Speaker 1: Wow, Hey everybody, It's Thursday, January twenty fifth, twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast where we're questionable
Speaker 1: for this weekend. To me your man, MG Marcus Grand
Speaker 1: joined by Michael F. Florio, Nolaqwan Jones today, but we
Speaker 1: are still here to get you ready for Championship weekend.
Speaker 1: And you and I were looking before the show. We
Speaker 1: got a lot to talk about Florio, but we were
Speaker 1: looking before the show. And there's going to be an
Speaker 1: in game DJ for the Super Bowl. I only vaguely
Speaker 1: knew who Tiesto was. Like I've heard the name before.
Speaker 1: I couldn't you know, if a Tiesto song or mix
Speaker 1: came on, I couldn't tell you who it was. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Are you familiar with this artist?
Speaker 2: Much like you, I know the name, I don't know
Speaker 2: much beyond that. My sister is big into like DJ's
Speaker 2: and house music and all that, so I've heard her
Speaker 2: say the name before, but I personally have no experience
Speaker 2: beyond that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was announced just this morning, in fact, maybe
Speaker 1: just a little bit before we started recording this show.
Speaker 1: The NFL has announced Tiesto as the first in game
Speaker 1: superstar DJ for Super Bowl fifty eight. He'll perform a
Speaker 1: DJ set before the game of the players warm up
Speaker 1: and fans settle in. He will also play during feature
Speaker 1: breaks within the game, giving the first superstar DJ to
Speaker 1: perform throughout the Super Bowl. Which, look, I guess if
Speaker 1: you're gonna do it, Vegas is the place to do it, right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's it. Yeah, it's gonna be fun for the fans.
Speaker 1: I'm sure for the winning team. I'm sure when you're
Speaker 1: if the team that is losing has to hear him playing,
Speaker 1: me too happy about that. I'll tell you this. Having
Speaker 1: been to a couple of Super Bowls, I've been fortunate
Speaker 1: to go to two of them since I've been at
Speaker 1: the NFL. During the breaks, it's sort of dead there
Speaker 1: in the stadium, Like you know, everybody at home is
Speaker 1: watching the commercials and talking about what happened, Like you're
Speaker 1: in the stadium and it's just it's kind of a
Speaker 1: down time. Like the players are on the sidelines are
Speaker 1: just kind of hanging out in the huddle. The rest
Speaker 1: are often like nothing is happening. So maybe this is good,
Speaker 1: Maybe this would be interesting for the folks. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Can hurt, can't hurt, you know again, and we get
Speaker 1: to see some of the DJ sets. I guess if
Speaker 1: that's what you're into. Which side note, And this is
Speaker 1: not exactly where I wanted to take the show at
Speaker 1: the start, but this is where we are now. I
Speaker 1: feel like it's hard to get up and leave the
Speaker 1: TV during the Super Bowl, like if you have to
Speaker 1: use the restroo, if you have to pee, Like it's
Speaker 1: hard because obviously you're watching the game, but then you
Speaker 1: want to see the commercials. Now, these DJ sets, like
Speaker 1: the Super Bowls made for Scott Hansen, that's what ay
Speaker 1: for now. It is like, uh, Nicolette, she'll always.
Speaker 2: Go to the bat like when we're watching, like during
Speaker 2: the game, because she's like, I want to see the commercials.
Speaker 2: But yeah, like I want to see the commercials too,
Speaker 2: but obviously I want to see the game and then
Speaker 2: the halftime show. And yeah, so you that's a good point.
Speaker 2: You basically need to be Scott Hansen if you want
Speaker 2: to see everything.
Speaker 1: Gotta be Scotty, you know. It's like seven hours of
Speaker 1: commercial free football basically is what's going to happen for
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. So if you're there, hey man, let
Speaker 1: me know how Tiesto is, how things in the stadium are.
Speaker 1: I guess the rest of us will be watching from
Speaker 1: home when it happens in a couple of weeks. We
Speaker 1: are of course going to preview the championship games that
Speaker 1: hit on Sunday, Chiefs at the Ravens, Lions at the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers. We'll give you our DFS picks for
Speaker 1: those games as well. But I want to start with
Speaker 1: a lot of coaching moves, and I had originally kind
Speaker 1: of wanted to do a big kind of coaching carousel
Speaker 1: thing with the guys who had been hired and what
Speaker 1: it means. I don't know. They're going to get to
Speaker 1: all of them in the interest of basically time, especially
Speaker 1: because there were two new ones that have hit in
Speaker 1: the last twenty four actually less than twenty four twelve
Speaker 1: hours essentially since these came down. The first of those
Speaker 1: two in Los Angeles, the Chargers have announced that they
Speaker 1: have hired former University of Michigan, former San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: nine er, former Stanford, former University of San Diego head
Speaker 1: coach Jim Harbaugh to be their new head coach after
Speaker 1: moving on from Brandon Staley earlier this offseason. I guess
Speaker 1: the first question is what does this mean for fantasy
Speaker 1: bringing Jim Harbaugh to Los Angeles.
Speaker 2: I think it's a good thing. I think it's a
Speaker 2: good thing for fantasy and for real life purposes. Like
Speaker 2: when I announced it yesterday, I tweeted just when I
Speaker 2: was ready to quit the Chargers because I've been very
Speaker 2: high on the Chargers the last couple of years because
Speaker 2: talent hasn't been an issue for the Chargers. Like on paper,
Speaker 2: they should be a great football team, but we know
Speaker 2: a lot has gone wrong for them there. I did
Speaker 2: do a deep dive into him and his tenure with
Speaker 2: the forty nine Ers, which again was ten years ago
Speaker 2: at this point now, and then his last nine years
Speaker 2: at Michigan, and I found a couple of similarities in
Speaker 2: his offenses, and they're both. They were at both ten
Speaker 2: years very run heavy, not a whole lot of three
Speaker 2: wide receiver sets, much more play action pass base. So
Speaker 2: and I understand, like you could say, he had Colin
Speaker 2: Kaepernick for two and a half of his four years
Speaker 2: in San fran and that adds to it, but they
Speaker 2: were still very run heavy when it was Alex Smith
Speaker 2: as well. So I think We're gonna see a lot
Speaker 2: of running the ball. I do anticipate him making adjustments
Speaker 2: to having a quarterback like Justin Herbert, to having to
Speaker 2: coaching in the modern NFL. But yeah, the things that
Speaker 2: I took away from there were a lot of play action,
Speaker 2: a lot of running, not a ton of three wide
Speaker 2: receiver sets or a ton of throwing down the fields.
Speaker 2: I still think this is a good thing though, for
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert, because he's this has the potential. I won't
Speaker 2: say it definitely will be, but it has the potential
Speaker 2: to be the best Chargers offense that we've seen with
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert so far. The only caveat Marcus. And you
Speaker 2: know this, the Chargers team two months from now could
Speaker 2: look extreme sely different than it does now because they
Speaker 2: can move on from Keenan, they can move on from
Speaker 2: Mike Williams. They could take a wide receiver fifth or
Speaker 2: an O lineman or at Eckler could be gone. So
Speaker 2: like people yesterday were asking me, what does this mean
Speaker 2: for his fantasy stake?
Speaker 1: Where are you ranking him? And it's like the Chargers
Speaker 1: are one.
Speaker 2: Of those teams where it's January we have to take
Speaker 2: away and see approach right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think that's very much the thing.
