Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
Speaker 2: source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
Speaker 2: whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now,
Speaker 2: here's your host, Paul Chargion.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchi and
Speaker 1: my co host today, the ailing Matt Harrison.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my knee pit is really Oh that's a throwback
Speaker 3: right there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's your showing your age if you get
Speaker 1: back to the knee pit. We haven't had a knee
Speaker 1: pit reference on this show. And what do you think,
Speaker 1: like ten years.
Speaker 3: It's been a while, but I heard you and uh,
Speaker 3: Paul Allen and Chad Greenway talking about Dennis Pitta today
Speaker 3: and it brought me all back to the Todd heat
Speaker 3: Memorial injury report, all that good times back then.
Speaker 1: The Todd Heap Memorial injury Report. That's how we started
Speaker 1: those episodes of Fantasy Football Weekly, back in the day
Speaker 1: when it was really hard to get injury information. So
Speaker 1: you're like, the first thing we got to get out
Speaker 1: of the way is who's healthy and who's not. Now,
Speaker 1: that's just not times have changed and.
Speaker 3: We figured out how to work it into the matchups,
Speaker 3: and yeah, take less time.
Speaker 1: I think that I think it is better this way
Speaker 1: that we've that we've done it. But we missed Todd Heap.
Speaker 1: I was always my intention to get Todd Heap on
Speaker 1: the show. But and we could probably get him now
Speaker 1: because what's Todd Heap doing? He'd probably enjoy the opportunity
Speaker 1: to come on the show, But well, you know what
Speaker 1: are we going to do with him now?
Speaker 3: He's probably in a hospital somewhere.
Speaker 1: Let's hope he's not dead somewhere with all the things
Speaker 1: that have gone wrong for him. And I hope he'd
Speaker 1: take it with a sense of humor to know that
Speaker 1: there was a show out there that named their injury
Speaker 1: report after Todd Heap.
Speaker 3: Who knows, he might be really angry about it.
Speaker 1: Could be, it could be. We're gonna have a ton
Speaker 1: of fun today, Matt. We're gonna break down the AFC
Speaker 1: and NFC championship games fantasy football weekly style with letter
Speaker 1: grades and all the players and see how see who
Speaker 1: we like, who we don't like, what kind of sleepers
Speaker 1: we can unveil a lot of ways you can put
Speaker 1: this to good use DFS betting. In some cases, you
Speaker 1: may sell fantasy leagues playoff fantasy leagues, so you can
Speaker 1: change rosters. I'm in one of those. We've got one
Speaker 1: of them ageeteen leagues dot Com, so there's a lot
Speaker 1: of different ways you could skin this cat. I want
Speaker 1: to start with the Eagles Commander's game. That's our first
Speaker 1: game on Sunday. And I think, if I'm correct about
Speaker 1: the scheduling on this, I haven't. I haven't looked at
Speaker 1: it a while, Matt. I think we're going mid afternoon
Speaker 1: for the first game and then prime time for the
Speaker 1: second game.
Speaker 3: Correct, Yeah, two pm Central time, so three pm Eastern
Speaker 3: is the first game.
Speaker 1: Got you? Got you? And that first game is Commander's Eagles.
Speaker 1: That is your game, Matt. Let's well, let's take it
Speaker 1: away and maybe you can start where if you want.
Speaker 1: But I mean, the a story here for sure on
Speaker 1: the Commander's side is Jade and Daniels.
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't we start with him? I mean, he's the
Speaker 3: top scoring fantasy player in the Fantasy in the playoffs,
Speaker 3: so far, better than Lamar and Josh Allen and Stroud
Speaker 3: and Saquon and Derrick Henry, all those guys had two
Speaker 3: games as well. He's seen this Eagles defense twice before,
Speaker 3: and Eagles defense that has faced the thirtieth best strength
Speaker 3: of schedule this year, so maybe not.
Speaker 1: The toughest matchups.
Speaker 3: So when they met in Week sixteen, Daniels threw for
Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty eight yards and five touchdowns, and
Speaker 3: then he added eighty one yards on the ground on
Speaker 3: nine carries, and then last week Stafford was Yeah, last
Speaker 3: week Stafford was able to throw for three twenty four
Speaker 3: and two in snowy conditions. I don't know if I
Speaker 3: trust this Eagles defense to be this like stone cold
Speaker 3: lock that everybody seems to think it is, and it doesn't.
Speaker 3: Seemed like the moment is too big for Jade and Daniels.
Speaker 3: So I've got an A grade on him, and I
Speaker 3: think he's my favorite quarterback of the four going this
Speaker 3: weekend in terms of.
Speaker 1: Just like fantasy point potential. Yeah, I could.
Speaker 3: I think the Eagle ranking all of them, he would
Speaker 3: be my number one.
Speaker 1: The Eagles secondary has been great, legitimately great. I could
Speaker 1: see I could see this being an all or nothing
Speaker 1: scenario for Jadon Daniels, But the five touchdowns last game
Speaker 1: is pretty telling you know. What we know is it
Speaker 1: won't be like the moment's too big for Jaden.
