Speaker 1: Wow, here we go, There we go.
Speaker 2: Everybody.
Speaker 3: It's Thursday, September twenty sixth, twenty twenty four. Welcome to
Speaker 3: the NFL Fantasy Football Show where we were born in
Speaker 3: the darkness. It's me your man, MG, Marcus Grant, joined
Speaker 3: by Michael F. Florio and Lakwan Jones and Fellas Floria.
Speaker 3: Four weeks, I guess, three plus weeks into the season.
Speaker 3: How are we feeling. We've got through three weeks, we
Speaker 3: think we know everything. Are we ready to be great
Speaker 3: for the rest.
Speaker 2: Of the year.
Speaker 4: Well, if you asked me after week two, I would
Speaker 4: have said no because a lot of my calls did
Speaker 4: not work out. But Week three was a much better
Speaker 4: week for me. So yeah, I mean, I'm feeling great
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 2: We know everything.
Speaker 4: I didn't draft CMC one overall, which feels great right
Speaker 4: now because every day it just seems like we're getting
Speaker 4: a report that he's out even longer. So yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: feeling good right now.
Speaker 2: How How are you look?
Speaker 4: I know you're not a Giants fan, but your home
Speaker 4: state has a game today.
Speaker 5: Yes we do, and I hope everybody is enjoying the
Speaker 5: pizza man, because I am homesick and one of my
Speaker 5: cousins actually last week came out for the weekend and
Speaker 5: he was like, man, I know you're dying, man, but
Speaker 5: I know a pizza spot out here in Long Beach
Speaker 5: and we went there and it was pretty good.
Speaker 2: I actually was enjoying it. All right. Well, you can
Speaker 2: also tell all your folks back home that we got
Speaker 2: better burritos.
Speaker 5: You do.
Speaker 2: That's all you do.
Speaker 3: We got better burritos. That's the trade off when you
Speaker 3: come out here to California.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 3: Week four does start tonight. It is the Cowboys and
Speaker 3: the Giants from MetLife Stadium.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go.
Speaker 3: Through our calls for the week, the top scores, the sleepers,
Speaker 3: and the guys who might be riding a hot streak
Speaker 3: if they can repeat from last week as well. Let's
Speaker 3: start with a one quick fantasy headline that is in
Speaker 3: Tampa Bay, Bucky Irving started the week by we're hearing
Speaker 3: reports that he was gonna start getting more touches in
Speaker 3: the Tampa Bay offense, although Todd Bowles was quick to
Speaker 3: point out that he was not going to justly make
Speaker 3: Bucky Irving that you're running back one. You're gonna split
Speaker 3: time with him and Rashad White, but then midweek we're
Speaker 3: getting talked that he's missing practice. So I mean, Floria,
Speaker 3: I'll ask you, how concerned should we be? Should do
Speaker 3: you have any confidence in Bucky Irving? And if he goes,
Speaker 3: is he worth putting in your lineup?
Speaker 4: I originally, before we knew he was like missing practice time,
Speaker 4: I would have said yes, I think so. But now
Speaker 4: with it being him potentially up in the air, and
Speaker 4: even if he does suit up, not sure how much time,
Speaker 4: how much, like if he'll get a normal workload or whatnot,
Speaker 4: So I would choose to I want Bucky Irving on
Speaker 4: my roster, but I would choose to wait a week
Speaker 4: before getting him into the starting lineup. Now what I
Speaker 4: do think this means, though, is it I had Rashad
Speaker 4: White as a sit this week, but if Bucky Irving
Speaker 4: is out, that pushes him. I still don't love Rashad White,
Speaker 4: but it at least makes him someone that you could
Speaker 4: plug into your starting lineup.
Speaker 3: One other quick headline Lakwan Justin Herbert dealing with an injury.
Speaker 3: He says he's planning to play this week against the
Speaker 3: Kansas City Chiefs. One would you play Justin Herbert? If
Speaker 3: he goes, and what does that mean for the rest
Speaker 3: of the Chargers.
Speaker 5: I guess you feel good about the pass catchers now,
Speaker 5: and I think you feel good about Lad McConkie if
Speaker 5: Herbert's playing. But it's a low pass volume offense, so
Speaker 5: he's not doing much out there other than handing the
Speaker 5: ball off in quick little throws short to the line
Speaker 5: of scrimmage. But I'm not really a fan of putting
Speaker 5: Justin Herbert in my starting lineups. I feel as though,
Speaker 5: like you're looking for the JK. Dobbins, the Lad McConkie's,
Speaker 5: the qj's, the Quinn Johnson. But it's more so of
Speaker 5: like I already was like off the Justin Herbert buss
Speaker 5: just based on this low volume, you know, passing offense.
Speaker 5: So I wouldn't even think about putting him in.