Speaker 1: The only concern I might have, at least for Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert would be if Harbob brings along Greg Roman, because
Speaker 1: the two of them have sort of been connected in
Speaker 1: the past. You talk about all that running that the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers did, a lot of that was under
Speaker 1: Greg Roman as their offensive coordinator, and we saw that
Speaker 1: in Baltimore when he had Lamar Jackson, and it was
Speaker 1: very much a run based offense, some of which is
Speaker 1: because of the quarterback, right, and you mentioned it with
Speaker 1: Alex Smith. They ran the ball with Colin Kaepernick, They
Speaker 1: ran the ball with Lamar Jackson. Greg Roman ran the ball.
Speaker 1: What will he do with Justin Herbert because he does
Speaker 1: not run like those other three guys that I mentioned.
Speaker 1: Can they run that same style of offense? And if
Speaker 1: they do move on from Austin Eckler, who is the
Speaker 1: guy does this mean we are pivoting to Joshua Kelly?
Speaker 1: Is do they find somebody else in the draft in
Speaker 1: free agency that they decide they want to get the
Speaker 1: ball to. So I think Harbaugh has the potential to
Speaker 1: really open things up. But I also think that some
Speaker 1: of this is going to have to do with who
Speaker 1: he brings in as his offensive coordinator and offensive play caller,
Speaker 1: because I do think if you see Greg Roman's name
Speaker 1: pop up, you see a lot of people get really
Speaker 1: sad for Justin Herbert, get really sad for I don't know,
Speaker 1: Quentin Johnston, whatever. Pass catchers are going to be left
Speaker 1: there in Los Angeles. So that that is my big
Speaker 1: caveat to Jim Harbaugh maybe coming in or not, maybe
Speaker 1: definitely coming in as the head coach, and maybe who
Speaker 1: he brings in as his offensive coordinator. Meanwhile, and Pat Doherty,
Speaker 1: who you probably as rodo Pat on Twitter made an
Speaker 1: interesting point yesterday. I think it was that everybody in
Speaker 1: the AFC West has really loaded up over the last
Speaker 1: few years to stop what he called the quote Mahomes
Speaker 1: problem in the AFC, at least in the AFC West,
Speaker 1: and no one has had any real success. The Raiders
Speaker 1: have been through a couple of head coaches trying to
Speaker 1: do it. Now Antonio Pierce gets the gig. The Chargers
Speaker 1: have been through a couple of guys. Now it's going
Speaker 1: to be Jim Harbaugh. The Broncos went whole scale and
Speaker 1: brought in and then got rid of Russell Wilson. They
Speaker 1: brought in Sean Payton that hasn't worked. Is this the
Speaker 1: magic elixir? Is this the thing that finally knocks Kansas
Speaker 1: City off the throne in the AFC West Division.
Speaker 2: I'm not ready to say that yet, but because look,
Speaker 2: you all know him a Bills fan. The Bills came
Speaker 2: out a couple years ago, and we're like, we're building
Speaker 2: our team.
Speaker 1: To beat the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: It hasn't worked. No one has figured out the recipe
Speaker 2: to consistently beat the Chiefs yet. I think it's two
Speaker 2: things that one, we got to see what this Chargers
Speaker 2: roster is going to look like after the draft and
Speaker 2: free agency and after Harboro puts his fingerprints all over
Speaker 2: this roster. We also have to see what the Chiefs
Speaker 2: look like next year because there's a lot of rumors
Speaker 2: that Travis Kelce could hang it up after this year.
Speaker 2: That is Andy Reid considering retirement. Ladarius Need is a
Speaker 2: free agent to be so this Chiefs roster could look
Speaker 2: very different as well a couple months from now. But
Speaker 2: I've learned my lesson. I've picked the Chargers the last
Speaker 2: two years to be the team that finally gets over
Speaker 2: that hump. I'm gonna need to see a lot before
Speaker 2: I go for a third straight time.
Speaker 1: I just it's just you mentioned it. The roster is
Speaker 1: going to have a lot of turnover this year, and
Speaker 1: what that does is going to have a big impact
Speaker 1: on what happens with pretty much everybody in the division.
Speaker 1: So I just get the sense the chiefs are going
Speaker 1: to be more intact than I think a lot of
Speaker 1: the teams around the AFC West. I mean, we look,
Speaker 1: we know my homes is coming back right like that.
Speaker 1: That's not up for debate. That's all that matters. That
Speaker 1: that is a big part of what matters. You know
Speaker 1: that defense is still going to be solid next year.
Speaker 1: I still think we're going to see a little bit
Speaker 1: left out of Travis Kelsey. I don't think he look,
Speaker 1: I think his brother hangs it up. I think we've
Speaker 1: seen the last of Jason. I don't think we've seen
Speaker 1: the last of Travis. I don't have any inside of information.
Speaker 1: It's just a gut I kind of do. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: they could go do a pod together either already do it.
Speaker 1: They just be full time podcasters.
Speaker 2: They're gonna be. I don't know if it'll be on
Speaker 2: Amazon or where. But they're gonna be the new Payton
Speaker 2: and Eli like Colin Gay. I don't know, could one
Speaker 2: hundred percent, could be wrong, just speculating here. I was
Speaker 2: gonna ask you for fantasy purposes, we're not putting Justin
Speaker 2: Herbert in.
Speaker 1: The top five right like it's because.
Speaker 2: There's Allen, there's Hurts, there's Lamar. I would still put
Speaker 2: my homes that that's four right there.
Speaker 1: That's four. I would think. I think a healthy, a
Speaker 1: healthy Joe Burrow with a healthy Jamar Chase probably gets five.
Speaker 1: So six to ten was where I was thinking for
Speaker 1: Herbert in that like second tier. Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: probably accurate. And again I think if they do bring
Speaker 1: in Greg Roman, I think people are gonna just really
Speaker 1: be concerned and fall off of Justin Herbert. So we'll see.
Speaker 1: And again, did you mentioned does Keenan Allen come back?
Speaker 1: Does Mike Williams come back? There's so many questions in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, So we'll see. We'll see what the deal
Speaker 1: is there. Meanwhile, in Carolina, they pull a little bit
Speaker 1: of a coup and they pull from a division rival.
Speaker 1: Their new head coach is expected to be Buccaneers offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Dave Canalis, and Canal is getting plenty of praise
Speaker 1: for what he did with the Bucks offense this year,
Speaker 1: specifically with Baker Mayfield. You and I have said this
Speaker 1: plenty of times. We sat on this show last summer
Speaker 1: and just sort of dumped on Baker and said, like,
Speaker 1: it's it's jover for Mike Evans in his thousand yard streak,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if we can trust any Bucks
Speaker 1: And they ended up being a decent outfit fantasy wise.
Speaker 1: Obviously they win the division, they get to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: All that. I'm so with the work that Canalis has
Speaker 1: done with Baker Mayfield, with other quarterbacks in his past right,
Speaker 1: he was in Seattle for a number of years as well.
Speaker 1: Is this good news for Bryce Young? And I guess
Speaker 1: I would add is this enough when you look at
Speaker 1: the pass catchers that Carolina ran out there this year?
Speaker 2: I think this is a good thing for Bryce Young.