Speaker 3: Dan definitely, because that kid is I think, definitely I
Speaker 3: shoot for the moon kind of guy. And his favorite
Speaker 3: target is Terry mclaur and Terry, who's been the top
Speaker 3: scoring wide receiver in the in the playoffs so far
Speaker 3: for Fantasy only, Nico Collins has more receptions than Terry
Speaker 3: in the playoffs, and I have a feeling that McLaurin
Speaker 3: will get one more reception to at least tie Nico
Speaker 3: Collins this week. McLaurin scored in seven of his last
Speaker 3: eight games, including the Week sixteen matchup against the Eagles,
Speaker 3: where he managed five catches sixty yards in a score.
Speaker 3: But the problem is in Week eleven, McLaurin was almost
Speaker 3: blanked by the Eagles one catch, ten yards yep, and
Speaker 3: Philly is number three in the league and fewest yards
Speaker 3: allowed to perimeter receivers this season. I've got a be
Speaker 3: on McLaurin, but since it's an offseason show, I can
Speaker 3: give him a B minus.
Speaker 1: I think, ah, okay, look, you stepped up, you're sick,
Speaker 1: you're doing the show. Anyway, We're gonna give you this minus.
Speaker 3: All right, I think the sleeper here is Diami Brown,
Speaker 3: who is actually the Darius Slay slayer, and he's let
Speaker 3: lock go against Darius Slay in this one. According to
Speaker 3: Pro Football Focus, in thirty career receiving snaps against Darius Slay,
Speaker 3: Diami Brown is averaging three point seven yards per route run.
Speaker 3: It's pretty significant for that snap total. Yeah, and Brown
Speaker 3: is sneakily tied with McLaurin in receptions during the playoffs
Speaker 3: with eleven and has more yards than Terry.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 3: By the way, Danny Brown is only forty four on DraftKings,
Speaker 3: and he's kind of a nice contrarian play. I built
Speaker 3: some internal lineups over at fanball dot Com with with
Speaker 3: my coworkers there. I switched out McLaurin for Diami Brown
Speaker 3: and just took the cash discount. I'll throw a C
Speaker 3: grade on him, but it's probably closer to like a
Speaker 3: C plus grade for Diami Brown.
Speaker 1: You're really pushing the envelope, now, Yeah, See that was
Speaker 1: what I always fear. You do it one time and
Speaker 1: then the flood gets open.
Speaker 3: Yeah, see that's what happens.
Speaker 1: That's well. Now, it's the problem is, you guys can't
Speaker 1: just take the win. You have to expand it.
Speaker 3: I have regrets, all right, all right, Uh, the last
Speaker 3: receiver you might want to start as Zach Ertz. He's
Speaker 3: were on a team high three hundred and eighteen routes
Speaker 3: from the slot this season and thirty five percent of
Speaker 3: the Eagles receptions allowed this season. We're out of the slot. Okay,
Speaker 3: so you're looking at roughly one third of your target
Speaker 3: totals maybe going to zach Ertz in this game. We
Speaker 3: don't forget, by the way, Yes, absolutely a big revenge
Speaker 3: game in Philly. Scored in the first game, not in
Speaker 3: the second, so there's some opportunity for Ertz to cross
Speaker 3: the goal line in that revenge game. I like Ertz.
Speaker 3: I think he's my second favorite tight end. Play this weekend.
Speaker 3: He gets a B grade for me. And then I
Speaker 3: think the Brian Robinson Austin Eckler thing. This is super interesting.
Speaker 3: Robinson did absolutely nothing in the wild card round versus Tampa,
Speaker 3: but he was pretty steady last week in the Detroit game,
Speaker 3: fifteen carries, seventy seven yards, two touchdowns, which was fantastic. Yeah,
Speaker 3: five point one yards per carry. He was not targeted
Speaker 3: at all last week though, and I think that's because
Speaker 3: Austin Eckler's finally all the way healthy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, Eckler running Mike, He's healthy. He looks good.
Speaker 3: Yeah. He caught four of his eleven or four of
Speaker 3: his are sorry, he caught all four of his targets
Speaker 3: for forty one yards. That's an average of ten point
Speaker 3: three yards per catch, which is down from his season
Speaker 3: average of ten point five yards to catch, by the.
Speaker 1: Way, Yes, but that's actually by the way. Yeah.
Speaker 3: He leads running backs in the league in yards after
Speaker 3: catch per reception this year with eleven point nine.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: He's basically receiving the ball behind the line of scrimmage
Speaker 3: and scampering out for about twelve yards every time. It
Speaker 3: is only meeting with the Eagles. This season, Eckler had
Speaker 3: eight catches and eighty nine receiving yards. So I think
Speaker 3: that there's a possibility, and this is my boldest take
Speaker 3: of the weekend, Eckler might see more targets this weekend
Speaker 3: out of any player in both games.
