November 21, 2023 • 37 mins
SUBSCRIBE HERE!
It's Fox Sports Radio's Official Fantasy Football Podcast! Dan Beyer and Mike Harmon react to Week 11 in fantasy football, where fantasy may be saving the way we are watching this season. The guys take an early look at the Chargers and Ravens on Monday night, where both teams have new situations arising with their pass catchers. Plus, Harmon gives his waiver wire adds for Week 12!
#fsrweekends
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
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,
We'll buckle up.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Sweet cheeks.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We've got all the experience in the world. This is
I want your flex with Dan Byer and Mike Harmon.
Mike and Dan break down everything you need to set
your lineups, from position rankings to.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Starts and sits.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The guys help you make those hard decisions. And now
let's get your flex. Ond here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
All right, Thanksgiving week is here, but we are not
going to dive into the food and stuff until we
rehash what happened in week eleven. Get Mike on Twitter
at Swallendal. You can find me at Dan Byer on Fox.
Our executive producer is Ryan Berschinger. And Week eleven Mike
ended with the Super Bowl rematch Eagles and Chiefs. I
(00:54):
like the football game because it wasn't perfect, But I
just wonder now leaving that, my goodness, where have the
fantasy What are the fantasy gods done with the Kansas
City Chiefs when it comes to fantasy numbers? I mean,
if you're playing a Chief right now, you're banging your
head against the wall. My goodness.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, difficult proposition all the way around, even the fantasy
great that is Travis Kelcey leaving some opportunities on the ground. Obviously,
the peanut punch in the red zone one that was
a gut punch to Chiefs fans fantasy owners thinking all right,
he's gonna get a shot to get an end zone target. Nope,
(01:32):
not to be there. Likewise, Isaiah Pacheco has sixty six
yards in the first half and then he's on the
side of a mill carton in the second as the
Chiefs continued their woeful second half performances. Only thirteen points
scored Dan in the last five second halfs combined, and
that is including a date with the Chiefs, and everybody
scores on them. So you know, it's just a problem
(01:54):
all around. The drop by MBS we played at a
bunch Smith's out on vacation all week, you know, post birthday,
going off to the desert to do whatever he does,
and it cost him his spot in our FSR Guillotine League.
So there was some laughing to go to that a
little bit because he had mahomes going. But yeah, certainly
(02:17):
from a fantasy perspective for this squad, very difficult right now,
very topsy Turvy Watson at his five for fifty three
in a score. I had him on my rosters. We
talked about him early in the year, Dan and it
got to the points like, all right, there's no consistency here.
So back to the way Mawire he goes. And I
can't contend that he or Rice or any of these
(02:39):
guys become fantasy viable. You're looking for other options.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, absolutely. You wonder if they're going to take their
aggressions out against the Raiders. But to see how DeAndre
Swift had some success. So the Chiefs defense has been
good this year. I'm not trying to take anything away
from them, but you wonder if they'll get a dose
of Josh Jacobs coming up on Sunday and when one
of the few games that actually takes place on Sunday
(03:03):
in week twelve, Right, the games.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Here there, and here's a Friday, here's a Sunday night,
here's a Monday, here's I still wait to see if
there was actually a Wednesday game thrown in just to
keep us on our toes. But the Eagles offense, I mean,
they looked broken. I was doing the show with Carrie Rhodes,
former All Pro safety for the Jets, and he just
kept saying it's so predictable, and then it became dump off,
(03:28):
dump off, dump off, and a lot of those getting
batted up away at the line, like it was pretty
awful for a good chunk of the night. And then
you have the forty one yard strike to DeVante Smith
to put them on the door step. Six catches ninety
nine yards on his eight targets. He and Hurts have
something special going on. Hurts finishes with one hundred and
(03:48):
fifty yards through the air, sacked five times. I almost
wished at halftime he'd come out in a new jersey
just saying, hey, try to get me this time, because
I bet you there wouldn't have been a speck of
dirt on it when that second half went down.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
You know, it's funny, you know Tom Brady making these
comments about the league and basically how it's mediocre right now.
It isn't really good. It's actually a conversation I felt
that you and I have had over the last two
or three years. Yeah, when it comes to the product,
And the only reason I bring it up is actually
there's two reasons. Number One, fantasy and betting are the
reasons why we are blind to the fact that some
(04:24):
of these games aren't good because we have such an
interest in our fantasy teams, in what we bet, and
it blinds us from that, and that has been a
topic of conversation. The other reason I bring it up, Mike,
is because when I look at the top fantasy performers
from this past week, you know, I just look at
(04:45):
the running back position, and it's Sakwon Barkley number one,
because he was the only thing that Tommy DeVito was
looking at. In that game against Washington, Jalen Warren ends
up number two. Well, half of his yards came on
the world one run that he had, you know, from
seventy five yards out whatever it.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Was, seventy five and a score or seventy four or
whatever it was. Especially, I mean there's thirteen and a
half points or whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Gus Edwards is it was third in one of my
leagues in scoring, and it's hey, here's two goal line
touchdowns now in a game that is just ground upon
because the other team lost their quarterback. Like it's like
it's it's just there is something to it. Tom Brady
realizes that everybody realizes it, But now I see it
like seeping into the fantasy world where you know, I
(05:34):
know Jalen warrens the starter, but I don't think you'd be,
you know, too excited to start him against Cleveland, and
here he ends up being RB number two. And you know,
I told the guy a bench, Gus Edwards. Maybe that's
why I'm a little, you know, sour about it. But
it's just interesting to see the rankings and how some
of these scoring leaders are and the sort of messes
that they end up scoring out of in these games.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, Devin Singletary ends up your fourth running back for
the week, and what was a weird game against Arizona
for sure, McCaffrey sixth, what a scrub he's become. And
then you've got the tandem of Montgomery and Gibbs rounding
out the top ten against the Bears. And for the
(06:14):
most part, you know, that game, everybody was contained. And
then the fourth quarter the Bears just said, eh, you
know what we saw enough, let's lose this game, and
let's do so spectacularly. So they end up with a
combined thirty one Fantasy points between them, and then you
go on down the line. You know, ty Chandler has
that fake punt that he runs for thirty one yards.
(06:37):
He ends up finishing with eleven points, even though they still,
for whatever reason, kept trying to force feed Alexander Madison.
You know, you and I have talked about Chandler for
a long time. Bursh on the podcast as well, Dan
and like, are we the only ones that see what
am I missing in the practice reps that they feel
so obliged to give Alexander Madison more carries when he's
(07:00):
clearly ineffective, especially down the stretch when you're trying to
hold off the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, it's heck. You got Tyd Chandler and Tyd Johnson
getting top twenty finishes and Johnson just had the one
reception against Buffalo or for Buffalo against the Jets. Yeah,
it is. It is crazy. I'm wondering too now. And
you know the rumblings. Just just speaking of the vikings,
Josh Dobbs does seem to have some fantasy value. That
(07:27):
game Monday Night against your Bears coming up in week
twelve could actually be pretty fun.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Oh, there's gonna be a bunch of points scoring.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, more better than half the crap on the schedule
that they're giving us on Sunday. We'll get to that
at another point. But but you know, Josh Dobbs may be,
you know, you know, a guy that just has some
interesting value. But to your point, now, we're talking about
a guy who was out a different team three weeks ago,
(07:54):
and he was only on that team for about eight
weeks before, you know, prior to being traded. So it
just kind of lends to everything that is with the
National Football League. Jason Stewart, who I work with on
the Doug Gottlieb Show probably about once a week, complains
about the quality of the National Football League and it
(08:15):
has been a problem, and now it's really seeped into
the fantasy world because it's becoming a little bit more random.
Like there's so many random factors that end up, you know,
whether it was always a random factor, I'm not even
throwing that in on Monday Night, but there's just so
many different things that are popping up now in fantasy
that I don't even know how to prepare for. Because
(08:36):
I never would have guessed that Tommy DeVito would be
leading the Giants to a victory to Washington d C.