Speaker 2: I do not think it's enough because, like you said, yeah,
Speaker 2: the pass catchers, they had a league worse I would
Speaker 2: say wide receiver room. Like shout out to like Josh
Speaker 2: Norris from Underdog Fantasy. I know he's put out a
Speaker 2: lot of grafts and stuff that shows like, hey, when
Speaker 2: Bryce Young isn't running for his life and when he
Speaker 2: has open wide receivers, he is one of the most
Speaker 2: accurate quarterbacks in the NFL. So I I'm not willing
Speaker 2: to call Bryce Young a complete bust. I think he's
Speaker 2: clearly headed down that path more than being like a
Speaker 2: supersaw right now. But he was put into a league
Speaker 2: worse situation and then he had his coach fired midyear. Like,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of years
Speaker 2: from now we treat his rookie year similar to how
Speaker 2: we treat Trevor Lawrence's rookie year, where we're like, what.
Speaker 1: Was he supposed to do?
Speaker 2: That being said, though, I do like the canal is higher,
Speaker 2: and he was a coach that I was hoping got
Speaker 2: a gig this coaching carousel trip, and I thought Carolina
Speaker 2: was the right spot because of what you said. He
Speaker 2: re established Baker Mayfield this year, who was left for
Speaker 2: like Baker was cut last year and picked up by
Speaker 2: the Rams just to play snaps because they needed someone
Speaker 2: to handle the ball there. Now he has him in
Speaker 2: the divisional round of the playoffs as a comeback player
Speaker 2: of the Year candidate the year. Prior, he was the
Speaker 2: quarterback coach for Gino Smith, who was the comeback Player
Speaker 2: of the Year, revitalized his career. So in the last
Speaker 2: two seasons, he's been a huge part of revitalizing careers
Speaker 2: of quarterbacks that we thought were probably done as starters
Speaker 2: in this league. So I was surprised to see that
Speaker 2: the Bucks offense only ranked seventeenth in passing yards. They
Speaker 2: were eighth and passing touchdowns, but terrible across the board
Speaker 2: in run efficiency.
Speaker 1: I think he can.
Speaker 2: Help Bryce Young, but I agree with your point, Marcus,
Speaker 2: like he can only do so much. You need to
Speaker 2: improve what's on the field first.
Speaker 1: My other concern, I won't say issue concern, I guess
Speaker 1: is the better word is this is a guy who
Speaker 1: doesn't have head coaching experience, and that in and of
Speaker 1: itself isn't necessarily disqualifying. Right, We've seen guys Dan Campbell
Speaker 1: didn't have I gues see what he had interim head
Speaker 1: coaching experience. But now he's got his team in the
Speaker 1: NFC Championship game. But you're bringing in a guy with
Speaker 1: no head coaching experience and his primary job is to
Speaker 1: fix the quarterback, which is just one small part of
Speaker 1: being a head coach. I think it's good news for Young.
Speaker 1: You got a guy who has done great work with
Speaker 1: that position before working there again. I do think that
Speaker 1: it's going to be a major priority for the Panthers
Speaker 1: to go out and get him help. They can't run
Speaker 1: out there with Adam Thielen again this year as their
Speaker 1: number one guy. They've got to find somebody, and it's
Speaker 1: probably going to have to be in free agency because
Speaker 1: they've given up so many draft assets to get Young
Speaker 1: in the first place. I just worry that this is
Speaker 1: going to be so focused on Bryce Young that it
Speaker 1: is going to ignore the other parts of a roster
Speaker 1: that need a lot of help pretty much across the board.
Speaker 1: So that's my only concern, and I guess that's more
Speaker 1: of a football concern than it is an actual fantasy
Speaker 1: football concern. The rest of it, I guess just has
Speaker 1: to do with what happens in terms of roster building
Speaker 1: all across this offseason for this Panthers team. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I always think it would be a smart thing, to
Speaker 2: your point, to bring in like two names that popped
Speaker 2: in my head, not saying it has to be these guys,
Speaker 2: but like a Vic Fangio or a Leslie Frasier, like
Speaker 2: a defensive coordinator with a ton of experience, because the
Speaker 2: one weakness for Canals is he doesn't have that head
Speaker 2: coaching experience and he only has been in OC one year,
Speaker 2: so he needs someone there think that's a little seasoned.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think the coaching highers, the assistant coaching
Speaker 1: HighRes are going to be of paramount importance for Canalis,
Speaker 1: and so we'll see who he brings in Hell. But
Speaker 1: I think, but I'm with you, that it's going to
Speaker 1: be really really necessary for him to have guys with
Speaker 1: a lot of experience who can sort of, you know,
Speaker 1: take the reins I think a little bit, and kind
Speaker 1: of run things. So while he gets his feet underneath him.
Speaker 1: I guess the upside is one the division again not
Speaker 1: necessarily great. There is no team that's head and shoulders
Speaker 1: above the rest, and so I think that hopefully, hopefully
Speaker 1: means they're going to be patient with Dave Canalis. But
Speaker 1: I guess that's the other caveat right. David Tepper has
Speaker 1: not shown a desire to be patient with guys, which
Speaker 1: is why they have been through so many coaches and
Speaker 1: a relatively short amount of time At some point, though,
Speaker 1: you got to believe they have to give somebody time,
Speaker 1: and hopefully Canalis is that guy. So we'll see. On
Speaker 1: the other side, though, we talked about Baker and how
Speaker 1: much this how much having Canal has helped him out
Speaker 1: this year to the point that the Bucks want to
Speaker 1: bring him back. They kind of want to run it
Speaker 1: back again as much as possible. Is this bad news
Speaker 1: for Baker. I'm not going to say, are you know,
Speaker 1: where are you drafting it, because I don't know that
Speaker 1: people really are drafting Baker Mayfield. But how much of
Speaker 1: a hit in terms of our expectations does this take.
Speaker 2: I think it takes a pretty decent hit. And of
Speaker 2: course it depends like what Mike Evans does because he
Speaker 2: is about to be a free agent. So another team
Speaker 2: that we have to watch this offseason closely what they do.
Speaker 2: But we've seen Baker with other ocs before and it
Speaker 2: hasn't worked. And then we saw I know he was
Speaker 2: only the quarterback coach that year, but Canallis left Seattle
Speaker 2: and Geno Smith took a little bit. I'm not going
Speaker 2: to say he fully regressed or anything like that, but
Speaker 2: he didn't live up to what he was the year prior.
Speaker 2: So anytime in OC changes, it's always, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: unless they bring in like an established mind, it's always
Speaker 2: calls for concern.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's fair. I think this is very
Speaker 1: much a weight and see. But the initial response is
Speaker 1: this is gonna hurt, you know. I think I think
Speaker 1: for Baker it's unfortunate. I don't profess to be the
Speaker 1: biggest Baker Mayfield fan, but it is also undeniable that
Speaker 1: he never seems to be able to stay consistently within
Speaker 1: the same offensive system. He has played for a number
Speaker 1: of head coaches, a number of offensive coordinators. It seems
Speaker 1: like every year, every two years, he's in a brand
Speaker 1: new offensive scheme, and so I guess to have the
Speaker 1: success that he has had, especially this past year, I
Speaker 1: think it's kind of a credit a testament to him.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's that's got to be hard. You're consistently
Speaker 1: sort of switching up from there. There are plenty of
Speaker 1: other coaching hires. We should do a one, just big show.
Speaker 1: Especially we'll get Lakwan back and the three of us
Speaker 1: will get some other folks in here to kind of
Speaker 1: help us out. But there are a lot of coaching hires.
Speaker 1: I mean Gerbrod Mayo getting named in New England, Antonio Pierce,
Speaker 1: Brian Callahan, we talked about a little bit. Couple of
Speaker 1: offensive coordinators have been hired with Shane Waldron and Chicago,
Speaker 1: Dan Pitcher in Cincinnati. Even a defensive coordinator which real quick,
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio getting let go in Miami. Just sort of
Speaker 1: reading the tea leaves and like, I know, Twitter isn't
Speaker 1: necessarily real life, but it seems like Dolphin fans weren't surprised,
Speaker 1: but everybody else was caught surprised by that. I was surprised.