Speaker 1: Wow. That's probably betable somehow somewhere, And you know, I
Speaker 1: bet the reception side is definitely betable, and I bet
Speaker 1: it definitely would I bet his odds enormous.
Speaker 3: I'll give Eckler a B grade here. Robinson gets a
Speaker 3: bench grade for me.
Speaker 2: Though.
Speaker 3: The Eagles have only allowed five running back rushing touchdowns
Speaker 3: on the season, so things will probably dry up and
Speaker 3: it will be more like he did against Tampa, which
Speaker 3: was not very good in the run game. Switch over
Speaker 3: to the Eagle side. Saquon Barkley is A. He's an
Speaker 3: A grade. He's the fantasy Fonsie. He's the fantasy Ardvark.
Speaker 3: He's the building block of anything you do in playoff Fantasy.
Speaker 3: You can't even fade him, no, like of the four
Speaker 3: teams left, he's the only running back that should be
Speaker 3: in one hundred percent of DFS lineups like he should
Speaker 3: do like you fade him, you're just playing with fire.
Speaker 3: In two games against Washington, the first one twenty eight
Speaker 3: touches one hundred and ninety eight yards and two scores,
Speaker 3: second one twenty nine touches one hundred and fifty yards
Speaker 3: and two scores. And Washington faced Detroit last week and
Speaker 3: Jamior Gibbs and Gibbs could have done whatever he wanted
Speaker 3: against the Commanders, and yeah, for so for reasons unknown,
Speaker 3: after averaging seven and a half yards per carry. Gibbs
Speaker 3: only had fourteen carries. He got one hundred and five
Speaker 3: yards and two scores. He added six catches for seventy yards.
Speaker 3: He could have done whatever he wanted and Detroit went
Speaker 3: away from him. Yeah, in situations, it's crazy. The Commander's
Speaker 3: defense ranked dead last in the league in average rushing
Speaker 3: yards before contact to running backs.
Speaker 1: Wow, So there's gonna be some room to work with.
Speaker 3: There's room to work with, and you're giving Saquon the ball.
Speaker 3: Thirty touches is in play for Saquon, and if the
Speaker 3: Eagles lose, it will be because they went away from
Speaker 3: Saquon in the run.
Speaker 1: It's uh, you know, and you may have heard this
Speaker 1: and listeners may already know it highest over under in
Speaker 1: the history of Vegas for rushing yards on a players
Speaker 1: over under. Depending on where you're looking, it's between one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty six and one hundred and thirty yards.
Speaker 3: Wow. For Barkley, I think it's in play.
Speaker 1: It is in play, and I you know, it's funny.
Speaker 1: You can make a case that you should ladder it
Speaker 1: up from there because he obliterates this number from on
Speaker 1: a pretty regular basis. So there's there's still a scenario
Speaker 1: where not only does he go over the say one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty yards, but he goes way over it
Speaker 1: and nobody nobody be shocked.
Speaker 3: So the key to the rest of this game, I
Speaker 3: think is Jalen Hurts. It changes everything you do in
Speaker 3: fantasy and betting depending on which Hurts is out there. Now.
Speaker 3: The last time he faced the Commanders, he got that
Speaker 3: concussion that knocked him out of the game and knocked
Speaker 3: the Eagles out of number one seed contention. He has
Speaker 3: managed one hundred and thirty one and one and twenty
Speaker 3: eight pass and.
Speaker 1: It's two games, right, I mean, everybody assumes that Hurts
Speaker 1: is hurt and more more than they're letting on because
Speaker 1: he doesn't look like himself and just the productivity is
Speaker 1: not there.
Speaker 3: Well, get this. Over the season, he's averaging only three
Speaker 3: point nine passing yards per dropback, and that's the lowest
Speaker 3: total of any quarterback to make the conference championship since
Speaker 3: Pro Football Focus started doing stats in two thousand and six.
Speaker 1: Wow, holy cow, look at that.
Speaker 3: So not a prolific passer here, and Hurts Week eleven
Speaker 3: win against Washington, he managed two or twenty one passing yards,
Speaker 3: did not throw a passing touchdown in that game, So
Speaker 3: I'm not feeling super confident in the Philly passing game overall.
Speaker 3: Here why you can still get some Hurts exposure going.
Speaker 3: He ran for thirty nine thirty nine yards in a
Speaker 3: score in the week eleven meeting, and he's ran thirteen
Speaker 3: times in the two playoff games for one hundred and
Speaker 3: six yards in a score. So the Eagles are throwing
Speaker 3: caution to the wind if he's if he's hurt about
Speaker 3: concussions or anything like that, they're not showing it. They're
Speaker 3: making them run still.
Speaker 1: And and you know what, why not? I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: at any loss is your last loss, you may as
Speaker 1: well run him, I think, Matt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I've got a C grade on Hurts. He's
Speaker 3: my least favorite quarterback of the four playing this weekend.
Speaker 3: But all it takes is a goal line push push
Speaker 3: or two and he's going to return value for you.