But lo and behold it happened at week eleven.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
But the number of turnovers that they had in that game, right,
I mean I had sam highway, I propped him up
as a top five Fantasy option. And then while you
get Samuel gets himself kicked out of the game, and
you've got turnovers left and right, all of that to
roll into a devido finding sakuon Barkley as you mentioned before,
(09:07):
and having himself a whale of a game there. It
doesn't have to be pretty. The stat lines all look
the same, right, it's the dribbler down the third base line,
to mix sports metaphors for and analogies for a second, right,
the one that dribbles and they're like, oh, it's gonna
go follow and then it just stays in the chalk.
But in the box score the next day it looks
like a line drive one hopper to the left fielder.
(09:30):
So you know, it's all all about aesthetics go out
the window. It's just you know, brass tacks, right, all
these drop passes, missed opportunities. Yeah, when we do our
football analysis, it's all fine and good. It could happen. Well,
they drop the ball, it doesn't matter, right, the MBS.
That would have been a huge play for Patrick Mahomes owners. Yeah, no,
(09:50):
it didn't happen. All the drops in the Charger game, right,
if you had Justin Herbert, you're you're still mad at
Quintin Johnston who got company from MVS on money. But
you know, big time performances and maybe at this point
in the season, Dan, I mean, that's the difference between
a playoff spot and being sent home in some of
these leagues, and between all the injury issues that we've
(10:14):
seen across the league and teams using the short term
I are or just deciding to shelve guys for weeks
at a time, you know, trying to navigate the lineup calls,
and especially in the backfield, I've been terrible at it
this year. Pretty good success with a lot of the others.
The running back position has vexed me each and every week, right,
the hot hand effect versus goal line back versus Hey,
(10:37):
that guy left because he got hit in the shin
and he was laying down like Peter Griffin, only to
return in the third quarter to be a beast. You know,
those kind of things happening time and again, and so
going into week twelve. There's still so much we always
presume we know something, not just from a fantasy angle.
We know the unders are cashing left and right, which
(10:58):
is not good for the game. It's great for people
that are betting that side consistently at sixty three percent,
but it's not good for the game in terms of
scoring and building these brands of players and excitement for games.
But well, this is where we're at in twenty twenty three,
and I wonder if it's a recency bias or you
(11:20):
and I have been talking about it a couple of years.
Maybe it's just gone to that next level of suckage
in a lot of these games, to where there's no
denying it anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, I think that that. I think that that is
the case. There's always the quest of parody with Roger
Goodell and the NFL, and maybe it's be careful what
you wish for, because they are getting it right now.
What are the teams that I do want to touch on,
because actually it's two teams, because this is the conundrum
(11:51):
that we are all facing, and it goes from week
eleven and it goes into week twelve. We saw the
Jaguars get dominated out of the Niners in week ten,
come out. Guess what, It's a Calvin Ridley sort of
day for Jacksonville in week eleven. Now they've got the Texans, who,
by the way, CJ. Stroud's like, all right now, I'm
going to start turning the ball over. And you know
(12:11):
they almost throw away a game against the Arizona Cardinals.
But still magnificent fantasy numbers if you're playing the aforementioned
Devin Singletary, or if you're playing CJ. Stroud, or if
you're playing Tank Dell in that matchup. As we look ahead,
Tank Dell seems like automatic start could win a title.
What do you do with the weapons in Jacksonville? For
(12:34):
those that are like, hey, I played Christian Kirk, which,
by the way, I was one of them, how do
you navigate that sort of situation, especially with such a
big divisional matchup this week?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, I think as we go down the road, I mean,
Kirk's still got to be a play, right because I
mean we look at him week to week. You've had
five or more targets every week except for Week one
against Indianapolis. Otherwise you've got a couple of three double
digit target counts. And again quality of target. We can
go game to game and try to figure that out. Right,
(13:04):
I'm not sitting down to watch all twenty two of
the last eleven Jaguar games or ten games. But when
we look at Kirk, I know there's going to be
a pretty good fraction of Trevor Lawrence's targets that are
going to find his way. Evan Ingram tight end position
is that I think I still have to have him
(13:26):
in the mix, depending on what my roster looks like,
because let's face it, the churn and burn at that
position is a pain in the ass this year unlike
any other. And as for Calvin Ridley, I sat him
and looked at thirty one points on the bench this
past week, but it's not forcing my hand to push
him back in like I was reticent then. And even
(13:51):
with this matchup, it's still going to be all right.
I've really got to look at my roster and to
some degree hope and prank because Trevor Lawrence is not
been great, and I think that's been lost in a
lot of the fact that they've got a good record.
I think it's lost in what we have, expectation, reputation,
(14:12):
whatever they're winning so it must be him. Well, it
hasn't been at all.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think it was lost in his fantasy numbers. He
had two rushing touchdowns against the Titans this past week,
and you're like, hey, awesome, but maybe not so much.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah, overall, it's still been a fairly difficult proposition for
him on a week to week basis, and thinking that
he and Ridley have finally managed something, yeah, I think
that might be a little bit, you know, premature. I
need to see it, and dare I say I need
to see it again? Could I put him in as
(14:47):
a third wide receiver? Sure? How many leagues are still
running with three wide receivers? I think that's kind of
gone the way of the Dodo. So we start looking
down and to flexworthy. I'm generally gonna be if the
roster goes and even if struggled with the running back,
if I got a guy that's touching the ball a
dozen times a game, it's awful tough to sit him down,
(15:10):
even in what could be a plus matchup. I mean,
Houston giving up twenty point eight points per game this year,
I mean that's good enough to be in the upper
half of the NFL. So suddenly expecting them to fall
apart in this kind of matchup. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
He's Mike Harmon, I'm Dan Byer, this is I want
your flex. Hit Mike up at swollen Doome find me
at Dan Byer on Fox. We're gonna take a time out,
but when we come back, Mike's gonna give you his
waiver wire picks four Week twelve of the season. Plus
we got to talk about Brandon Staley not talking to
the fans. We will talk about him. Plus the Chargers
have a big one sending out against the Ravens. How
(15:45):
that could match up for Baltimore in their situation and
for the Chargers as well. A lot to get to.
He's Mike, I'm Dan, this is I want your flex.
All right, we're back. Get Mike at Swollendome, hit me
Dan Byer at Dan Byer on Fox. I did tease
the Sunday night game Ravens and Chargers. Let's do twelve.
(16:05):
That Ravens Bengals game seems like a distant memory from
Thursday night, And while so focused on how the Bengals
are going to survive, did mention Gus Edwards having a
game obj dinged up but got over the century mark.
So there's some interesting storylines in that game, not only
(16:29):
from what happened on Thursday night, but then you mentioned
the Chargers team dropping a bunch of passes in Green Bay.
They also let Jordan Love throw for three hundred yards.
Maybe there's a Packers storyline to get in here. But yeah,
so some stuff to look ahead from week twelve. But
how does this hangover now for the Chargers and Brandon
Staley's defense of his defense, how does that carry over
(16:50):
from week eleven to the week twelve with this huge,
huge matchup Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
He needs a hug. He defends his defense while throwing
everybody under the bus. Yeah, our defense, No, you gave
up a big play and gave up the lead to
Jordan Love. Period. Now should the offensive caught more passes? Sure,
that's you're not leading at this point. I get it
that the hot seat talk is rampant in LA and nationally,
(17:15):
particularly nationally like in LA, you know, they're worried about
Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams and whether he's gonna talk to
the media and what his draft stock is. Right, I mean,
there's so many other storylines. Who are the Dodgers gonna
sign in free agency is a bigger story than anything
Brandon Staley's doing locally. But you know, the firm adherence
to hey, defensively, we got it right. It's like drop
(17:37):
passes and this that the other's like, no, no, no,
those were big. You still stink at the defensive side
of your job. So stop being defensive and you know
what the fans will call for your dismissal here even
louder and more vociferously, although it'll be opposing fans cheering
for the Ravens on Sunday Night football for the Chargers,
one thing he will have to contend with defensively, Dan
(17:58):
is trying to call the game with no Joe, So
suddenly that becomes a big deal for a team that's
already been SIV like even with him, Khalil Mack and
Derwin James all available in playing, which has not been
especially I mean, obviously Mac kind of new to the
equation overall. But you know, when you look at Bosa
and James health wise, they haven't been there while they
(18:20):
were there, and they were still terrible time and time again.