Speaker 2: I mean, they made him the highest paid defensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: not even a full calendar year ago. And this is
Speaker 2: one I'll take a little smile on because he was
Speaker 2: hired to stop Josh Allen and he could not stop
Speaker 2: Josh Allen. So it's a lot like how I feel
Speaker 2: with Nick Dermott, and like you can't stop the Chiefs,
Speaker 2: it's frustrating. That's how Dolphins fans feel about this situation.
Speaker 2: But I was surprised in particular because of how banged
Speaker 2: up that Dolphins defense was like against the Bills and
Speaker 2: Chiefs to the last two games of the year where
Speaker 2: everyone's kind of judging them on. They were throwing out
Speaker 2: like third and fourth stringers, so it's it's hard to
Speaker 2: put too much of that on Fangio. I would say
Speaker 2: I got so too. I mean, just the number of
Speaker 2: injuries you mentioned. I have a friend who's a Dolphins
Speaker 2: fan and he was texting me late in the season
Speaker 2: and we're not going to have a defense for the
Speaker 2: playoffs because they were losing so many guys, and you
Speaker 2: do wonder whether or not that that takes effect. You
Speaker 2: also read that you maybe just a kind of a
Speaker 2: clash of styles between Vic Fangio, who's definitely more of
Speaker 2: an old school football guy, and Mike McDaniel, who's more
Speaker 2: of a kind of a new school guy. Who's gonna
Speaker 2: see that coming right, that maybe those two guys just
Speaker 2: were a you know, maybe not a personality clash. We're
Speaker 2: just a difference of opinion and how things should go,
Speaker 2: and in the end it's McDaniel who has the final say.
Speaker 1: So. Vic Fangio is at the moment unemployed, although a
Speaker 1: lot of reports have him landing in Philadelphia, UH and
Speaker 1: working with the Eagles, So we'll see about that, but
Speaker 1: definitely want to take a day and really dive into
Speaker 1: all these coaching hires and uh and let's kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, figure out what means what you know as
Speaker 1: best as we can tell here before free agency, in
Speaker 1: the draft and all that other stuff. And I mean, Zime,
Speaker 1: we'll take a quick break, we'll come back and we'll
Speaker 1: dive into championship weekend. Two games this weekend to determine
Speaker 1: who will play in Super Bowl fifty eight. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about that and give you our DFS picks coming up
Speaker 1: next on the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. So it has
Speaker 1: come down to the final four in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: and on Sunday we get two games to narrow it
Speaker 1: down to two. It starts Sunday, three o'clock Eastern on CBS.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs at the Ravens. And I would have said
Speaker 1: that there were any number of teams, maybe three teams
Speaker 1: that could have been in this game. Two of those
Speaker 1: three teams actually say started started the yards at fourteen, right.
Speaker 1: I would have thought the Bengals had a chance to
Speaker 1: get back there. They had a whole litany of injuries
Speaker 1: and other issues that prevented them there. But the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and the Ravens were two teams and I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people believed could be in this game, and
Speaker 1: here they are. What's different about it this year, Mike, though,
Speaker 1: is that the Chiefs, and we've said this repeatedly, they
Speaker 1: have done this more on the defensive side than on
Speaker 1: the offensive side. You know, Travis Kelce has not had
Speaker 1: the typical Travis Kelce season. We've seen the emergence of
Speaker 1: Rashi Rice along the way, but all of it has
Speaker 1: kind of conspired to keep Patrick Mahomes numbers down from
Speaker 1: where they normally are. Now they're going against one of
Speaker 1: the best defenses in one of the more aggressive secondaries
Speaker 1: in the league. Can the Chiefs wide receivers non Rashid
Speaker 1: Rice division do enough to help them win against this
Speaker 1: Baltimore defense.
Speaker 2: I don't think they can do enough. Where if the
Speaker 2: Chiefs defense allows Lamar and Code get going that they
Speaker 2: can be in a type of like shootout game or
Speaker 2: something like that. I think they can do enough in
Speaker 2: the sense of what they've been doing, which is like
Speaker 2: like Mvs had a huge catch last week and Watson
Speaker 2: had one a couple weeks ago. Like we've seen these
Speaker 2: guys step up situationally and Again, I'm not like none
Speaker 2: of them are gonna go for one hundred yards or
Speaker 2: anything like that, but that's not what they need and
Speaker 2: that's not what they're asking them to do at this
Speaker 2: point of the season. So I think they could do
Speaker 2: enough to keep this a close game. And if that
Speaker 2: is the case, I think that's what you want. If
Speaker 2: you are the Chiefs or a Chiefs fan. I don't
Speaker 2: think you're going into this game thinking like we could
Speaker 2: pull ahead and kind of run up the score here.
Speaker 2: I think you need to keep this as close scoring
Speaker 2: and hope that Mahomes could pull out some magically.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's the only way to do it.
Speaker 1: I think that I just don't know where they go
Speaker 1: to consistently get playmaking in their wide receiver room besides
Speaker 1: Rice and letting him try to get open in space
Speaker 1: and get yards after the catch, which is what he's
Speaker 1: done so effectively all year. And then hoping that you
Speaker 1: know they that the Chiefs or that the Ravens don't
Speaker 1: have a solid plan for Travis Kelcey that he can
Speaker 1: operate in the middle of the field like he normally does.
Speaker 1: If suddenly you are leaning on MVS, if you are
Speaker 1: needing Mikole Hardman of all people to make plays for you.
Speaker 1: You know, if Justin Watson is out there trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, take the top off the defense, I think
Speaker 1: you're in real, real trouble. And so if I'm Baltimore,
Speaker 1: those are the two guys I'm really trying to take
Speaker 1: away as much as possible. I'm trying to take away Rice.
Speaker 1: One of Rice or Kelsey, right. I think if both
Speaker 1: of those guys have good games, Baltimore could lose. If
Speaker 1: only one of them has a good game, I think
Speaker 1: the Ravens have a really good shot to win this
Speaker 1: thing on Sunday. It's just been amazing to me how
Speaker 1: Kansas City has survived. And I guess what. Credit to Mahomes,
Speaker 1: credit to Andy Reid, credit to Steve Spagnolo's defense that
Speaker 1: a team that has lived so much on the arm
Speaker 1: of its quarterback over the last four or five years
Speaker 1: has figured out a way to again be in the
Speaker 1: AFC Championship Game without having that same potent passing. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you what, how much would they give to
Speaker 1: get Tyreek Hill back, at least just for one week.
Speaker 2: They'd give it all, But it could be fool's gold.