Speaker 3: Uh got aj Brown? He has three receptions over two
Speaker 3: playoff games, Yes, which is which is trailing Xavier Hutchinson,
Speaker 3: Anthony Miller, and DeMarcus Robinson in that department. He's tied
Speaker 3: with Olamide Zechias and Jalen Naylor in receptions in the playoffs. Oh,
Speaker 3: by the way, Jalen Naylor has been out.
Speaker 1: Of the playoffs, so that's right.
Speaker 3: And also aj Brown reading fine leatherbound books on the sideline,
Speaker 3: so we know he's talented. But we also need to
Speaker 3: realize that when the Eagles went on their crazy win streak,
Speaker 3: it's kind of when his targets dropped and he was
Speaker 3: the squeaky wheel for a little bit there and saw
Speaker 3: some action again for two games, but then it kind
Speaker 3: of went back to what it was before the game
Speaker 3: he was targeted the most this year was Week sixteen
Speaker 3: against Washington, where he saw fifteen targets in the game
Speaker 3: that Jalen Hurts got knocked out and the team lost
Speaker 3: that game, by the way, so he still has more
Speaker 3: targets than any other Eagles wide receiver in the playoffs,
Speaker 3: tied with Dallas Goddard at ten so far in the
Speaker 3: last two games. Problem is, the last seven games of
Speaker 3: the regular season, the Commanders only allowed seven touchdown passes total,
Speaker 3: and Goff only managed one last week in catchup mode
Speaker 3: and Baker had two. So we're looking at maybe one
Speaker 3: touchdown pass in the game for Hurts. I think that
Speaker 3: would be the safe bet.
Speaker 1: I think that is the safe bet.
Speaker 3: The odds are that it's Brown getting that, and the
Speaker 3: sportsbooks agree. Of all the receivers for the Eagles, he's
Speaker 3: plus one fifty five for at any time touchdown. Brown
Speaker 3: ranks second in Pro Football Focused grades when facing man coverage,
Speaker 3: and Washington runs the eighth most man coverage in the league.
Speaker 3: So it's like a Sea dart on Brown. But I
Speaker 3: don't feel great about it right now. Devanta Smith, he
Speaker 3: caught all of his eight playoff targets for seventy six yards,
Speaker 3: but he's been one of the strangest players to forecast
Speaker 3: since Halloween. Since Week ten, he's had six games under
Speaker 3: sixty yards and he's scored four times. But he's only
Speaker 3: had two games with double digit PPR points in that span. Yeah,
Speaker 3: which is crazy. He's just too volatile. I'm gonna leave
Speaker 3: DeVonta Smith on the bench, and then Dallas Goddard is
Speaker 3: the last guy.
Speaker 1: I like him here. I'll be interested to hear what
Speaker 1: you think.
Speaker 3: I got a C grade on Goddard comes in with
Speaker 3: a questionable tag, but he's gonna definitely play in this one.
Speaker 3: Tied for the target lead for the Eagles in the
Speaker 3: playoffs with ten he has scored. He sees a lot
Speaker 3: of targets when the opposing defense is blitzing. Goddard ranks
Speaker 3: eighth in the league amongst touchdowns in yards sorry amongst
Speaker 3: tight ends in yards per route run when facing the blitz,
Speaker 3: and Washington Blitz is at the sixth highest rate in
Speaker 3: the NFL. So it looks like there could be quite
Speaker 3: a few targets going his way. In the week eleven meeting,
Speaker 3: Goddard caught all five of his targets for sixty one yards. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it seems about where he's gonna be. I don't know
Speaker 3: if he can get much more than that, though, because
Speaker 3: Hurtz just doesn't throw the ball well.
Speaker 1: I still think if he's going to get into that
Speaker 1: five catch sixty yard range and maybe a forty chance
Speaker 1: of a touchdown, I think that's a B grade for
Speaker 1: a tight end.
Speaker 3: Okay, can I talk into it. He's still like zach
Speaker 3: Ertz more than Goddart. But I think I got got
Speaker 3: Art as my third ranked tight end this weekend, all right,
Speaker 3: So that's all I got On the Eagles and Commanders.
Speaker 3: My prediction is I think the Commanders pull this off.
Speaker 1: You're not alone, the betting public is hitting the Commander's
Speaker 1: money line pretty hard. And I think the Eagles just don't.
Speaker 1: The Eagles look like they're good at a lot of things.
Speaker 1: They just don't look dominating like you want them to.
Speaker 1: And the Commanders have overcome a lot to get here,
Speaker 1: and Jaden Daniels just has got the vibe of a
Speaker 1: winner that honestly, Jalen Hurts doesn't seem to have, even
Speaker 1: though he's won tons of games.
Speaker 3: Well, and if you think about the Eagles right now
Speaker 3: and all season, really, they've just there's just been doubts
Speaker 3: about the whole team all year. Nick sirianni Is, I
Speaker 3: mean they're talking about if he would have lost to
Speaker 3: the Rams last week, he would have been fired. Maybe
Speaker 3: if he loses to the Commanders this week, he's fired.