Speaker 3: I got I've got a super flex team with him,
Speaker 3: and I got a real decision about whether I start
Speaker 3: him this week against the Chiefs or if I maybe
Speaker 3: just pivot and play like a wide snoop or something
Speaker 3: Pro Bowl screw. Yeah, maybe I just play a wide
Speaker 3: receiver in that spot. I have no idea. Anyways, get
Speaker 3: to some of our Week four predictions here.
Speaker 2: We'll start with.
Speaker 3: Club's going to be the top score the non quarterback
Speaker 3: top scorer here and uh Lakwan, you are going with
Speaker 3: I guess the guy who's the wide receiver one in Buffalo.
Speaker 5: Now, yes, we are going to the club. The shirts
Speaker 5: are loud, the music's good, the Sparklers are coming. With
Speaker 5: Khloe Shakir going against his Baltimore Ravens defense man. I mean,
Speaker 5: Josh Allen has a perfect passer rating win targeting him.
Speaker 5: He's catching literally every single ball that Josh Allen's throwing
Speaker 5: to him, and this defense man they're playing a ton
Speaker 5: of his own coverage. And right now, Khalise Shakir is
Speaker 5: a top five slot wide receiver versus his own coverage.
Speaker 5: So I love the ability that he's able to separate,
Speaker 5: get open and making himself available for Josh Allen because
Speaker 5: literally he is the wide receiver one. He's the only
Speaker 5: wide receiver currently on the roster that has over one
Speaker 5: hundred yards. Sign me up for a great night at
Speaker 5: the club with Klose Shakir.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just it's so different because you know,
Speaker 3: past year's the targets have been pretty narrowly funneled to
Speaker 3: a couple of guys this year. Josh Allen is spreading
Speaker 3: the ball around all over the place, a lot of
Speaker 3: different guys getting involved, which is great for the Bills,
Speaker 3: a little bit harder for us to sort of predict
Speaker 3: where things are going. You got a guy Florio that
Speaker 3: was in a pretty widely funneled offense, but it looks
Speaker 3: like one of his teammates could be missing, So maybe
Speaker 3: this helps out.
Speaker 2: A little bit in Houston.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think whether or not Tank Dell plays this week,
Speaker 4: I think it's a week for both Tank Dell and
Speaker 4: Nico Collins if Tank is able to suit up. But
Speaker 4: Nico Collins is the big dog in this offense, like
Speaker 4: everything runs through him. I know, uh, Steph Diggs has
Speaker 4: gotten has a couple of good games too, but watching
Speaker 4: this team like Nico Collins is clearly the alpha there,
Speaker 4: like he is the first read. For Nico Collins, he
Speaker 4: is getting all the air yards, the big plays that
Speaker 4: we want for fantasy. And we have seen the Jaguars
Speaker 4: not only struggle against the past this year, but they
Speaker 4: have struggled on the deep ball as well, and NFL
Speaker 4: Pro has this as an advantage for the Texans passing attack.
Speaker 4: A pretty big one too, So yeah, I think we're
Speaker 4: just seeing teams beat up on the Jags right now.
Speaker 4: I think the Texans, angry Texans coming off of a loss,
Speaker 4: know that this is a big get right spot for
Speaker 4: them because next week we get Digs versus Allen, the
Speaker 4: revenge match of all revenge matches. So I think both
Speaker 4: teams are gonna want to come in that coming off
Speaker 4: a win, and the Texans are gonna not hold anything
Speaker 4: back against the division opponent and the Jacks and I
Speaker 4: think they just punched him in the mouth and Nico
Speaker 4: Collins goes off.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think fish after last week, I think there's
Speaker 3: a bounce back coming for the Houston Texans offense after
Speaker 3: shut down by Minnesota.
Speaker 2: Bounce back for sure.
Speaker 3: This is kind of chalky, don't really care Sae Kwon Barkley,
Speaker 3: and this is really about the matchup because the Butts
Speaker 3: are okay, they're sort of middle of the road defensively,
Speaker 3: but it's kind of about who's not there in Philadelphia
Speaker 3: right now. AJ Brown likely out, DeVonta Smith still in
Speaker 3: the concussion protocol. I'm sure they've got Dallas godd Or
Speaker 3: they can throw the football too, but beyond that, not
Speaker 3: a lot of places that you feel confident in on
Speaker 3: a consistent basis. So I think this is a week
Speaker 3: that they load Saquan up with touches, whether it's on
Speaker 3: the ground through the air. I think we're gonna see
Speaker 3: a lot more rpo action. We're gonna see Jalen Hurts
Speaker 3: kind of running the football. But I think it's gonna
Speaker 3: be all Saquon all day. He's been great so far
Speaker 3: this year. Now they're gonna give him. They may give
Speaker 3: him the sort of workload he had when he was
Speaker 3: with the Giants, and you do that behind this offensive line.