So for Lamar Jackson, it creates a great opportunity problem
is his best weapon is gone. Although they say they've
got great news and maybe you can hold out hope
with John Harbaugh that Mark Andrews returns for your fantasy playoffs,
But in the interim it's going to be about a
mix and match ode Odell whether he's available to you.
(18:44):
And certainly Zay Flowers has been fantastic, But I wonder
how much you lean back into the run game of
Mitchell and Gus Edwards this week and Lamar with maybe
a few more designed runs to help open things up.
Flower is still gonna get fed right for fantasy purposes,
a WR two at worst with some great upside against
(19:07):
this secondary, But I would I would expect both Mitchell
and Edwards to be pretty good plays for you this week.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Isaiah Likely is also a popular name out there. Zay
Flowers would have a touchdown against the Bengals brought back
because of a holding penalty, So you're right about that.
The one thing about the Ravens backfield that I just
don't know is the Justice Hill. Yeah, clutter, you know,
like there's it's one thing. If you're like all right,
you know you're at the go one, it's probably gonna
(19:36):
be Gus Edwards, but there were situations in the red
zone where Justice Hill was in the game. I'm like,
all right, well, then when are you gonna play Keaton Mitchell?
You're just hoping that he you know, busts one.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Right, you get that one, Yeah, you get that one, which.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Could happen against the Chargers on Sunday night. Who knows,
but yeah, that situation is. Yeah, you know, you're right
about Andrews and now OBJ being injured could the doors
from for some I just I think the pecking order
is though Edwards, Mitchell, and Justice Hill. I don't want
to I don't want to clout anything that you've said,
(20:11):
Mike with that by throwing Justice Hill's name out there,
but it's there.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
It's there, just enough to scare you. Yeah, right, in
terms of all right, I'm gonna play this guy assuming
I'm getting eight to ten touches, and that means, you know,
eight to ten from Mitchell. That's no guarantee. With the
way Harbaugh has been running this squad as a guy
who held on to Justice Hill a long time and
finally just said, you know what, you're weighing me down.
(20:36):
I can't do it. Can't do it. I need I
need help somewhere else, So I'll tell somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what I what
I liked in Week eleven. That's not great for fantasy wise.
Dallas did seem to realize that they had a bit
of a Tony Pollard problem. I only had twelve carries
in the game, but they won thirty three to ten
against the Carolina Panther. That as a as a person
(21:02):
who has shares in Tony Pollard, it was appreciated that
he was able to get into the end zone. But
you see that the different target numbers. It wasn't Ceedee
Lamb seventeen targets in Brandon Cook's four, you know, like
they spread it around, curious to see how it plays out.
I think I think Thanksgiving Day could be a shootout,
(21:24):
and we'll get more into that coming up in Wednesday's pod.
But Dallas evening things out, maybe at the detriment of
Ceedee Lamb. But I did think that they were trying
to make Tony Pollard somewhat right.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, And they talked about that, Ceedee Lamb before the game,
talking about Brandon Cook starting to become a little more
integrated into the offense, and then he gave the nod
of hey, now it's time to get to get Tony
Pollard fed a little bit and get him on track.
So I like that. You know, there's a holistic approach,
(21:59):
you know, in these seem to be recognizing what's needed
from the squad and putting that out as opposed to
I need five more targets, which is good, right because
six catches thirty eight yards did find the end zone,
but broke that streak unfortunately that folks love so much.
Does have a little bit of an ankle injury, but
(22:19):
looks like he'll be ready to go come Thursday's performance
there for us on Thanksgiving Day. But yeah, the Tony
Pollard conundrum, at least for a moment, I think he
breathed a little bit of a sigh of relief because
there's also another smash opportunity against Washington.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I do want to bring up one other thing. Yeah,
I don't mean to pick on on this member of
the Carolina Panthers because it's unfair, but in the times
that I've watched them, I Jonathan Mingo has dropped about
ten passes that I've watched the Carolina Panthers play and
you're like, why are you talking about Jonathan Mingo on
(22:59):
this podcast? The only reason is is because I had
the Cowboys box score in front of me, and then
I looked at the Panthers box score and you see
Adam Thielen's numbers and then you see everybody else's and
I'm like, well, who the heck was second in targets
and it was Jonathan Mingo. So I clicked on Mingo
six targets, one reception, and I'm like, this is a theme.
I'm like, I've got to see how many times this
(23:20):
guy's been targeted Mike. Jonathan Mingo has been targeted fifty
one times, second round pick out o Ole miss fifty
one times this year by Bryce Young and he's got
twenty four receptions. Yeah, so less than half of the
time you are targeting him, he is catching the football
that is unheard of in like and again, you're not
(23:43):
playing Jonathan Mingo. Don't don't ever, don't ever. I just
I thought it was crazy. I wanted to bring up
the stat because I just think it's ridiculous. But one
of those things where your eyes tell you something and
then you have this stat to be able to I
guess back yourself up. It was able to solid five
my thinking. And I hope Jonathan man Go turns out
they have a great career. But man a tough go
(24:06):
of the first eleven weeks of his NFL career pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
I'd love to go back, and I'm not gonna say
that I try my best to get back through every
game and see every team, you know, at least every
other week. I can't say that I've been able to
force myself to watch a lot of Carolina Panthers, Like
if it's on the four box, I can guarantee you
that's the quadrant that's getting the least amount of eye
(24:29):
appeal for me on a weekly basis. But I'd love
to go back and see, like, are they just throwing
it up, you know, he go make a big play here,
or is it you know, short and intermediate that's still
not connecting, because then it becomes an even bigger indictment
on Bryce Young, right, if we're talking about those type
of passes. But other way, but fromingo for fantasy purposes,
(24:50):
certainly in dynasty leagues would have been a guy getting
picked up. Sure, it would have been a guy drafted
with the expectation that physically he'd make play even as
a rookie, because you did only have Adam Feelin and
I think come trade deadline, there was a lot of excitement. Hey,
Adam Thiela might get Dealton. You and I talked about
(25:11):
it quite a bit, and it made no sense because
you need something there for Bryce Young to hang his
hat on. Otherwise you might as well have just put
him on in mothballs.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Absolutely right. It's amazing to see he gets eight receptions
for seventy four yards and the next best reception wise
is Leviscus Nault two for nine yards.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
It's really an amazing level of futility. One thing to
bring note on, and not just because I'm a noted
Bears honk, but in the last two weeks we've gotten
two guys that finished in the top ten. Back Kyler Murray.
We talked about his video game Turbo Boost last week.
Well finished with twenty one points in depending on your scoring,
(25:56):
of course, but against Houston, I had his moment and
then justin fields returns for the Bears sixteen to twenty three.
They took the ball out of his hands with two
dopey dives into the backs of the Bears offensive line.
If you weren't trying to lose, then this would put
(26:17):
you in the firing line, but we know the Bears won't.
But at one hundred and four rushing yards on the day,
pretty good day for Justin Fields in his return. I
don't know what it means on the grand scheme, but
you still got your desired loss if you're one who
truly believes in what the draft can do for you
(26:38):
and the people that are doing the drafting, which, as
you know, Dan, I don't and I don't know anything
in that management system or coaching staff that I trust
at all. But Justin Fields I thought played a pretty
good game in his return to the field. And as
you mentioned before, you know on Monday night we'll get
a look at him versus Dobbs and what could be
(27:00):
scoring affairs. So, you know, fantasy owners, maybe breathe a
sigh of relief. With all the injuries and ineffectiveness and
fantasy quarterbacks, maybe Justin Fields found a little bit of
his old self while recovering from his injury.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I've got some Seahawk thoughts since we're talking about favorite teams,
but I'm gonna save them I'm gonna save them for
our Wednesday pods.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Is are you going to cruse a lot?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
You know what? This is all I'll say, This is
all I said. This is the opportunity to do it
because we'll actually talk about their specific players. I think
a lot of Seahawks fans were mad at how Sunday
finished against the Rams, and they were mad because of
what that meant to this season. Mike I was not
mad because of what it meant to the season. They
(27:44):
aren't on the same level as San Francisco, and they're
not on the same level of Philadelphia. They're just not
And because it's been a decade basically now of this
or eight years of this, it's just kind of there.