Speaker 3: It's possible. Yeah, And it seems like that locker room's
Speaker 3: kind of been kind of in dismay right now, and
Speaker 3: it just seems like the Commanders are the team of destiny. Also,
Speaker 3: their colors are in the Super Bowl logo, so well then, yeah,
Speaker 3: I like that we got that going and it works
Speaker 3: every year.
Speaker 1: If I got to just pick the winner, it would
Speaker 1: be I'm still on Philadelphia because of the defensive abilities
Speaker 1: they've got so much better than what the commanders have
Speaker 1: seen so far. But you know, we'll see and they,
Speaker 1: you know they they again. Five touchdowns by Jaden in
Speaker 1: the earlier matchups suggest that maybe the Eagles defense is
Speaker 1: and what we think they are. Let's take a quick
Speaker 1: break when we come back. Buffalo at Kansas City. Stay tuned,
Speaker 1: Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charchie and Matt Harrison
Speaker 1: with you. You'll be back next week if you're alive, Matt,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you.
Speaker 3: Know, yeah, I'll be next week. We'll talk Super Bowl games,
Speaker 3: including my prop bet game, which will be live for
Speaker 3: sale somewhere online next week.
Speaker 1: Mysteriously ways to make an already great Super Bowl even
Speaker 1: better by adding by gamifying your Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: We love it absolutely.
Speaker 1: Buffalo in Kansas City is the evening game on Sunday Night.
Speaker 1: Of course, these teams have met regularly in the postseason,
Speaker 1: and they play each other in the regular season pretty often.
Speaker 1: Buffalo's won four straight regular season matches matchups between these teams,
Speaker 1: three of which were in Kansas City, so they have
Speaker 1: been able to win in Kansas City before, but they've
Speaker 1: lost three prost season meetings in the Allen Mahomes era,
Speaker 1: including that crazy twenty twenty two playoff game, which is
Speaker 1: one of the greatest games of all time.
Speaker 3: I think everybody's hoping for a repeat of that game.
Speaker 1: Maybe different outcome. Yes, yeah, you would really think that
Speaker 1: you could hold a lead when you're kicking off with
Speaker 1: thirteen seconds left by.
Speaker 3: Not the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: Not the Bills. Not two years ago. When these teams
Speaker 1: met a week eleven, Buffalo won thirty to twenty one.
Speaker 1: Buffalo led it half and then never gave up the lead,
Speaker 1: but it was really closer than that nine point final
Speaker 1: score would suggest it was. The outcome is very much
Speaker 1: in doubt through most of the game. Current line Kansas City,
Speaker 1: he favored by one and a half. The weather is
Speaker 1: not gonna be much of a factor. It'll be chilly,
Speaker 1: but not cold, thirty eight degrees, no precipitation. So let's uh.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start with my favorite Bills player, Khalil Shakir.
Speaker 1: I loved him in the preseason. He's had a nice season,
Speaker 1: targeted a career high twelve times in the earlier meeting.
Speaker 1: The week eleven meeting. Between these twelve times. Shakir usually
Speaker 1: catches pretty much everything you throw to him, although here
Speaker 1: he turned those twelve passes only into eight receptions in
Speaker 1: the earlier matchup. Now, importantly, he runs from the slot.
Speaker 1: He's gonna face off against slot cornerback Chamari Connor. He
Speaker 1: allows an eighty five percent catch rate on passes in
Speaker 1: his coverage. That is the worst completion percentage of any
Speaker 1: cornerback in the league. I love this matchup for Khalil Shakir.
Speaker 1: The only thing, the only reason I'm giving Khalil Shakir
Speaker 1: a B grade instead of an A grade is they
Speaker 1: don't target him in the end zone and he rarely scores.