Speaker 2: But because they've played two very banged up defenses the
Speaker 2: last two weeks. But Rashid Rice, I mean this is
Speaker 2: nothing new, Like he's really breaking broken out in a
Speaker 2: big way. And and the way that they're using him,
Speaker 2: they're using him more like a traditional wide receiver one
Speaker 2: now whereas early in the year they were just kind
Speaker 2: of generating touches to get the ball into his hands
Speaker 2: and let him run. But Travis Kelcey, he kind of
Speaker 2: looked like Travis Kelcey again these last two weeks. So
Speaker 2: that and to me, part of what I think the
Speaker 2: regular season is with the Chiefs is I don't think
Speaker 2: they care about the regular season, like I think they
Speaker 2: know if we get to the playoffs and we're healthy,
Speaker 2: that's all we need and we co win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Now, I think your point is correct, and I think
Speaker 1: we've seen it in a lot of other sports. Like
Speaker 1: I say this as a Warriors fan who watched this team,
Speaker 1: you know at their height, kind of understand like they
Speaker 1: don't need to go all out. They can get a
Speaker 1: two seed without necessarily going all out. But as long
Speaker 1: as those key pieces were healthy, then they had a
Speaker 1: chance to make a run. At a championship. I think
Speaker 1: we've seen that in a lot of sports, and I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of where the Chiefs are right now
Speaker 1: in terms of, hey, we don't need Yeah, if we
Speaker 1: go out and we win, you know, fourteen fifteen games,
Speaker 1: that's great. We just need to put ourselves in the
Speaker 1: best position to make a run in the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: that is really where they've gotten to this point. Can
Speaker 1: the Chiefs defense be aggressive, and they've been very aggressive
Speaker 1: under Steve Spagnolo. Can they continue to be as aggressive
Speaker 1: and put as much pressure on the quarterback when you've
Speaker 1: got Lamar Jackson, who at any point can take off
Speaker 1: and run and just be a game breaker with his legs.
Speaker 1: I think they.
Speaker 2: Can be aggressive because their secondary is so good at
Speaker 2: sticking on wide receivers, especially downfield. Like a bunch of
Speaker 2: people are saying, Josh Allen was scared to throw downfield,
Speaker 2: That's not what it is. What it is is that
Speaker 2: their secondary is so good and it forces the quarterback
Speaker 2: to kind of think a little bit and it's not like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this guy's open, I could throw.
Speaker 1: It to him.
Speaker 2: If you want to throw it downfield, you're gonna have
Speaker 2: to throw it in a tight window, and that's always
Speaker 2: tough to do. But what the Bills did well this
Speaker 2: past week was run the ball, and Josh Allen was
Speaker 2: their leading rushers and he had two rushing touchdowns. So
Speaker 2: I think Lamar is going to have to step up
Speaker 2: with his legs because that has been the weakness of
Speaker 2: the Chiefs all year against and Chris Jones immediately after
Speaker 2: the Bills game was like, we are about to play
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson. We need to figure out a way to
Speaker 2: stop the run and stop rushing quarterbacks. Good luck, because
Speaker 2: I think the only quarterback better at running the ball
Speaker 2: than Josh Allen is Lamar Jackson. And it's only gonna
Speaker 2: get harder for you this week. So I think he
Speaker 2: can be aggressive, but I think he's his legs need
Speaker 2: to open up for his arm.
Speaker 1: If that makes sense, No, I think so. But I
Speaker 1: think I think the Chiefs have to be situationally aggressive, right.
Speaker 1: This can't just be We're going to bring pressure all
Speaker 1: the time because it's going to kill you in the
Speaker 1: long run. And I think the issue is what Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: what Lamar Jackson do, what Jalen Hurts does is that
Speaker 1: they force you to play and this is not new.
Speaker 1: I'm not breaking any ground here, but they force you
Speaker 1: to play eleven on eleven right, because they they can
Speaker 1: take off and run. And so do you devote a
Speaker 1: linebacker or someone or safety to spying on Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: to make sure he stays in the pocket? And does
Speaker 1: that mean you're taking away from Look Mark Andrews is
Speaker 1: likely to be back this week? Right? If you are,
Speaker 1: if you are using assets, if you are using players
Speaker 1: to spy Lamar Jackson, does that mean that you are
Speaker 1: using less to make sure Mark Andrews is in check
Speaker 1: or Zay Flowers or Rashad Bateman or anybody like that.
Speaker 1: That becomes the issue with Lamar Jackson. Now, Spignola has
Speaker 1: been great at this all year long. I would imagine
Speaker 1: they are working on sort of creative ways to try
Speaker 1: and keep Lamar in the pocket. But you know, is
Speaker 1: that going to be enough? And so I think it's
Speaker 1: it can't just be just all out aggression. It's got
Speaker 1: to be sort of a controlled aggression this week against Lamar.
Speaker 1: It gets us to a couple of more or lesses
Speaker 1: for the week. Let's do passing yards for Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: more or less than two hundred and forty one and
Speaker 1: a half passing yards for Mahomes this week.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say more because I think this will
Speaker 2: be a close, competitive game that comes down to the wire.
Speaker 2: And if it's going to be that, I think most
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna come in. It's not going to
Speaker 2: be the flashy like Mahomes is putting on a show.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a grinded out It's going to
Speaker 2: be ugly at times. I expect a lot of passes
Speaker 2: to Isaiah Pacheco, who has been getting more and more
Speaker 2: involved as a pass catcher. I think Travis Kelcey steps up.
Speaker 1: In this game.
Speaker 2: One one of their guys is gonna have to win
Speaker 2: deep at some point. But again, I don't think it'll
Speaker 2: be pretty. But I think at the end of.
Speaker 1: The day he'll top this number. I'm gonna say less.
Speaker 1: I you know, I don't know. I just have this
Speaker 1: feeling that he's at you know, two twenty five to thirty, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a touchdown or two, and if they win,
Speaker 1: it will be just enough. It'll be because the defense
Speaker 1: does just enough and that they maybe get a good
Speaker 1: game out of Isaiah Pachecko running the football some and
Speaker 1: look I think a good game out of Pacheco running
Speaker 1: the football is like ninety yards, right, Like, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think you're gonna see Pacheco like over one
Speaker 1: hundred or anything like that. I just don't know that
Speaker 1: a big passing game is coming for Mahomes. But I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I think it's going to be a gritty, gutty,
Speaker 1: just kind of battle through sort of game for him.
Speaker 1: But I don't. I don't know that I would. I
Speaker 1: would go less on this one for Mahomes more or less.
Speaker 1: After we just talked about Lamar Jackson sixty three and
Speaker 1: a half rushing yards for Lamar more Allen had seventy
Speaker 1: two last week.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if Lamar tops that number because,
Speaker 2: like I said, like there's going to be running lanes
Speaker 2: up the middle out wide because the weakness again the Chiefs,
Speaker 2: you can run on them all year long. And it
Speaker 2: wasn't just like a last week thing that this has
Speaker 2: been an issue for them. Chris Jones immediately identified it
Speaker 2: as an issue they need to clean up. I don't
Speaker 2: think you could fix a season long problem in six
Speaker 2: days when you're facing the best rushing quarterback probably in
Speaker 2: the history of the NFL, and this scary part about
Speaker 2: Lamar And I don't know.
Speaker 1: If you feel this way, Marcus.
Speaker 2: Even watching when he runs and all the stuff that
Speaker 2: he does, I'm like, he's running at seventy five percent speed,
Speaker 2: Like he never fully turns the jets on. This could
Speaker 2: be a week, and I think it should be a
Speaker 2: week where you leave because I think he runs that
Speaker 2: way to be more unto control and to try to
Speaker 2: avoid injury. You leave it all on the field this week,
Speaker 2: and if he turns those jets on, he could get
Speaker 2: close to that number in one long run. So I'm
Speaker 2: definitely taking more than that number.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely taking more. I'm taking more simply for the
Speaker 1: fact that Lamar Jackson in his playoff career has averaged
Speaker 1: more than ninety three rushing yards per game. That has
Speaker 1: been the average so far for him in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So just on that reason alone, I'm going to take
Speaker 1: more because you mentioned it. I think what has made
Speaker 1: the passing game more effective in Baltimore has been Lamar
Speaker 1: running the football and just kind of forcing those linebackers
Speaker 1: in safeties to freeze a little bit more to make
Speaker 1: sure that he's going to stay in the pocket and
Speaker 1: that opens some things up there. So I think for
Speaker 1: Baltimore to win, he's got to go for more than
Speaker 1: sixty three and a half. So I'm gonna take more there.