And I know, I'm talking to, you know, a guy
who's a Bears fan and is like, you know, die
to getting back into the playoffs. But this is a
(28:07):
team that may still well get into the playoffs, but
as absolutely no shot, no shot whatsoever, of doing any damage.
And that was the realization. My takeaway from Sunday was, Yeah,
Jason Myers misses a fifty five yard field goal. Yeah,
they kind of botched the end of the game, but
they're up sixteen to seven. In this game, you know,
in the fourth quarter the Rams probably really don't care
(28:29):
to win, and they're still unable to put it away.
I don't know what their identity is. That's actually the really,
really disheartening thing about it.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
So well, just remember, Biel, you got you got a
number of weeks of games left, and not that you're
praying for injuries, but let's face it, it's the National
Football League. Some doors may open back up. And that's
the weird thing about the NFL in twenty twenty three
as bad, and we could talk about mediocrity already, suckage
(29:02):
wherever you're at on that continuum the final weeks of
the season, especially with the dopey divisional play, once guys
are injured and you're playing your third quarterback or fourth
wide receiver or thirty eighth line combination, you may still
have games that get you into the playoffs. And depending
on where everybody else is in the health continuum, you
(29:23):
might all of a sudden have a shot.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Dan, they have no shot.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Oh, I'm trying to be positive if that never happens.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I was going to ask you because I post this
question on my Sunday show after they lost. It wasn't
even a question. I said how I felt, and I
asked George Reister this question. That's what I did. I asked,
you know, like are they a good team? And my
whole point was I don't think they do anything great. Yeah,
(29:53):
And that's the point of it is. They don't run
the ball great. They don't throw the ball, you know, perbly,
they don't get after the quarterback boy and Mafe does.
But the other like there's they're not, you know, stout
against the run. Devin Witherspoon's put on one heck of
a highlight film, but you can't say that that secondary
(30:13):
is completely locked down. Legion of Boom. Second, like, they
don't they don't do anything well, they're like great, They're
just they're they're good in spots and not good in others.
And that's what's frustrating is they didn't do anything like
really good to great. So that was my frustration.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I think that's a really good way to put it.
And I'll just steal from from Tim Roth character and
reservoir Dogs. He convinced me I want my dollar back.
Well done.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
He's Mike carbon I'm Dan Byer. We'll tell you what
we'll take one of the last time out. Then we'll
get to your waiver wire on the other side for
a week twelve. Hit my cup at Swollen Dome. Hit
me up at Dan Byer on Fox. This is I
want your flex. He's Mike carbon I'm Dan Byer. All right,
waiver wire for week twelve. It's Mike with the three
games on Thursday, game on Friday. I know we're gonna
(31:05):
have eight teams already out of the picture on Saturday.
If you're looking for guys to pick up, so you
might as well pick them up. Now. Who do we
got waiver wire entering week twelve.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, As we start diving into the waiver wire for
this week, we get into some strange bedfellows and kind
of a little wishing and hoping. We look to the
matchup adding some Green Bay magic as they rolled up
on the Chargers, Well, Jordan Love. Maybe a guy you
look at in a matchup pushing the ball against Detroit.
(31:33):
Jayden Reid, who has shown up for them time and again.
You know we've looked at Dobbs, we look at Watson. Well,
Jayden Reid's quietly having himself a nice year. Again. Strange
Bedfellows on what is a strange week as you roll through.
AJ Dillon only sixty two percent to go back to
the Packers. I know the run game has been awful,
(31:54):
but Aaron Jones playing on Thursday. Yeah, there's no chance
in hell of that, right, So opportunity for Dylan to
make a little bit of noise factor into the past game.
Zach Charbonnel, we were talking about a little bit about
Seattle with Kenneth Walker. The third not done for the year,
they saying yet, but potential is there. Charbonay only owned
(32:18):
in forty five percent of leagues. We've talked a lot
about ty Chandler as well. He's owned in about forty
percent of leagues. You want to get into Operation Desperation.
Ezekiel Elliott coming out of the bye week has his
partial ownership of what's going on there in New England,
So you know, the Desperation a guy that I think
(32:41):
is kind of interesting going forward. You saw him used
a lot Sunday Night by the Broncos in the comeback
win over Minnesota, and that's samajp Rynd. We know what
he was as a pass catcher for the for the
Bengals for years and he was huge on that final drive, right,
what was it? Four catches and a chunks of yardage.
(33:02):
He's only owned in about eighteen percent twenty percent of leagues.
So one of those guys, I think I would raise
my hand and just say, you know what, make the
preemptive strike. Not that we're wishing anything to Javonte Williams
at all, but a guy that might be worth a
look see in your league long term as a starter,
but certainly short term and get your insurge card. We've
(33:25):
talked about Brandon Cooks only owned in about fifty percent
of leagues. Folks reticent to jump on board there so far. Dan,
as we go, Russell Wilson going back to the Broncos
owned in about half of league's. It ain't always pretty.
The yardage total ain't been great, Dan, but the opportunity
certainly there for him. Odell Beckham Junior, if he's cleared,
(33:47):
we'll keep an eye on the injury report. But since
we're recording this very early on a Tuesday, well late
Monday night, early Tuesday morning, Odell Beckham Junior thirty percent
owned against that Charger secondary. Sure just keep saying against
that Charger secondary Rondale Moore scored early for the Cardinals,
(34:08):
target share up. Wilson still banged up there for them,
So other guys taking advantage of those opportunities and then
back to the quarterback position already gave you know, love
and a little bit of love along the way. No
jokes there. I'm curious about Matthew Stafford right owned the
(34:30):
Cooper Cup injury. Looks like he'll be okay, so maybe
an opportunity there. They've got Arizona this week, beatable downfield.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yep. The the Puga Dakua train rolls on with the
Rams and I spots started Rondale Moore nicely five minutes
in the two week eleven. I'm like, all right, I'm good.
I'll take the forty eight yard touchdown and are like
right out of the gates. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
It was funny Dan. I picked up, you know, so
hanging out with my daughters. I picked up my older
daughter and we younger one was taking care of some
volunteer work. So we went out to lunch and we
sat down to watch the games, and I did a
little fist pump because I'd mentioned Rondale Moore on the
Sunday morning show with Bucky Brook just kind of a
(35:20):
you know what, wild hair. You know, we're talking about
the matchup a little bit, and then he scores and
my daughter laughs, she goes, what happened that you were excited?
I got all the guy for the Cardinals scorch because
I don't see that game on any of the screens.
I'm like, nor should you, But they just scrolled across
the bottom. So she started becoming obsessed with the scroll
and the updates on the four box on the Giant TV,
(35:42):
and so she did every every little thing that scrolled by.
She's trying to make sense of it. What does that
acronym mean? What does that mean? So it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
I he was my give you one reason to start,
Rondelle Moore, So we'll take it, just take the victories.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Maybe, yeah, just the.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Simple fact of Kyler Murray's action being there. And yeah,
I don't know how different the Cardinals are. They're just
a lot better without Clayton Tune as a starting quarterback. Yeah,
And honestly, and honestly, they're better without Josh Dobbs right now.
So so kudos to Kyler Murray. As Michael Scott would
(36:22):
say it, turns out to be a win win win
situation where Dobbs is doing his stuff in Minnesota and
Kyler's back with Arizona with the future holds who knows,
but yeah, rams Cardinals in week twelve. All right, that'll
do it for this episode of I Want Earflex again.
Hit Mike up at Swollen Dome. You got me at
Dan Byron Fox. Our executive producer is Ryan Berschinger. You
(36:45):
can find him at Ryan Berschinger. Bursch is going to
be off for a few weeks. He's going to be
off to the Philippines. He'll be back on Wednesday's episode.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, I told him he still needed to record his bits.
I don't care where you are where trying to hide
that you need to still, you know, don't be derelict
of duty.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
We've tried to give you four episodes each week throughout
the season. Holiday week there will be no episode on Thanksgiving,
so you're gonna get one on Tuesday, which is this one.
