. And you touched on, you know, Gibbs, and
we talked about him on the last episode. It's just
been been very frustrating and he can't even really count
on the wide receivers. And you're right about Minnesota, like
this is aside from this not having the stakes. Minnesota
(14:54):
Detroit last year had so much higher stakes and you
just felt like it was just gonna be a better
football game. Now nobody could really do anything with either
of these teams.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Yeah, as I'm looking at the.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
By the way, I should correct myself relatively speaking, like
the Vikings have way more offensive troubles than the Lions.
We're just not expecting the Lions to be what they
were previously. So I just wanted to clarify my point
so it didn't sound like a total idiot.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
No, no, no, you're knew you nailed it. You were
on the point. The Lions still have a what is
it a six to ten percent chance to make the playoffs.
For the Vikings after what has been a tumultuous and
odd season, it's a Super Bowl, it's an opportunity to
(15:44):
go and send a division made home. You didn't get
your heights that you hoped for. JJ McCarthy showed well
in spots the last couple of weeks, right, we saw
the offense turn a little bit. Yeah, it didn't mean
Jefferson points, but we at least saw some downfield throw
in a little bit more consistency before the injury. But
(16:04):
for that defense to try to shut down Dan Campbell's
reworked offense, I don't know. I kind of dig that
angle on it to where and Flores loves to throw
the kitchen.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Sink at people anyway.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, so here's an opportunity to put a dagger in
your division.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Mate.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Well, if you go to the Vikings game on Christmas Day,
kudos to you. It's also indoors, so that's one advantage.
Not the case in Kansas City, at least not until
twenty thirty one.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's a whole different story. The Broncos and Chiefs will be.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Playing on the Christmas night and Chris pull A Dokin
likely in line to get the start for Kansas City
is Gardner. Minshew's knee injury not as serious as they
first thought. But still you got a short week, a
knee injury that you thought was in acl Yeah, there's
gonna be no minshew. And now you have the Denver
Broncos coming in and after that loss to the Jaguars
(17:03):
on Sunday, I'll tell you what, if I have tickets
in Kansas City, that's a tough one to go to,
A real tough one to go to on Christmas.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
To put it in perspective when you add weather to
the effect. I know people that didn't go to that
Bears game on Saturday and I'll just stay home, which
I think I might just block them on my phone.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
But the uh, but for this one, yeah, I mean
that that's tough. Unless you're really just.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Loving uh and you want to yell hateful things towards
Sean Payton and bo Nix. There's really not a lot
for you there. This is one of those I think
I donate the uh, you know, the the spirit of Christmas.
Here's a family member, Hey, you want to go to
a game.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Go.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
I feel bad for the there's somebody who probably this
was there Christmas. Cant right, Like, do you get these
tickets a month or two in advance? You don't know
that Patrick Mahomes is gonna out. You still think that
the Chiefs are going to turn it on and the
Broncos coming to town, and you're like, you know what,
We're gonna wake up Christmas morning and the kids are
(18:08):
going to find Broncos Chiefs tickets in their stockings and
it's going to be this magical Christmas and instead of
Saint Nick, it's Chris Oladokin and that is what you're
going to remember from Christmas of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Like I'm laughing at.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
It, but it's truly awful, like truly like if this
is you know that there's a family or somebody that
wanted to do this and now this is what they
get stuck with.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Yeah, Denver's a twelve and a half point favorite. As
we sit here and record the podcast, over Under is
down to thirty six and a half. And again I
wish well for Ola Ducun, you know, an opportunity to
be I think starter fifty five on the year if
my grid is right, or fifty four or fifty five.
(18:54):
So we got that, but I mean celebrate the greatness
that is the what the Broncos have been. I guess
it is a rare convergence. Though, in a day and
age where there's a lot of lamentation and handwringing about
ticket prices for things secondary market, the only game this
(19:15):
weekend actually from the Thursday and Saturday game, so those
first five where the get in price is over one
hundred bucks is the Baltimore Green Bay game, and even
that's only one hundred and thirty one. Everything else, you
can go to the Chiefs game forty dollars, Minnesota eighty five,
(19:35):
Washington's fifty seven, and the Chargers out here it's a
eighty one. I saw a billboard that said that yesterday.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
You can see the Broncos and Chiefs for the same
price you could see Saints Titans. Right now, if you're
looking on the same set that I'm looking at for
the lowest tickets, it is forty one dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
That's absurd.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
How about the Arizona versus the Beangals, Baby, let go.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
The weather in Kansas City, by the way, is gonna
be very nice, like it's gonna be a very warm Christmas,
so the night's not gonna be cold.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It'll be cool, but.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
I we're talking like temperatures in the mid forties for
the evening. Yeah, they could have They're gonna have sixties
on like Christmas Day. Wow, it's pretty good at the forecast. Yeah,
when some of the country's going to be hit with storms.
But that's so the weather won't be a factor, but
the actual product on the field.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Is going to be.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And I know, there's nothing you can do with interest,
There's nothing you can do with the torn acl It's
just unfortunate that this is what we've got to deal with.
And now with the calendar the way that it is,
with these games, it's difficult to flex holiday games. I
wonder if it will be considered. I wonder if they
will hold off because they held off on the Saturday schedule, right,
(20:54):
they took five games and said a couple of these
could be Saturday games, a couple of these could be
Sunday games. And then as it fell out, it was
Texans and Chargers coming up on Sunday that are on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Excuse me, followed by the Ravens and Packers.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Those got the Billings because they actually had playoff contention.
So I think you could do that, like when Christmas
is on a Friday, maybe not on a Thursday, but
on a Friday. You could probably do something like that
and say hey on Christmas Day, on those games, these
are going to be the games.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
We're going to have. Yeah, it's uh, this late is
not good.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
Sticky wicket, and no doubt Netflix and Amazon will raise
their hands to try to, you know, force issues going
forward for fantasy purposes. Bo Nick's back end QB one
Courtland Sutton high end second wide receiver along that that end.
For Kansas City, Pacheco gets a nod as a back
end too, just based on volume, right, I mean, are
(21:48):
we expecting any great heights. No, but you know, all
we can all we can speak to is opportunity and
he should have at least some semblance of a workload,
maybe a couple of dump offside of the backfield, So
we look for a little bit of run there. McLaughlin
no better than a flex deep flex and Harvey maybe
(22:11):
a back end too, because he has been active in
the passing game to a degree, so we can get
a little bit of love in the run game. But yeah,
for Kansas City, that's tough. I mean, the Travis Kelcey
had one catch for six yards. I mean, unless they
just say, well, we're gonna throw the ball to him
regardless if they go on a box and one because
(22:31):
it's Christmas, we're done and it's Travis Kelzi. I mean
other than that, it's like that's a lot of wishing
and hope and based on where production has been the
last few.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Weeks, Yeah, that would be.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah, the Travis Kelce final Swan song man, that would be.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah. Maybe maybe that gives you reason enough. That's a
good point.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
If he calls it quits, this would be his last
home game, I'll give you a reason to go check
it out. Maybe see Taylor Swift on that day. That
would be enough reason to do.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
So.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Please serenade the guy as he walks off the field.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
She may need to be their emergency quarterback. That's getting
so bad for the Chiefs my goodness. Well all right,
that's going to do it for our Christmas Day preview
for I Want Your Flax. We'll be back with a
full rankings episode coming up the day after Christmas, so
that will be there for you where you always get
your podcasts. So for Mike Carmen and he and Roddy guys,
(23:33):
have a great Christmas. Likewise, and yeah, we will talk
to you on the other side right here, and I
want your FLEs
Host
Mike Harmon
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