Speaker 1: All Right, we'll do our picks at the end of
Speaker 1: the show, but let's take a look at the Lions
Speaker 1: and the forty nine Ers. The Lions very much. I
Speaker 1: think America's sentimental favorite here, even if they're not the
Speaker 1: favorite in the desert for this one six thirty Eastern
Speaker 1: on Fox. You can see that one on Sunday. Jared
Speaker 1: Goff has been really good this year. Fred Warner is
Speaker 1: saying that, you know, he's one of the best quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the league right now, but he's a guy who
Speaker 1: sort of has problems when he is faced with pressure.
Speaker 1: So he's got this forty nine Ers pass rush to
Speaker 1: deal with. Jared Goff against the Niner pass rush. Who
Speaker 1: you got forty.
Speaker 2: Nine Ers pass rush. Let's remember too, that the game
Speaker 2: is being played outdoors in San Francisco when and Jared
Speaker 2: Goff is famously an indoor cat, and that's we talked
Speaker 2: about that a lot this year, Like it's not just
Speaker 2: necessarily him going on the road, it's him playing outdoors
Speaker 2: as well on the road. That is really when he
Speaker 2: tends to struggle. And again it's not even just the
Speaker 2: pass rush, it's that the fact that the forty nine
Speaker 2: ers secondary has been playing so well as of late ward,
Speaker 2: especially that I think they'll force Jared Goff to have
Speaker 2: to hold the ball a second longer. And if you're
Speaker 2: giving this pass rush an extra second, I think they're gonna.
Speaker 1: Get home a decent amount. I want to say the
Speaker 1: Niners pass rush, and I will, but with an asterisk
Speaker 1: is that they have had some games where they have
Speaker 1: sort of had issues. They didn't really give Jordan Love
Speaker 1: a lot of problems last week against the against the Packers.
Speaker 1: There have been times and stretches this week where Nick
Speaker 1: Bosa has been invisible for a long stretch. So, you know,
Speaker 1: I think in the end, I think over the course
Speaker 1: of four quarters, I think they finally start to get home.
Speaker 1: But I would not be surprised if you see Goff
Speaker 1: early on really take some shots and really make some
Speaker 1: plays in this game, and maybe over the course of
Speaker 1: four quarters they start to wear down that offensive line
Speaker 1: and then start to make some plays there. But I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a long day for the
Speaker 1: Niner pass rush. I also wonder you mentioned him being
Speaker 1: an outdoor cat, right like, outdoor cat versus being back
Speaker 1: home sort of in the Bay Area, right like. I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know how much time he's gonna get
Speaker 1: to spend with the fam. He's gonna go home and
Speaker 1: have a home cooked meal. I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: gonna happen for him, but you know, he's gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot of friends and family. I'm sure in the
Speaker 1: building there in Santa Clara. It's not that far of
Speaker 1: a drive from where he grew up in Marin County.
Speaker 1: So what weighs out Is it Jared Goff being outdoors
Speaker 1: on the road, or is it you know, maybe he
Speaker 1: got to eat in his favorite spot one day while
Speaker 1: he was in town. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm sure that warm's his soul, but I'm gonna go
Speaker 2: with the outdoor facts. But you, as a forty nine
Speaker 2: Ers fan, how much do you think experience comes into
Speaker 2: this Because you guys have been here it feels like yearly,
Speaker 2: whereas Jared Goff I think is the only one and CJ.
Speaker 2: Gardner Johnson who have gone this far.
Speaker 1: I think there's a little bit of experience. But I
Speaker 1: also think that for the Niners, there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of pressure here because this team has gotten to this
Speaker 1: point a number of years in a row. They have
Speaker 1: been to the Super Bowl a couple of times, and
Speaker 1: they haven't closed the deal. I think last week, coming
Speaker 1: back from being down seven at the start of the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, I mean, famously they were over with Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan in that situation. They came back and got to win.
Speaker 1: I think that is sort of a mental boost for
Speaker 1: this team. But I do think that as long as
Speaker 1: they are in this position, knowing that the window's not
Speaker 1: going to be open forever, that this is a really,
Speaker 1: really good team. I think there's a little bit of
Speaker 1: pressure there, you know, And if something sort of sideways happens,
Speaker 1: I mean, look, everybody thought they had a chance last year.
Speaker 1: Brock Perty gets hurt early in that game and it
Speaker 1: all fell apart for the forty nine ers, and so
Speaker 1: I think, you know, if they can get through the
Speaker 1: early part of the game has some success, I think
Speaker 1: they'll feel better about it. But I do think there's
Speaker 1: some pressure on the forty nine er side. I think
Speaker 1: if I'm the Lions, what do I have to lose,
Speaker 1: Like nobody really expected us to be here in the
Speaker 1: first place. We're playing with house money, so I think
Speaker 1: I think for the Lions it's easier to come in
Speaker 1: and be loose in this situation.
Speaker 2: I agree with you on the Lions mindset. For the
Speaker 2: forty nine ers, it kind of feels like like, if
Speaker 2: you wanted us eliminated, you should have did it last.
Speaker 1: Week when you had the chance. Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: that's probably fair. So we'll see. But you know, on
Speaker 1: the other side, though, you talk about the Niners, Deebo
Speaker 1: was at practice per our own omar rou He was
Speaker 1: in practice on Wednesday, kind of working out on the side,
Speaker 1: So there is hope that he can play despite the
Speaker 1: shoulder injury. But if he doesn't play, cam the Niners win.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it would be a huge boost to
Speaker 2: have Deebo. That that's not no groundbreaking analysis there, Like
Speaker 2: he's their best playmaker outside of Christian McCaffrey, and he
Speaker 2: always becomes wolverine this time of year, Like every time
Speaker 2: he goes down it looks like it's he's not getting
Speaker 2: back up, and he somehow does. But this the Lions defense,
Speaker 2: their weakness has been against wide receivers, so naturally you
Speaker 2: want Deebo out there, but I still think Brendan a
Speaker 2: you could do enough to step up. Jennings has been
Speaker 2: playing really well. They have George Kittle, they have Christian McCaffrey.
Speaker 2: If there's any team that is built, and I know
Speaker 2: in the regular season it was like, oh, well they're
Speaker 2: losing without Deebo. They were also missing Trent Williams.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like that might be even more important than Deebo Samuels.
Speaker 2: So while obviously him playing would be a huge boost,
Speaker 2: I still because of the matchup, they can be productive
Speaker 2: enough at the wide receiver position to get it done.
Speaker 1: That's honestly why my Galaxy brain idea is that Trent
Speaker 1: Williams should be the NFL MVP, because you know, everybody, yeah,
Speaker 1: everybody's trying to shoehorn Brock Purty into it and talk
Speaker 1: about Christian McCaffrey. But when they went through that three
Speaker 1: game losing streak in the middle of the season, Trent
Speaker 1: Williams was maybe the biggest piece that was missing there,
Speaker 1: and like the biggest reason that perty was under pressure
Speaker 1: and throwing interceptions. So I'm like, look, if we're gonna
Speaker 1: say brock Purty is the MVP, then what about the
Speaker 1: guy who's been protecting him and allowing him time to
Speaker 1: make plays in the pocket. Maybe he should be the MVP.