You're gonna get one on Wednesday, which is Wednesdays, and
then you're gonna get one on Friday as well. So
we are thankful for you, the listener, Thankful to always
hang out with Mike and Ryan and so for those guys,
(37:28):
I am Dan Bayer and we will talk to you
next time right here, and I want your FLEs
Ladies and gentlemen, you want experience during your football season,
We'll buckle up.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Sweet cheeks.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
We've got all the experience in the world. This is
I want your flex with Dan Byer and Mike Harmon.
Mike and Dan break down everything you need to set
your lineups, from position rankings to.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Starts and sits.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The guys help you make those hard decisions. And now
let's get your flex. Ond here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
All right, Thanksgiving week is here, but we are not
going to dive into the food and stuff until we
rehash what happened in week eleven. Get Mike on Twitter
at Swallendal. You can find me at Dan Byer on Fox.
Our executive producer is Ryan Berschinger. And Week eleven Mike
ended with the Super Bowl rematch Eagles and Chiefs. I
(00:54):
like the football game because it wasn't perfect, But I
just wonder now leaving that, my goodness, where have the
fantasy What are the fantasy gods done with the Kansas
City Chiefs when it comes to fantasy numbers? I mean,
if you're playing a Chief right now, you're banging your
head against the wall. My goodness.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah, difficult proposition all the way around, even the fantasy
great that is Travis Kelcey leaving some opportunities on the ground. Obviously,
the peanut punch in the red zone one that was
a gut punch to Chiefs fans fantasy owners thinking all right,
he's gonna get a shot to get an end zone target. Nope,
(01:32):
not to be there. Likewise, Isaiah Pacheco has sixty six
yards in the first half and then he's on the
side of a mill carton in the second as the
Chiefs continued their woeful second half performances. Only thirteen points
scored Dan in the last five second halfs combined, and
that is including a date with the Chiefs, and everybody
scores on them. So you know, it's just a problem
(01:54):
all around. The drop by MBS we played at a
bunch Smith's out on vacation all week, you know, post birthday,
going off to the desert to do whatever he does,
and it cost him his spot in our FSR Guillotine League.
So there was some laughing to go to that a
little bit because he had mahomes going. But yeah, certainly
(02:17):
from a fantasy perspective for this squad, very difficult right now,
very topsy Turvy Watson at his five for fifty three
in a score. I had him on my rosters. We
talked about him early in the year, Dan and it
got to the points like, all right, there's no consistency here.
So back to the way Mawire he goes. And I
can't contend that he or Rice or any of these
(02:39):
guys become fantasy viable. You're looking for other options.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, absolutely. You wonder if they're going to take their
aggressions out against the Raiders. But to see how DeAndre
Swift had some success. So the Chiefs defense has been
good this year. I'm not trying to take anything away
from them, but you wonder if they'll get a dose
of Josh Jacobs coming up on Sunday and when one
of the few games that actually takes place on Sunday
(03:03):
in week twelve, Right, the games.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Here there, and here's a Friday, here's a Sunday night,
here's a Monday, here's I still wait to see if
there was actually a Wednesday game thrown in just to
keep us on our toes. But the Eagles offense, I mean,
they looked broken. I was doing the show with Carrie Rhodes,
former All Pro safety for the Jets, and he just
kept saying it's so predictable, and then it became dump off,
(03:28):
dump off, dump off, and a lot of those getting
batted up away at the line, like it was pretty
awful for a good chunk of the night. And then
you have the forty one yard strike to DeVante Smith
to put them on the door step. Six catches ninety
nine yards on his eight targets. He and Hurts have
something special going on. Hurts finishes with one hundred and
(03:48):
fifty yards through the air, sacked five times. I almost
wished at halftime he'd come out in a new jersey
just saying, hey, try to get me this time, because
I bet you there wouldn't have been a speck of
dirt on it when that second half went down.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
You know, it's funny, you know Tom Brady making these
comments about the league and basically how it's mediocre right now.
It isn't really good. It's actually a conversation I felt
that you and I have had over the last two
or three years. Yeah, when it comes to the product,
And the only reason I bring it up is actually
there's two reasons. Number One, fantasy and betting are the
reasons why we are blind to the fact that some
(04:24):
of these games aren't good because we have such an
interest in our fantasy teams, in what we bet, and
it blinds us from that, and that has been a
topic of conversation. The other reason I bring it up, Mike,
is because when I look at the top fantasy performers
from this past week, you know, I just look at
(04:45):
the running back position, and it's Sakwon Barkley number one,
because he was the only thing that Tommy DeVito was
looking at. In that game against Washington, Jalen Warren ends
up number two. Well, half of his yards came on
the world one run that he had, you know, from
seventy five yards out whatever it.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Was, seventy five and a score or seventy four or
whatever it was. Especially, I mean there's thirteen and a
half points or whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Gus Edwards is it was third in one of my
leagues in scoring, and it's hey, here's two goal line
touchdowns now in a game that is just ground upon
because the other team lost their quarterback. Like it's like
it's it's just there is something to it. Tom Brady
realizes that everybody realizes it, But now I see it
like seeping into the fantasy world where you know, I
(05:34):
know Jalen warrens the starter, but I don't think you'd be,
you know, too excited to start him against Cleveland, and
here he ends up being RB number two. And you know,
I told the guy a bench, Gus Edwards. Maybe that's
why I'm a little, you know, sour about it. But
it's just interesting to see the rankings and how some
of these scoring leaders are and the sort of messes
that they end up scoring out of in these games.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, Devin Singletary ends up your fourth running back for
the week, and what was a weird game against Arizona
for sure, McCaffrey sixth, what a scrub he's become. And
then you've got the tandem of Montgomery and Gibbs rounding
out the top ten against the Bears. And for the
(06:14):
most part, you know, that game, everybody was contained. And
then the fourth quarter the Bears just said, eh, you
know what we saw enough, let's lose this game, and
let's do so spectacularly. So they end up with a
combined thirty one Fantasy points between them, and then you
go on down the line. You know, ty Chandler has
that fake punt that he runs for thirty one yards.
(06:37):
He ends up finishing with eleven points, even though they still,
for whatever reason, kept trying to force feed Alexander Madison.
You know, you and I have talked about Chandler for
a long time. Bursh on the podcast as well, Dan
and like, are we the only ones that see what
am I missing in the practice reps that they feel
so obliged to give Alexander Madison more carries when he's
(07:00):
clearly ineffective, especially down the stretch when you're trying to
hold off the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, it's heck. You got Tyd Chandler and Tyd Johnson
getting top twenty finishes and Johnson just had the one
reception against Buffalo or for Buffalo against the Jets. Yeah,
it is. It is crazy. I'm wondering too now. And
you know the rumblings. Just just speaking of the vikings,
Josh Dobbs does seem to have some fantasy value. That
(07:27):
game Monday Night against your Bears coming up in week
twelve could actually be pretty fun.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Oh, there's gonna be a bunch of points scoring.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, more better than half the crap on the schedule
that they're giving us on Sunday. We'll get to that
at another point. But but you know, Josh Dobbs may be,
you know, you know, a guy that just has some
interesting value. But to your point, now, we're talking about
a guy who was out a different team three weeks ago,
(07:54):
and he was only on that team for about eight
weeks before, you know, prior to being traded. So it
just kind of lends to everything that is with the
National Football League. Jason Stewart, who I work with on
the Doug Gottlieb Show probably about once a week, complains
about the quality of the National Football League and it
(08:15):
has been a problem, and now it's really seeped into
the fantasy world because it's becoming a little bit more random.
Like there's so many random factors that end up, you know,
whether it was always a random factor, I'm not even
throwing that in on Monday Night, but there's just so
many different things that are popping up now in fantasy
that I don't even know how to prepare for. Because
(08:36):
I never would have guessed that Tommy DeVito would be
leading the Giants to a victory to Washington d C.
But lo and behold it happened at week eleven.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
But the number of turnovers that they had in that game, right,
I mean I had sam highway, I propped him up
as a top five Fantasy option. And then while you
get Samuel gets himself kicked out of the game, and
you've got turnovers left and right, all of that to
roll into a devido finding sakuon Barkley as you mentioned before,
(09:07):
and having himself a whale of a game there. It
doesn't have to be pretty. The stat lines all look
the same, right, it's the dribbler down the third base line,
to mix sports metaphors for and analogies for a second, right,
the one that dribbles and they're like, oh, it's gonna
go follow and then it just stays in the chalk.