Speaker 1: He has just four touchdowns on the season despite eighty
Speaker 1: eight receptions. He's my favorite of the Bills receivers. And
Speaker 1: then after that, I don't think there's a lot to
Speaker 1: do with Bills receivers. So you've got Shakir and then
Speaker 1: probably like one of the other receivers will have a
Speaker 1: good game. But it's Kean Coleman, Amari Cooper, mac Hollins,
Speaker 1: even Curtis Samuel last week, they all ran between ten
Speaker 1: and fourteen routes. That's just not enough. You know, they're
Speaker 1: shuffling these guys in and out. I mean, Shakir's on
Speaker 1: the field a lot. The other four are just rotating
Speaker 1: in and route and ten to fourteen routes is not
Speaker 1: enough to make any of them fantasy bankable. Whoever does
Speaker 1: run on the outside, which will primarily be Cooper and
Speaker 1: Coleman and Hollins two, I guess they will get a
Speaker 1: big dose of Trent McDuffie and Jalen Watson, who are
Speaker 1: both above average guys. Mcduffy held Nico Collins in check,
Speaker 1: and he's way better than all of those guys. So
Speaker 1: we've got bench grades on all the other receivers. What
Speaker 1: about Dalton Kincaid, you might be asking, Matt, what about
Speaker 1: Dalton Kincaid? Charge, Oh, well, let me tell you about
Speaker 1: Dalton Kincaid. You know, I think he's a C grade
Speaker 1: viable starter because the Chiefs have struggled against tight ends
Speaker 1: all year, allowing the second most receptions and the most
Speaker 1: yards to tight ends. Frustratingly, though, Kinkaid and Knocks split
Speaker 1: playing time basically right down the middle, with almost identical
Speaker 1: average snaps and routes. Run Kincaid invisible for basically three weeks,
Speaker 1: but he does average a more respectable four catches per
Speaker 1: game throughout the rest of the year. So in a pinch,
Speaker 1: it's only there's only four games. There's not many tight
Speaker 1: ends to work with here. I guess you will throw
Speaker 1: a C grade on Dalton Kincaid. So where does us
Speaker 1: leave us with Josh, you may be wondering. Over Allen's
Speaker 1: last seven meetings, Steve Spagnolo has been unable to stop
Speaker 1: Allen's rushing, averaging fifty eight rushing yards and zero point
Speaker 1: seven rushing touchdowns per game, and that includes four rushing
Speaker 1: touchdowns in his most recent three games against Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I love Josh Allen on the ground here. And if
Speaker 1: you look at what some mobile quarterbacks have done to
Speaker 1: Kansas City lately Week eighteen, Bo Nicks forty seven rushing yards.
Speaker 1: Week seventeen, Russell Wilson fifty five rushing yards. So and
Speaker 1: on the season, the Chiefs saw the fifth most quarterback
Speaker 1: rushing yards. So I believe this is a really nice
Speaker 1: running game for Josh Allen here through the air, I'm
Speaker 1: less optimistic as usually heard. I've only got the B
Speaker 1: grade on Khalil Shakir and a C grade on Dalton
Speaker 1: Kinkaid and bench grades and everybody else. And he's thrown
Speaker 1: exactly and only one touchdown in three straight games against
Speaker 1: Kansas City, so I don't love him through the air here.
Speaker 1: Kansas City's coming off an eight sack game, I believe, Yeah,
Speaker 1: eight sack game of c. J. Stroud, which will not
Speaker 1: happen again here. But still, you know, Josh Allen's mobility
Speaker 1: will help make sure that. In fact, he's been sacked
Speaker 1: zero and zero times in his last two games against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, so I think his offensive line will hold
Speaker 1: up just fine here. I've still got the A grade
Speaker 1: on Josh Allen because of the rushing.
Speaker 3: So no, do you think that people are downplaying how
Speaker 3: good the Chiefs defense has been this year simply because
Speaker 3: they're sick of the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Well, the attention is always going to be Patrick Mahomes, right,
Speaker 1: But the reason that they won all the games they
Speaker 1: won sixteen and one in the regular is their defense.
Speaker 1: The defense was the was way I think way better.
Speaker 1: Well in that way, was better than their offense was
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the season, my opinion. Let's go
Speaker 1: to Kansas City side. I've got one A grade for you,
Speaker 1: Travis Kelcey, Matt. We got playoff Kelsey last week. Eight targets,
Speaker 1: seven catches, one hundred and seventeen yards, and a touchdown,
Speaker 1: looking nothing like the Travis Kelcey who struggled to put
Speaker 1: up just, you know, really modest scoring through most of
Speaker 1: the year. I think he scored in three games during
Speaker 1: the regular season. Does that sound right, man?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think it was. So the Bills shut down Kelsey
Speaker 1: in the week eleven meeting, but what happened was because
Speaker 1: they were putting so much attention on Kelsey. Noah Gray
Speaker 1: got two touchdowns in that game. And I think they'll
Speaker 1: play Kelsey more straight up because now they've proved. Chiefs
Speaker 1: proved they can go to Noah Gray if they need to.
Speaker 1: So I think they play Kelsey straight up and good
Speaker 1: titands generally have success against the Bills. Sam Laporter recently,
Speaker 1: Hunter Henry recently, Tyler Conklin last week as they likely,
Speaker 1: and Mark Andrews had good games. So I've still got
Speaker 1: the eight ground and Kelsey. But man, as he looks slow, Matt,
Speaker 1: he has lost a step for sure.
Speaker 3: I think that if you're in the kind of playoff
Speaker 3: league where you set a lineup every week, and if
Speaker 3: you're not near the front or your way behind. I
Speaker 3: think the Noah Gray angle is super interesting here because
Speaker 3: I think people will just be completely off of him
Speaker 3: because he didn't do anything in the playoff game last week.
Speaker 3: He's got that track record, and I think that they
Speaker 3: trust him. I think that he's one of the two
Speaker 3: or three most trustworthy receivers on Kansas City right now,
Speaker 3: and I like him as a dart throw.