Speaker 2: But what in a literal sense, he was the biggest
Speaker 2: piece missing, literally was the biggest piece missing.
Speaker 1: Without a doubt. You talk about though, Deebo, Samuel and
Speaker 1: I have a feeling this could be a Brandon Ayuk game.
Speaker 1: Regardless he does well against man coverage. The Lions are
Speaker 1: a heavy man coverage team. I think this is a
Speaker 1: situation where they use him a lot. Now, if Deebo
Speaker 1: isn't there, I think that does mean some more opportunities
Speaker 1: in the intermediate part of the field. I think you're
Speaker 1: gonna see if you can somehow fit more targets into
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey. You see those, I think you see George
Speaker 1: Kittle sort of running some of those routes. I think
Speaker 1: you see Rey Ray McLeod even getting involved a little
Speaker 1: bit more running some of those routes. It will be
Speaker 1: it won't be one person that picks up the slack
Speaker 1: if Deebo doesn't go. But I still think there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a heavy dose of Brandon Ayuk in this game
Speaker 1: and maybe even a little Juwan Jennings to try to
Speaker 1: get over the top of this defense a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think the Niners offense is going to look better
Speaker 1: this week than it did last week. I think you
Speaker 1: had guys hadn't played in a couple of weeks. I
Speaker 1: just think you sort of had the rust a little
Speaker 1: bit of having some time off. You had a packer
Speaker 1: team that was red hot, had been in playoff mode
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks. I think it's like it's
Speaker 1: like the NC two a tournament, right where you get
Speaker 1: eighteen that's a high seed, and maybe they struggle in
Speaker 1: their first game out and everybody worries about them, and
Speaker 1: then they come out the next week and they sort
Speaker 1: of roll and everybody's like, Oh, this is this is
Speaker 1: what we were expecting. I kind of have that feeling
Speaker 1: with the forty nine ers offense, and after what we
Speaker 1: saw last week, they sort of shook it off. They
Speaker 1: got they got done what they needed to get done.
Speaker 1: I think the best analogy I heard is that the
Speaker 1: Niners last week were like a star pitcher, you know,
Speaker 1: in the playoffs or in the regular season where it's
Speaker 1: a big game and they don't have their best stuff
Speaker 1: and they figure out a way just to gut it
Speaker 1: out and get to win. And that's kind of what
Speaker 1: perty in that offense looked like last week. I think
Speaker 1: they're better this week. Let's do some more or less
Speaker 1: for this one too. Seven and a half catches for
Speaker 1: Amon Ross Saint Brown more or less.
Speaker 2: This is one where I could see the logic for
Speaker 2: going less. I'm gonna say more though, because the forty
Speaker 2: nine ers are great against the run. They can especially,
Speaker 2: I think they'll have their hands full with Gibbs. I
Speaker 2: could see them having better success against Montgomery, who doesn't
Speaker 2: have as much speed. But I think this will be
Speaker 2: a game where than not have a lead, and that
Speaker 2: means a lot of throwing for the Lions in the
Speaker 2: second half. And I think they're gonna force feed their
Speaker 2: number one wide receiver, And you look at the rest
Speaker 2: of their passt like Sam Laporta is awesome, but he's
Speaker 2: clearly still playing banged up right now. And outside of that,
Speaker 2: it's like we have Gibbs and there's wide receivers there
Speaker 2: who can make plays, but there's no one anywhere close
Speaker 2: to what Aman Ross Saint Brown is. So I expect
Speaker 2: them to come out and force feed him the ball
Speaker 2: early on in all game long, and I think I
Speaker 2: think him having a big game has to be a
Speaker 2: huge recipe of success for the Lions. So I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go with my heart and say more.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be more because they can't win without him
Speaker 1: having a really good game this week. So I do
Speaker 1: think they try to get him involved early and often,
Speaker 1: and at some point the Niners do have to decide
Speaker 1: is it going to be Saint Brown is it going
Speaker 1: to be Sam Laporta? Which guy gets a lot of
Speaker 1: that attention in the middle of the field. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: think the battle between say like Fred Warner and Sam
Speaker 1: Laporta is gonna be really really interesting with you know,
Speaker 1: if they have Warner or green Law trying to cover
Speaker 1: Laporta is going to be really kind of fun. But
Speaker 1: I still think that means you're gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: of Saint Brown in the middle of the field. And again,
Speaker 1: if the Niners can't get to golf early, I think
Speaker 1: you see I'm on rajet going early in this game.
Speaker 1: I would say nine to ten catches wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: surprise for me for Saint Brown this week on either side.
Speaker 1: More or less one and a half total touchdowns for
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey.
Speaker 2: Right now, I'm gonna say more, but my answer might
Speaker 2: change if Deebo suits up, because I'm not sure CMC
Speaker 2: is gonna get a whole bunch of opportunity on the
Speaker 2: ground near the goal line, and if Deebo plays, he
Speaker 2: could steal it one away. But I think in the past,
Speaker 2: like when they're if it's first and goal or second
Speaker 2: in goal, something like like goal to go and brendon
Speaker 2: and you can't win twenty yards downfield, I think that's
Speaker 2: when they're gonna be like, all right, it seems see,
Speaker 2: we need you to step up here and we're gonna
Speaker 2: give you four opportunities or something like that to pun in.
Speaker 2: So this is one I went kind of back and
Speaker 2: forth on because the lie I really do respect the
Speaker 2: lines run defense and what they've been able to do.
Speaker 2: But Christian McCaffrey is the best running back walking the planet,
Speaker 2: and he could also be used as like their wide
Speaker 2: receiver two in this game with the amount of targets
Speaker 2: he could get. So I'll take the over on volume.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say yeah, I'm gonna say over. I'm saying
Speaker 1: more just because I think one's rushing, one's receiving. That's
Speaker 1: because they do use him so much near the goal line.
Speaker 1: There's so many, so many chances for him to get
Speaker 1: his hands on the football. And again, if Deebo doesn't play,
Speaker 1: if Debo plays and is less than one hundred percent,
Speaker 1: I just think that means more short targets for McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: more chances to get out in space and score. So
Speaker 1: I think he goes with more than one and a
Speaker 1: half touchdowns there. If you are playing daily fantasy, which
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of you out there are, we
Speaker 1: decided to pick get to some value picks. I know
Speaker 1: it's hard this time because there's only four teams playing.
Speaker 1: There's not a ton of value. But where did you
Speaker 1: find some guys that maybe give you some flexibility?
Speaker 2: At Justice Hill at forty eight hundred, I was a
Speaker 2: little bit surprised with how much Justin Hill we saw
Speaker 2: this past week. And I'm a little bit concerned if
Speaker 2: we're going to get more Dalvin Cook this week. But
Speaker 2: Hill was the most utilized Ravens running back. And keep
Speaker 2: saying it the weakness of the Chiefs is against the
Speaker 2: run game. So I think Baltimore. With that being one
Speaker 2: of their biggest strengths, I think they are going to try,
Speaker 2: especially early on, to establish the run. So at just
Speaker 2: forty eight hundred, he felt like a pretty good bargain there.
Speaker 2: And then brock Purty sixty four hundred. Not super cheap,
Speaker 2: but he's cheaper than Lamar, He's cheaper than Mahomes, and
Speaker 2: I think he could have the best game of any
Speaker 2: quarterback outside of maybe Lamar fantasy wise because what he
Speaker 2: does with his legs. But you got a huge discount.