But in the box score the next day it looks
like a line drive one hopper to the left fielder.
(09:30):
So you know, it's all all about aesthetics go out
the window. It's just you know, brass tacks, right, all
these drop passes, missed opportunities. Yeah, when we do our
football analysis, it's all fine and good. It could happen. Well,
they drop the ball, it doesn't matter, right, the MBS.
That would have been a huge play for Patrick Mahomes owners. Yeah, no,
(09:50):
it didn't happen. All the drops in the Charger game, right,
if you had Justin Herbert, you're you're still mad at
Quintin Johnston who got company from MVS on money. But
you know, big time performances and maybe at this point
in the season, Dan, I mean, that's the difference between
a playoff spot and being sent home in some of
these leagues, and between all the injury issues that we've
(10:14):
seen across the league and teams using the short term
I are or just deciding to shelve guys for weeks
at a time, you know, trying to navigate the lineup calls,
and especially in the backfield, I've been terrible at it
this year. Pretty good success with a lot of the others.
The running back position has vexed me each and every week, right,
the hot hand effect versus goal line back versus Hey,
(10:37):
that guy left because he got hit in the shin
and he was laying down like Peter Griffin, only to
return in the third quarter to be a beast. You know,
those kind of things happening time and again, and so
going into week twelve. There's still so much we always
presume we know something, not just from a fantasy angle.
We know the unders are cashing left and right, which
(10:58):
is not good for the game. It's great for people
that are betting that side consistently at sixty three percent,
but it's not good for the game in terms of
scoring and building these brands of players and excitement for games.
But well, this is where we're at in twenty twenty three,
and I wonder if it's a recency bias or you
(11:20):
and I have been talking about it a couple of years.
Maybe it's just gone to that next level of suckage
in a lot of these games, to where there's no
denying it anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, I think that that. I think that that is
the case. There's always the quest of parody with Roger
Goodell and the NFL, and maybe it's be careful what
you wish for, because they are getting it right now.
What are the teams that I do want to touch on,
because actually it's two teams, because this is the conundrum
(11:51):
that we are all facing, and it goes from week
eleven and it goes into week twelve. We saw the
Jaguars get dominated out of the Niners in week ten,
come out. Guess what, It's a Calvin Ridley sort of
day for Jacksonville in week eleven. Now they've got the Texans, who,
by the way, CJ. Stroud's like, all right now, I'm
going to start turning the ball over. And you know
(12:11):
they almost throw away a game against the Arizona Cardinals.
But still magnificent fantasy numbers if you're playing the aforementioned
Devin Singletary, or if you're playing CJ. Stroud, or if
you're playing Tank Dell in that matchup. As we look ahead,
Tank Dell seems like automatic start could win a title.
What do you do with the weapons in Jacksonville? For
(12:34):
those that are like, hey, I played Christian Kirk, which,
by the way, I was one of them, how do
you navigate that sort of situation, especially with such a
big divisional matchup this week?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, I think as we go down the road, I mean,
Kirk's still got to be a play, right because I
mean we look at him week to week. You've had
five or more targets every week except for Week one
against Indianapolis. Otherwise you've got a couple of three double
digit target counts. And again quality of target. We can
go game to game and try to figure that out. Right,
(13:04):
I'm not sitting down to watch all twenty two of
the last eleven Jaguar games or ten games. But when
we look at Kirk, I know there's going to be
a pretty good fraction of Trevor Lawrence's targets that are
going to find his way. Evan Ingram tight end position
is that I think I still have to have him
(13:26):
in the mix, depending on what my roster looks like,
because let's face it, the churn and burn at that
position is a pain in the ass this year unlike
any other. And as for Calvin Ridley, I sat him
and looked at thirty one points on the bench this
past week, but it's not forcing my hand to push
him back in like I was reticent then. And even
(13:51):
with this matchup, it's still going to be all right.
I've really got to look at my roster and to
some degree hope and prank because Trevor Lawrence is not
been great, and I think that's been lost in a
lot of the fact that they've got a good record.
I think it's lost in what we have, expectation, reputation,
(14:12):
whatever they're winning so it must be him. Well, it
hasn't been at all.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think it was lost in his fantasy numbers. He
had two rushing touchdowns against the Titans this past week,
and you're like, hey, awesome, but maybe not so much.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah, overall, it's still been a fairly difficult proposition for
him on a week to week basis, and thinking that
he and Ridley have finally managed something, yeah, I think
that might be a little bit, you know, premature. I
need to see it, and dare I say I need
to see it again? Could I put him in as
(14:47):
a third wide receiver? Sure? How many leagues are still
running with three wide receivers? I think that's kind of
gone the way of the Dodo. So we start looking
down and to flexworthy. I'm generally gonna be if the
roster goes and even if struggled with the running back,
if I got a guy that's touching the ball a
dozen times a game, it's awful tough to sit him down,
(15:10):
even in what could be a plus matchup. I mean,
Houston giving up twenty point eight points per game this year,
I mean that's good enough to be in the upper
half of the NFL. So suddenly expecting them to fall
apart in this kind of matchup. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
He's Mike Harmon, I'm Dan Byer, this is I want
your flex. Hit Mike up at swollen Doome find me
at Dan Byer on Fox. We're gonna take a time out,
but when we come back, Mike's gonna give you his
waiver wire picks four Week twelve of the season. Plus
we got to talk about Brandon Staley not talking to
the fans. We will talk about him. Plus the Chargers
have a big one sending out against the Ravens. How
(15:45):
that could match up for Baltimore in their situation and
for the Chargers as well. A lot to get to.
He's Mike, I'm Dan, this is I want your flex.
All right, we're back. Get Mike at Swollendome, hit me
Dan Byer at Dan Byer on Fox. I did tease
the Sunday night game Ravens and Chargers. Let's do twelve.
(16:05):
That Ravens Bengals game seems like a distant memory from
Thursday night, And while so focused on how the Bengals
are going to survive, did mention Gus Edwards having a
game obj dinged up but got over the century mark.
So there's some interesting storylines in that game, not only
(16:29):
from what happened on Thursday night, but then you mentioned
the Chargers team dropping a bunch of passes in Green Bay.
They also let Jordan Love throw for three hundred yards.
Maybe there's a Packers storyline to get in here. But yeah,
so some stuff to look ahead from week twelve. But
how does this hangover now for the Chargers and Brandon
Staley's defense of his defense, how does that carry over
(16:50):
from week eleven to the week twelve with this huge,
huge matchup Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
He needs a hug. He defends his defense while throwing
everybody under the bus. Yeah, our defense, No, you gave
up a big play and gave up the lead to
Jordan Love. Period. Now should the offensive caught more passes? Sure,
that's you're not leading at this point. I get it
that the hot seat talk is rampant in LA and nationally,
(17:15):
particularly nationally like in LA, you know, they're worried about
Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams and whether he's gonna talk to
the media and what his draft stock is. Right, I mean,
there's so many other storylines. Who are the Dodgers gonna
sign in free agency is a bigger story than anything
Brandon Staley's doing locally. But you know, the firm adherence
to hey, defensively, we got it right. It's like drop
(17:37):
passes and this that the other's like, no, no, no,
those were big. You still stink at the defensive side
of your job. So stop being defensive and you know
what the fans will call for your dismissal here even
louder and more vociferously, although it'll be opposing fans cheering
for the Ravens on Sunday Night football for the Chargers,
one thing he will have to contend with defensively, Dan
(17:58):
is trying to call the game with no Joe, So
suddenly that becomes a big deal for a team that's
already been SIV like even with him, Khalil Mack and
Derwin James all available in playing, which has not been
especially I mean, obviously Mac kind of new to the
equation overall. But you know, when you look at Bosa
and James health wise, they haven't been there while they
(18:20):
were there, and they were still terrible time and time again.
So for Lamar Jackson, it creates a great opportunity problem
is his best weapon is gone. Although they say they've
got great news and maybe you can hold out hope
with John Harbaugh that Mark Andrews returns for your fantasy playoffs,
But in the interim it's going to be about a
mix and match ode Odell whether he's available to you.