Speaker 1: So I love that you brought this up, and I'll
Speaker 1: do use that as my transition. How could Noah Gray
Speaker 1: be like the second most trustworthy receiver? Well, the wide
Speaker 1: receivers for Kansas City last week, only Xavier Worthy caught
Speaker 1: a pass. All the rest were zero receptions. Unbelievable. Hopkins,
Speaker 1: Brown Smith, Schuster, Watson. They're all low volume, touchdown dependent
Speaker 1: guys who give you virtually nothing if they don't score.
Speaker 3: If I had to receivers past their prime.
Speaker 1: Yeah right. In many cases, if I had to pick one,
Speaker 1: I'd go DeAndre Hopkins and just hope that he can
Speaker 1: like box somebody out at the end zone. But that's
Speaker 1: but they're all on the bench for this one and
Speaker 1: I and you're right. If it came down to Noah
Speaker 1: Gray or any of those guys. I think I'd be
Speaker 1: perfectly happy going with Noah Gray. Let's use that as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to talk about Xavior Worthy. This is the
Speaker 1: one chief receiver you could actually start. Worthy is an
Speaker 1: interesting guy because he's got the four to two speed
Speaker 1: MATT so he's super super fast, and we want to
Speaker 1: think that that speed will unlock deep downfield touchdowns. But
Speaker 1: it doesn't. It hasn't been. He's not getting receptions, he's
Speaker 1: not getting anything downfield. Since week eleven, they totally changed
Speaker 1: the route tree for Worthy and it's all short stuff.
Speaker 1: Since week eleven, Worthy he's got thirty nine receptions thirty
Speaker 1: six of the thirty nine or from nine yards or less.
Speaker 3: So he's a short, dink and dunk receiver that they
Speaker 3: want to try to set loose with the speed.
Speaker 1: Huh, that is it? Get this? Since week thirteen, Xavier
Speaker 1: Worthies average distance of target is four yards, that's his
Speaker 1: average catch is four yards. That's it. And Buffalo allows
Speaker 1: the fourth shortest air yards per target, just six point
Speaker 1: nine yards. So for Worthy it's all short stuff, bubble screens, slants,
Speaker 1: stuff like that that they're trying to turn They're hoping
Speaker 1: he'll break into long, long games, but he usually doesn't.
Speaker 1: I've just got the C grade on Xavier Worthy. Also
Speaker 1: speaking of the passing game, Samaj p rid could be
Speaker 1: a sneaky play now.
Speaker 3: I heard you talking about your love of Samaj p
Speaker 3: Ryan earlier today.
Speaker 1: Yes, I liked p Rid in last week did not
Speaker 1: come through, But this isn't even more a hopeful uh moment.
Speaker 1: The Bills allowed the most running back receptions, the most
Speaker 1: running back receiving yards, and the second most running back
Speaker 1: receiving touchdowns. Samajp RAN's betting line is over under eight
Speaker 1: and a half yards receiving. I like him here. He's
Speaker 1: the designated receiving back for the Bills. I don't know
Speaker 1: what the designation actually is. We say designated a lot,
Speaker 1: but there is no actual designation.
Speaker 3: Well, churches, Isaiah Pachecko dead.
Speaker 1: I guess he's dead. I was wrong. I don't have
Speaker 1: my Phonsie sounder on this. I had assumed they were
Speaker 1: saving him up for a big playoff push like last year,
Speaker 1: where they powered through the playoffs largely on the legs
Speaker 1: of Isaiah Pachecko. Nope, that isn't apparently not gonna be
Speaker 1: the case.
Speaker 3: He must not be healthy.
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt is getting more usage than Pachecko, although it's
Speaker 1: not very reliable usage and he's not running very well.
Speaker 1: But Hunt has scored in three straight games, not counting
Speaker 1: the Week eighteen game which they rest, and he's basically
Speaker 1: paced Pacheco out in short down a distance workload, which
Speaker 1: is shocking to me. Pachecko was always really good and
Speaker 1: short down and distance stuff. Buffalo's run defense much improved lately,
Speaker 1: but they've also played some really bad run defense run
Speaker 1: offenses in recent weeks, like Denver and New England and
Speaker 1: the Jets. But still I can get you to a
Speaker 1: C grade on Kareem Hunt, I can't on Pachecko. Pachecko's
Speaker 1: it's just a loss here. Just nine six and five
Speaker 1: rushing attempts the last three weeks for Isaiah Pachecko. It's
Speaker 1: all going the wrong way right now. That leaves us
Speaker 1: with Patrick Mahomes B grade. I've got an A grade
Speaker 1: on on Travis Kelce and then just like C grades
Speaker 1: on a couple of receiving options. That's there's just not
Speaker 1: a lot of great matchups I like for his receivers. Now,
Speaker 1: Mahomes did get three touchdowns in the Week eleven matchup,
Speaker 1: and the Bill secondary has had some lapses. Andy Reid
Speaker 1: always likes to attack the slot. Every receiver runs from
Speaker 1: the slot in his offense, and he does like to
Speaker 1: pound the slot. And the Bills have got their slot
Speaker 1: cornerback is the worst of their three starting cornerbacks, Taron
Speaker 1: Johnson not county Week eighteen. Without their starters, the Bills
Speaker 1: have allowed multiple passing touchdowns and eight to the last ten.