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be a huge, huge day for
Speaker 3: Saquon Barkley in a game that I think is gonna
Speaker 3: be really entertaining between Philly and Tampa Bay. This week
Speaker 3: for sure, over to the Snorlax, it is our favorite
Speaker 3: week for sleepers. Lakwan, I really love yours because this
Speaker 3: is a guy I think it's gonna have a really
Speaker 3: nice week. It's a guy also that I admit, coming
Speaker 3: into the season I was wrong about.
Speaker 2: So I guess consider this my apology.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm on that same train, Marcus, Like we are
Speaker 5: just completely wrong about Tony Poller man, and this is
Speaker 5: a sleeper week for him, going up against his Dolphins
Speaker 5: defense Monday Night Football. Hopefully you're not in a nail
Speaker 5: bier all the way up over the weekend through Tony
Speaker 5: Poler being starting lineups.
Speaker 2: But this is a great matchup.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 5: It really feels though you're going up against his Dolphins defense,
Speaker 5: who are allow on the second most fantasy points and
Speaker 5: the second most rushing touchdown to running back so far
Speaker 5: this season. Man, And look, the game plan should be
Speaker 5: to run the ball, get the ball ali Will Levis's
Speaker 5: hands to limit these turnovers. So it should be a
Speaker 5: clear understanding like, hey, we need to run the ball
Speaker 5: against this Dolphins defense and Will Levis, Man, you need
Speaker 5: to make better decisions because last week real nasty work
Speaker 5: and that kept a lot of the time on the
Speaker 5: sideline for Tony Pollard. If you're going to be throwing
Speaker 5: pick sixes, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, let's get
Speaker 5: the get back for Tony Pollard this week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do like Tony Pollard.
Speaker 3: I'm also like one last chance to try to make
Speaker 3: Taija spears happen. But I think I think I'm ready
Speaker 3: to kind of give up on that dream at this point,
Speaker 3: it doesn't seem like it's happening. Don't get there, all right,
Speaker 3: I'll hold on a little bit longer. We'll see for Florido.
Speaker 3: Who's your out your sleeper for the week.
Speaker 4: I like Justin Fields this week because we have seen
Speaker 4: the Colts really get carved up on defense now three
Speaker 4: weeks in a row, but they really struggle on the ground.
Speaker 4: They've allowed these second most rushing yards this season, which
Speaker 4: is why I like Najie Harris, but it's also why
Speaker 4: I I think we get the first real vintage running
Speaker 4: Justin Field's game. He had fifty four yards in Week one,
Speaker 4: he had a rushing touchdown last week. Let's combine those two.
Speaker 4: Let's get a season high in rushing yards for him.
Speaker 4: And this might be a hot take, but I actually
Speaker 4: think I would play Justin Fields over Anthony Richardson in
Speaker 4: the battle of these quarterbacks this week, just because I
Speaker 4: think the Steelers defense is the best in football.
Speaker 3: I mean, they've been fantastic, and Richardson kind of on
Speaker 3: the struggle bus, especially when it comes throwing the football
Speaker 3: so far through the first three weeks of the season.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna keep it with the Ohio State University, and
Speaker 3: I got Jackson Smith and Jigba this week as a sleeper.
Speaker 3: I think he has officially taken over as the wide
Speaker 3: receiver to there in Seattle. And while you got DK
Speaker 3: Metcalf taking the top off the defense, JSN is sort
Speaker 3: of working in that nice intermediate spot right around ten
Speaker 3: yards or so from the line of scrimmage. Gito Smith,
Speaker 3: quite as it's kept, has been playing some really good
Speaker 3: football so far this season, and it's just nice to
Speaker 3: see jays In getting more targets, looking like more of
Speaker 3: a part of the downfield passing game compared to where
Speaker 3: he was last year under Shane Waldron. I think he
Speaker 3: keeps it going in a game that could really be
Speaker 3: high scoring. Historically, Seahawks Lions have been some very high
Speaker 3: scoring games.
Speaker 2: I think we could get that again this week.
Speaker 3: And even though Detroit has really made efforts to improve
Speaker 3: its secondary, I'm still some holes there, so I think
Speaker 3: JSN can certainly take advantage of that. So those are
Speaker 3: the guys we think are going to have some big
Speaker 3: weeks this week. Those are some guys who had some
Speaker 3: big weeks last week and whether or not they can
Speaker 3: repeat so as jay Z once said, can I get
Speaker 3: an encore who do you like this week?
Speaker 2: To back it up?
Speaker 5: LQ and I do want more to run it back
Speaker 5: for Tuba Hubbard going up against the Bengals Man, he
Speaker 5: was a top five running back last week. That is
Speaker 5: amazing and that just shows that Andy Dallon at the
Speaker 5: starting position just brings a new spark for this offense.