(18:44):
And certainly Zay Flowers has been fantastic, But I wonder
how much you lean back into the run game of
Mitchell and Gus Edwards this week and Lamar with maybe
a few more designed runs to help open things up.
Flower is still gonna get fed right for fantasy purposes,
a WR two at worst with some great upside against
(19:07):
this secondary, But I would I would expect both Mitchell
and Edwards to be pretty good plays for you this week.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Isaiah Likely is also a popular name out there. Zay
Flowers would have a touchdown against the Bengals brought back
because of a holding penalty, So you're right about that.
The one thing about the Ravens backfield that I just
don't know is the Justice Hill. Yeah, clutter, you know,
like there's it's one thing. If you're like all right,
you know you're at the go one, it's probably gonna
(19:36):
be Gus Edwards, but there were situations in the red
zone where Justice Hill was in the game. I'm like,
all right, well, then when are you gonna play Keaton Mitchell?
You're just hoping that he you know, busts one.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Right, you get that one, Yeah, you get that one, which.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Could happen against the Chargers on Sunday night. Who knows,
but yeah, that situation is. Yeah, you know, you're right
about Andrews and now OBJ being injured could the doors
from for some I just I think the pecking order
is though Edwards, Mitchell, and Justice Hill. I don't want
to I don't want to clout anything that you've said,
(20:11):
Mike with that by throwing Justice Hill's name out there,
but it's there.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
It's there, just enough to scare you. Yeah, right, in
terms of all right, I'm gonna play this guy assuming
I'm getting eight to ten touches, and that means, you know,
eight to ten from Mitchell. That's no guarantee. With the
way Harbaugh has been running this squad as a guy
who held on to Justice Hill a long time and
finally just said, you know what, you're weighing me down.
(20:36):
I can't do it. Can't do it. I need I
need help somewhere else, So I'll tell somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what I what
I liked in Week eleven. That's not great for fantasy wise.
Dallas did seem to realize that they had a bit
of a Tony Pollard problem. I only had twelve carries
in the game, but they won thirty three to ten
against the Carolina Panther. That as a as a person
(21:02):
who has shares in Tony Pollard, it was appreciated that
he was able to get into the end zone. But
you see that the different target numbers. It wasn't Ceedee
Lamb seventeen targets in Brandon Cook's four, you know, like
they spread it around, curious to see how it plays out.
I think I think Thanksgiving Day could be a shootout,
(21:24):
and we'll get more into that coming up in Wednesday's pod.
But Dallas evening things out, maybe at the detriment of
Ceedee Lamb. But I did think that they were trying
to make Tony Pollard somewhat right.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, And they talked about that, Ceedee Lamb before the game,
talking about Brandon Cook starting to become a little more
integrated into the offense, and then he gave the nod
of hey, now it's time to get to get Tony
Pollard fed a little bit and get him on track.
So I like that. You know, there's a holistic approach,
(21:59):
you know, in these seem to be recognizing what's needed
from the squad and putting that out as opposed to
I need five more targets, which is good, right because
six catches thirty eight yards did find the end zone,
but broke that streak unfortunately that folks love so much.
Does have a little bit of an ankle injury, but
(22:19):
looks like he'll be ready to go come Thursday's performance
there for us on Thanksgiving Day. But yeah, the Tony
Pollard conundrum, at least for a moment, I think he
breathed a little bit of a sigh of relief because
there's also another smash opportunity against Washington.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I do want to bring up one other thing. Yeah,
I don't mean to pick on on this member of
the Carolina Panthers because it's unfair, but in the times
that I've watched them, I Jonathan Mingo has dropped about
ten passes that I've watched the Carolina Panthers play and
you're like, why are you talking about Jonathan Mingo on
(22:59):
this podcast? The only reason is is because I had
the Cowboys box score in front of me, and then
I looked at the Panthers box score and you see
Adam Thielen's numbers and then you see everybody else's and
I'm like, well, who the heck was second in targets
and it was Jonathan Mingo. So I clicked on Mingo
six targets, one reception, and I'm like, this is a theme.
I'm like, I've got to see how many times this
(23:20):
guy's been targeted Mike. Jonathan Mingo has been targeted fifty
one times, second round pick out o Ole miss fifty
one times this year by Bryce Young and he's got
twenty four receptions. Yeah, so less than half of the
time you are targeting him, he is catching the football
that is unheard of in like and again, you're not
(23:43):
playing Jonathan Mingo. Don't don't ever, don't ever. I just
I thought it was crazy. I wanted to bring up
the stat because I just think it's ridiculous. But one
of those things where your eyes tell you something and
then you have this stat to be able to I
guess back yourself up. It was able to solid five
my thinking. And I hope Jonathan man Go turns out
they have a great career. But man a tough go
(24:06):
of the first eleven weeks of his NFL career pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
I'd love to go back, and I'm not gonna say
that I try my best to get back through every
game and see every team, you know, at least every
other week. I can't say that I've been able to
force myself to watch a lot of Carolina Panthers, Like
if it's on the four box, I can guarantee you
that's the quadrant that's getting the least amount of eye
(24:29):
appeal for me on a weekly basis. But I'd love
to go back and see, like, are they just throwing
it up, you know, he go make a big play here,
or is it you know, short and intermediate that's still
not connecting, because then it becomes an even bigger indictment
on Bryce Young, right, if we're talking about those type
of passes. But other way, but fromingo for fantasy purposes,
(24:50):
certainly in dynasty leagues would have been a guy getting
picked up. Sure, it would have been a guy drafted
with the expectation that physically he'd make play even as
a rookie, because you did only have Adam Feelin and
I think come trade deadline, there was a lot of excitement. Hey,
Adam Thiela might get Dealton. You and I talked about
(25:11):
it quite a bit, and it made no sense because
you need something there for Bryce Young to hang his
hat on. Otherwise you might as well have just put
him on in mothballs.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Absolutely right. It's amazing to see he gets eight receptions
for seventy four yards and the next best reception wise
is Leviscus Nault two for nine yards.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
It's really an amazing level of futility. One thing to
bring note on, and not just because I'm a noted
Bears honk, but in the last two weeks we've gotten
two guys that finished in the top ten. Back Kyler Murray.
We talked about his video game Turbo Boost last week.
Well finished with twenty one points in depending on your scoring,
(25:56):
of course, but against Houston, I had his moment and
then justin fields returns for the Bears sixteen to twenty three.
They took the ball out of his hands with two
dopey dives into the backs of the Bears offensive line.
If you weren't trying to lose, then this would put
(26:17):
you in the firing line, but we know the Bears won't.
But at one hundred and four rushing yards on the day,
pretty good day for Justin Fields in his return. I
don't know what it means on the grand scheme, but
you still got your desired loss if you're one who
truly believes in what the draft can do for you
(26:38):
and the people that are doing the drafting, which, as
you know, Dan, I don't and I don't know anything
in that management system or coaching staff that I trust
at all. But Justin Fields I thought played a pretty
good game in his return to the field. And as
you mentioned before, you know on Monday night we'll get
a look at him versus Dobbs and what could be
(27:00):
scoring affairs. So, you know, fantasy owners, maybe breathe a
sigh of relief. With all the injuries and ineffectiveness and
fantasy quarterbacks, maybe Justin Fields found a little bit of
his old self while recovering from his injury.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I've got some Seahawk thoughts since we're talking about favorite teams,
but I'm gonna save them I'm gonna save them for
our Wednesday pods.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Is are you going to cruse a lot?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
You know what? This is all I'll say, This is
all I said. This is the opportunity to do it
because we'll actually talk about their specific players. I think
a lot of Seahawks fans were mad at how Sunday
finished against the Rams, and they were mad because of
what that meant to this season. Mike I was not
mad because of what it meant to the season. They
(27:44):
aren't on the same level as San Francisco, and they're
not on the same level of Philadelphia. They're just not
And because it's been a decade basically now of this
or eight years of this, it's just kind of there.
And I know, I'm talking to, you know, a guy
who's a Bears fan and is like, you know, die
to getting back into the playoffs. But this is a
(28:07):
team that may still well get into the playoffs, but
as absolutely no shot, no shot whatsoever, of doing any damage.