Speaker 1: I think Patrick Mahomes is in the two touchdown range
Speaker 1: and that feels like a B grade. Who do you winning?
Speaker 1: Who do you have winning that game?
Speaker 3: I think the Chiefs win that one too. I did
Speaker 3: see a nice stat from PFF Mahomes eighth highest graded
Speaker 3: quarterback against two high coverage looks and the Bills defense
Speaker 3: runs the fourth most too high coverage.
Speaker 1: In the NFL. All right, that's another angle for Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: Is he known for playing well in the playoffs? Does
Speaker 1: he have a track record for playing well in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: I think he's been in an AFC championship game or two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he has. I think he has. I
Speaker 1: want only I have. I don't have any any quibble
Speaker 1: with Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs. Other than the fact
Speaker 1: that the commercials are incessant. I Andy Reid and Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes are on my TV every game that I watch constantly.
Speaker 1: It's my only quibble.
Speaker 3: You don't like fumble Ruskie do.
Speaker 1: I had to go there? Yeah? Sorry, But I'm rooting
Speaker 1: for the Bills because the you know, the fan base,
Speaker 1: they've been you know, they've been languishing forever. I would
Speaker 1: like to see a I'd like to see a new
Speaker 1: team get in. I'd like to see just you know,
Speaker 1: give some other teams, you know, reasons to think that
Speaker 1: they can go to the super Bowl. And I hate
Speaker 1: that Josh Allen keeps getting sort of this loser tag
Speaker 1: like he can't he's not good enough to get his
Speaker 1: teams over the hump. I'd like to see him do
Speaker 1: that in the way that Yeah, I mean young Ones
Speaker 1: did and yeah, and Manning did.
Speaker 3: I think if Josh Allen is to get there, it's
Speaker 3: because of him, because they don't really have the weapons
Speaker 3: around him, like Stefan Diggs and some of the other
Speaker 3: weapons that they've had in the past that are surrounding him.
Speaker 3: And I don't particularly think that the Bills coaching staff
Speaker 3: is absolutely outstanding and just knocking the socks off everybody.
Speaker 3: So that's where I think Kansas City just has all
Speaker 3: of the the advantages here. I think they have a
Speaker 3: better defense. I think their coaching staff knows what they're doing,
Speaker 3: and I think Mahomes is ready for the moment. And
Speaker 3: if Josh Allen does it, it's going to be because
Speaker 3: Josh Allen is playing on the planet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he might be though. I mean this year
Speaker 1: he's been a better quarterback than Patrick Mahomes absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 1: And I want to think that he is going to
Speaker 1: not sing. He doesn't have to single handedly go win
Speaker 1: this game, but he's gonna have a huge part in it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if only, if only for the narrative, and I think
Speaker 1: it'd be great for Josh. And how about this for
Speaker 1: Bill's fans, They've raised one hundred thousand dollars from Mark
Speaker 1: Andrews charity. Would Eagle fans have ever done this?
Speaker 3: Matt No Bills fans notoriously awesome fans, even though they're
Speaker 3: throwing themselves through tables.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 3: They they've they've always been, uh you know the ones
Speaker 3: that have been there, like when the Damar Hamlin thing
Speaker 3: came down.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: No, one was pounding the table harder for them than
Speaker 3: those Bills fans, just making sure that everything was going right.
Speaker 3: I seem to remember a punter having an issue a
Speaker 3: few years back where the Bills fans were all over
Speaker 3: that too.
Speaker 1: They're they're great, didn't they a few years ago? Didn't
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow like beat an opponent for them that got
Speaker 1: the Bills into the playoffs and then they pounded a
Speaker 1: bunch of money at Joe Burrow's charity?
Speaker 2: Is that?
Speaker 3: Is that?
Speaker 1: I think that happened as well, like two three years ago. Listeners,
Speaker 1: listeners will correct me on that.
Speaker 3: I believe all right, I've got commanders and chiefs, and
Speaker 3: it sounds like you have Bills and Eagles.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've got Bill's Eagles, so we're we can't both
Speaker 1: be right here.
Speaker 3: No, it'll be an interesting pod next week when we
Speaker 3: return to talk about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll look forward to that for sure. Thanks for listening, everybody.
Speaker 1: Fantasy Football Weekly will be back next week as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you Matt for stepping up despite a nasty case
Speaker 1: of whooping cough. Sure we'll go with it, ye whooping cough. Yes,
Speaker 1: with a little chlamydia sprinkled in God.
Speaker 3: I hope not.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of explaining to do. We'll talk
Speaker 1: to you, We'll talk to you next week. Everybody. Fantasy
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