Speaker 5: And look Bengals man, their defense have allowed one hundred
Speaker 5: yards on the ground in each of their last three
Speaker 5: games to running back, so looking at the last two weeks,
Speaker 5: he's also bringing some PPR upside as well. Ten targets,
Speaker 5: which is foremost among running backs in the last two weeks.
Speaker 2: Are really like that.
Speaker 5: He's out there running routes and going out there and
Speaker 5: participating in the passing game. And he has just as
Speaker 5: many explosive runs in the last couple of weeks as
Speaker 5: Album Kamara, JK. Dobbins as Brian Robinson junior. So he's
Speaker 5: running hard and looking good with his opportunities. So shout
Speaker 5: out to that Panthers O line stepping up in that
Speaker 5: run game as well, because last week the Panthers had
Speaker 5: the highest rushing yards over expected, So this looks like
Speaker 5: a good situation for Chewba Hubbard.
Speaker 3: So you like Chewba Hubbard, Florio, you like another big
Speaker 3: time receiver to have a big time week this week?
Speaker 4: Yeah, because what's it that you say about low hanging fruit.
Speaker 3: Look, it's just as tasty as the stuff at the
Speaker 3: top of the tree. You don't have to work, is
Speaker 3: hard to get it boom.
Speaker 4: Dk Metcalf is that this week because DK has had
Speaker 4: two big games in a row. He has a very
Speaker 4: healthy target share, and nearly half of the Seahawks' air
Speaker 4: yards all go to DK Metcalf, so he is always
Speaker 4: a big play threat. We've already seen him connect two
Speaker 4: weeks in a row, and now he gets the Lions.
Speaker 4: The last three times that these teams have faced they
Speaker 4: have scored anywhere between sixty eight and ninety points combined.
Speaker 4: So it's going to be an absolute score fest. And
Speaker 4: DK in those three games, one of which went for
Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty yards, another one he scored three touchdowns.
Speaker 4: The usage, the matchup, everything is primed for DK not
Speaker 4: only to have a big week, he might be the
Speaker 4: high I know I didn't pick him, but he might.
Speaker 2: Be the top scorer of Week four this year. Clubeah.
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny because you know, early in the
Speaker 3: season he didn't have a couple he had a couple of,
Speaker 3: you know, not so great games, and everybody's like, oh, oh,
Speaker 3: are we worried about d No, No, we're not worried
Speaker 3: about DK Metcalf.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: Fu.
Speaker 5: I think Tyler Lockett's still looking for his helmet on
Speaker 5: the sideline.
Speaker 2: That's probably what's happening.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just I've been such a Tyler Lockett
Speaker 3: stand for the last couple of years. Like, you know,
Speaker 3: time March is on, I came, man.
Speaker 2: I mean, he had his time. Robert Woods had his time.
Speaker 5: You know, those guys are the guys that you know,
Speaker 5: just Bobby Trees.
Speaker 2: Man, pour one out for Bobby Trees this week? Do
Speaker 2: this finest? Anyway?
Speaker 3: For me, it's Deontay Johnson. It finally happened, right. We
Speaker 3: were all on board with Deontay Johnson. Obviously, the first
Speaker 3: few weeks, the first couple of weeks were not great
Speaker 3: with Bryce Young at quarterback.
Speaker 2: They make change to Andy Dalton and suddenly this whole
Speaker 2: offense comes to life a little bit.
Speaker 3: I guess that's what happens when you have a thirteen
Speaker 3: year veteran back there under center versus a guy in
Speaker 3: his second year who's had to deal with some offensive
Speaker 3: coordinator changes and that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Whatever. Hopefully Bryce Shung works it out.
Speaker 3: In the meantime, let's all continue to prosper with Deontay Johnson.
Speaker 2: The Bengals showed last.
Speaker 3: Week they are able or not able, but willing maybe
Speaker 3: not even willing that they will give up big plays
Speaker 3: they did against the Commanders. We saw Terry McLaurin get
Speaker 3: behind the defense a couple of times. Don't know if
Speaker 3: Deontay Johnson is going to be that kind of a
Speaker 3: deep threat, but I do think he can get open,
Speaker 3: he can get targets from Andy Dalton had a great
Speaker 3: Week three. I think he's going to have a great
Speaker 3: Week four for the Carolina Panthers and for your fantasy
Speaker 3: teams as well. So should be a whole lot of fun.
Speaker 3: It should be a a lot of things to work on,
Speaker 3: a lot of things to watch. Will definitely keep an
Speaker 3: eye on them, and we'll be back, of course again
Speaker 3: soon to kind of talk about what happened, and again
Speaker 3: I'll get you ready for the rest.
Speaker 2: Of the week as well. In the meantime.
Speaker 3: That'll do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy
Speaker 3: Football Podcast, The Happy, Safe, and Healthy, do good, and
Speaker 3: live well, and we will talk to you all tomorrow