And that was the realization. My takeaway from Sunday was, Yeah,
Jason Myers misses a fifty five yard field goal. Yeah,
they kind of botched the end of the game, but
they're up sixteen to seven. In this game, you know,
in the fourth quarter the Rams probably really don't care
(28:29):
to win, and they're still unable to put it away.
I don't know what their identity is. That's actually the really,
really disheartening thing about it.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
So well, just remember, Biel, you got you got a
number of weeks of games left, and not that you're
praying for injuries, but let's face it, it's the National
Football League. Some doors may open back up. And that's
the weird thing about the NFL in twenty twenty three
as bad, and we could talk about mediocrity already, suckage
(29:02):
wherever you're at on that continuum the final weeks of
the season, especially with the dopey divisional play, once guys
are injured and you're playing your third quarterback or fourth
wide receiver or thirty eighth line combination, you may still
have games that get you into the playoffs. And depending
on where everybody else is in the health continuum, you
(29:23):
might all of a sudden have a shot.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Dan, they have no shot.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Oh, I'm trying to be positive if that never happens.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I was going to ask you because I post this
question on my Sunday show after they lost. It wasn't
even a question. I said how I felt, and I
asked George Reister this question. That's what I did. I asked,
you know, like are they a good team? And my
whole point was I don't think they do anything great. Yeah,
(29:53):
And that's the point of it is. They don't run
the ball great. They don't throw the ball, you know, perbly,
they don't get after the quarterback boy and Mafe does.
But the other like there's they're not, you know, stout
against the run. Devin Witherspoon's put on one heck of
a highlight film, but you can't say that that secondary
(30:13):
is completely locked down. Legion of Boom. Second, like, they
don't they don't do anything well, they're like great, They're
just they're they're good in spots and not good in others.
And that's what's frustrating is they didn't do anything like
really good to great. So that was my frustration.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I think that's a really good way to put it.
And I'll just steal from from Tim Roth character and
reservoir Dogs. He convinced me I want my dollar back.
Well done.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
He's Mike carbon I'm Dan Byer. We'll tell you what
we'll take one of the last time out. Then we'll
get to your waiver wire on the other side for
a week twelve. Hit my cup at Swollen Dome. Hit
me up at Dan Byer on Fox. This is I
want your flex. He's Mike carbon I'm Dan Byer. All right,
waiver wire for week twelve. It's Mike with the three
games on Thursday, game on Friday. I know we're gonna
(31:05):
have eight teams already out of the picture on Saturday.
If you're looking for guys to pick up, so you
might as well pick them up. Now. Who do we
got waiver wire entering week twelve.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, As we start diving into the waiver wire for
this week, we get into some strange bedfellows and kind
of a little wishing and hoping. We look to the
matchup adding some Green Bay magic as they rolled up
on the Chargers, Well, Jordan Love. Maybe a guy you
look at in a matchup pushing the ball against Detroit.
(31:33):
Jayden Reid, who has shown up for them time and again.
You know we've looked at Dobbs, we look at Watson. Well,
Jayden Reid's quietly having himself a nice year. Again. Strange
Bedfellows on what is a strange week as you roll through.
AJ Dillon only sixty two percent to go back to
the Packers. I know the run game has been awful,
(31:54):
but Aaron Jones playing on Thursday. Yeah, there's no chance
in hell of that, right, So opportunity for Dylan to
make a little bit of noise factor into the past game.
Zach Charbonnel, we were talking about a little bit about
Seattle with Kenneth Walker. The third not done for the year,
they saying yet, but potential is there. Charbonay only owned
(32:18):
in forty five percent of leagues. We've talked a lot
about ty Chandler as well. He's owned in about forty
percent of leagues. You want to get into Operation Desperation.
Ezekiel Elliott coming out of the bye week has his
partial ownership of what's going on there in New England,
So you know, the Desperation a guy that I think
(32:41):
is kind of interesting going forward. You saw him used
a lot Sunday Night by the Broncos in the comeback
win over Minnesota, and that's samajp Rynd. We know what
he was as a pass catcher for the for the
Bengals for years and he was huge on that final drive, right,
what was it? Four catches and a chunks of yardage.
(33:02):
He's only owned in about eighteen percent twenty percent of leagues.
So one of those guys, I think I would raise
my hand and just say, you know what, make the
preemptive strike. Not that we're wishing anything to Javonte Williams
at all, but a guy that might be worth a
look see in your league long term as a starter,
but certainly short term and get your insurge card. We've
(33:25):
talked about Brandon Cooks only owned in about fifty percent
of leagues. Folks reticent to jump on board there so far. Dan,
as we go, Russell Wilson going back to the Broncos
owned in about half of league's. It ain't always pretty.
The yardage total ain't been great, Dan, but the opportunity
certainly there for him. Odell Beckham Junior, if he's cleared,
(33:47):
we'll keep an eye on the injury report. But since
we're recording this very early on a Tuesday, well late
Monday night, early Tuesday morning, Odell Beckham Junior thirty percent
owned against that Charger secondary. Sure just keep saying against
that Charger secondary Rondale Moore scored early for the Cardinals,
(34:08):
target share up. Wilson still banged up there for them,
So other guys taking advantage of those opportunities and then
back to the quarterback position already gave you know, love
and a little bit of love along the way. No
jokes there. I'm curious about Matthew Stafford right owned the
(34:30):
Cooper Cup injury. Looks like he'll be okay, so maybe
an opportunity there. They've got Arizona this week, beatable downfield.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yep. The the Puga Dakua train rolls on with the
Rams and I spots started Rondale Moore nicely five minutes
in the two week eleven. I'm like, all right, I'm good.
I'll take the forty eight yard touchdown and are like
right out of the gates. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
It was funny Dan. I picked up, you know, so
hanging out with my daughters. I picked up my older
daughter and we younger one was taking care of some
volunteer work. So we went out to lunch and we
sat down to watch the games, and I did a
little fist pump because I'd mentioned Rondale Moore on the
Sunday morning show with Bucky Brook just kind of a
(35:20):
you know what, wild hair. You know, we're talking about
the matchup a little bit, and then he scores and
my daughter laughs, she goes, what happened that you were excited?
I got all the guy for the Cardinals scorch because
I don't see that game on any of the screens.
I'm like, nor should you, But they just scrolled across
the bottom. So she started becoming obsessed with the scroll
and the updates on the four box on the Giant TV,
(35:42):
and so she did every every little thing that scrolled by.
She's trying to make sense of it. What does that
acronym mean? What does that mean? So it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
I he was my give you one reason to start,
Rondelle Moore, So we'll take it, just take the victories.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Maybe, yeah, just the.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Simple fact of Kyler Murray's action being there. And yeah,
I don't know how different the Cardinals are. They're just
a lot better without Clayton Tune as a starting quarterback. Yeah,
And honestly, and honestly, they're better without Josh Dobbs right now.
So so kudos to Kyler Murray. As Michael Scott would
(36:22):
say it, turns out to be a win win win
situation where Dobbs is doing his stuff in Minnesota and
Kyler's back with Arizona with the future holds who knows,
but yeah, rams Cardinals in week twelve. All right, that'll
do it for this episode of I Want Earflex again.
Hit Mike up at Swollen Dome. You got me at
Dan Byron Fox. Our executive producer is Ryan Berschinger. You
(36:45):
can find him at Ryan Berschinger. Bursch is going to
be off for a few weeks. He's going to be
off to the Philippines. He'll be back on Wednesday's episode.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, I told him he still needed to record his bits.
I don't care where you are where trying to hide
that you need to still, you know, don't be derelict
of duty.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
We've tried to give you four episodes each week throughout
the season. Holiday week there will be no episode on Thanksgiving,
so you're gonna get one on Tuesday, which is this one.
You're gonna get one on Wednesday, which is Wednesdays, and
then you're gonna get one on Friday as well. So
we are thankful for you, the listener, Thankful to always
hang out with Mike and Ryan and so for those guys,
(37:28):
I am Dan Bayer and we will talk to you
next time right here, and I want your FLEs
Host
Mike Harmon
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.