Speaker 2: I expect a lot of passing for brock Purty Marcus.
Speaker 2: My bold prediction this week was brock Purty throws for
Speaker 2: three hundred and three Agassi secondary that has struggled this year,
Speaker 2: So I know it's bold, but it's more so trusting
Speaker 2: Shanahan and those playmakers that the Niners have.
Speaker 1: All Right, So I'm gonna go with George Kittle at
Speaker 1: fifty three hundred, which I know sounds sort of wild,
Speaker 1: but he is of the four starting tight ends, he
Speaker 1: is the one who's sort of the best pride. I mean,
Speaker 1: you got Mark Andrews, I think comes in at five thousand,
Speaker 1: but you know, I don't know if we see the
Speaker 1: full Mark Andrews like we would have if he was
Speaker 1: fully healthy. I think you still see some Isaiah likely
Speaker 1: So I think you know, getting Kittle in there's your
Speaker 1: tight end. It gives you the upside without maybe paying
Speaker 1: that Travis Kelce type price or the Sam Laporter price
Speaker 1: for him. And the other one is Juwan Jennings because
Speaker 1: I mentioned that he is a guy who is an
Speaker 1: occasional playmaker for this team. He will get targets on
Speaker 1: critical third downs. He has made some big catches, and
Speaker 1: if there is no debo or a limited debo, I
Speaker 1: think that means more opportunity for him to run routes
Speaker 1: and more chances to get some targets down on the field.
Speaker 1: At forty six hundred, he could potentially be a lower
Speaker 1: end wide receiver, maybe a flex play for you if
Speaker 1: that's what you want to do in your lineup. So
Speaker 1: that aside, how did you build a lineup for this weekend?
Speaker 2: I used Brock Perdy at quarterback Isaiah Pacheco because, like
Speaker 2: I said earlier, I think they're gonna throw the ball
Speaker 2: to him a good amount.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get the bulk of carries there.
Speaker 2: Justice Hill, who I think is a good bargain, and
Speaker 2: getting him allowed me to pay up for aman Ros
Speaker 2: Saint Brown, who both of us think is going.
Speaker 1: To be heavily, heavily involved this week.
Speaker 2: I got Brandon Ayuk, who, like you said, I think
Speaker 2: with or without Deebo, he can eat this week, especially
Speaker 2: as the field stretcher there, and I get that stack.
Speaker 2: Then between Purdy and Ayuk, I needed some money to
Speaker 2: save here, so I'm with Jamison Williams, who I know
Speaker 2: his volume hasn't been great as of late, but he's
Speaker 2: impressed me with the fact that he's not just streaking
Speaker 2: down the sideline anymore.
Speaker 1: He's actually running routes.
Speaker 2: And if this is a game where they're trailing basically
Speaker 2: thirty seven hundred, you're hoping that he catches one of
Speaker 2: those long balls. And then Travis Kelce, who I think
Speaker 2: is going to step up and be very, very utilized
Speaker 2: in this game. The one pick I was considering changing
Speaker 2: was Odell Beckham because this morning I saw how they
Speaker 2: were using their wide receivers in Baltimore in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: and Odell's kind of been the odd man out, so
Speaker 2: I might change that pick up a bit. And then
Speaker 2: Lions defense because they are the cheapest, and it allowed
Speaker 2: me to pay up some other places. But if I
Speaker 2: dropped down from Beckham, I could potentially improve that defense.
Speaker 1: All right. So I went with you Like You, with
Speaker 1: Brock Purdy as my quarterback there because give me a
Speaker 1: little bit of flexibility. Also because I wild admit I
Speaker 1: went very forty nine or heavy in this lineup here,
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey, I was able to fit in at the
Speaker 1: number one running back spot. I did go Justice Hill because,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, I mean, he got a lot of
Speaker 1: work last week and is more likely to get work
Speaker 1: in the passing game if it comes to that, certainly
Speaker 1: more than Gus Edwards or Dalvin Cook a couple of
Speaker 1: Niners wide receivers. When Brandon Ayuk and Juwan Jinnings able
Speaker 1: to get them both in. I did go Nelson Agalore
Speaker 1: because it just seems like he pops up out of
Speaker 1: nowhere catching a touchdown. Every once in a while we
Speaker 1: get the meme of the guy with the bug eyes
Speaker 1: talking about catching babies and that sort of thing. So
Speaker 1: I got Agalore in there. Able to get George Kittle
Speaker 1: at my tight end my flex I went with David
Speaker 1: Montgomery because my bold prediction is that he is the
Speaker 1: first player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game
Speaker 1: against the forty nine Ers. This season, no one's had
Speaker 1: more than one in a game. I will also admit
Speaker 1: that maybe it's a little bit of a reverse jinx.
Speaker 1: All of my bold predictions this year have been pretty awful,
Speaker 1: so now I'm just taking the opportunity to try and
Speaker 1: reverse jinks to teams that are playing San Francisco late
Speaker 1: in the season. And then as a defense, I took
Speaker 1: the Ravens. I just think they are maybe the best
Speaker 1: defense here. The Chiefs, weird to say, maybe the worst
Speaker 1: of the four offenses. So I put the raven It's
Speaker 1: by degrees, right, Like, I'm not sitting here saying the
Speaker 1: Chiefs very bad offense, but by degrees they are the
Speaker 1: worst of the four remaining offenses. So that is who
Speaker 1: I took defensively, So that gets us to our pick.
Speaker 1: So tell me who will be playing in Super Bowl
Speaker 1: fifty eight in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: The forty nine Ers, I think are the team that
Speaker 2: I feel most confident in making it. I think that
Speaker 2: the lines are a great story, that they've gone further
Speaker 2: than I think a lot of people thought, but on
Speaker 2: the road against what I would say is easily the
Speaker 2: best team in the NFC. I think the forty nine
Speaker 2: ers get the job done.
Speaker 1: In the AFC.
Speaker 2: My brain and logic and all of that is telling
Speaker 2: me to pick Baltimore. I think they are the best
Speaker 2: team in football. I think their defense is one of
Speaker 2: the best. Like I think their defense is extremely underrated
Speaker 2: because we don't put them up with We haven't all
Speaker 2: year talked about them being one of the best defenses
Speaker 2: we've seen in a very long time, but they were
Speaker 2: historically good this season. That being said, I'm going with
Speaker 2: the Chiefs because it seems like they figured something out
Speaker 2: these last few weeks. It's Chrick Mahomes and the playoffs
Speaker 2: truly is a completely different beast.
Speaker 1: Travis kelce looks like Travis Kelcey again.
Speaker 2: Pacheco's running really well, this defense is really good, and
Speaker 2: they could force some turnovers. I'm kind of buying into
Speaker 2: the narrative that the Chiefs might look very different next year.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if this.
Speaker 2: Is I'm not saying this is their last dance season,
Speaker 2: but there it could be for some of their key people.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna go against logic and say that Patrick
Speaker 2: Mahomes defies the odds once again.
Speaker 1: I was sort of torn. So I'm just gonna tell
Speaker 1: you that I'm picking the forty nine ers in the NFC.
Speaker 1: I think both with my heart and with my head,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think they are a better
Speaker 1: team top to bottom, and I think they rebound from
Speaker 1: what was admittedly an ugly performance last week against Green Bay.
Speaker 1: I think they bounced back, and I think I think
Speaker 1: they just have too much for Detroit on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball. On the other side, though, because the
Speaker 1: last two Super Bowl appearances the Niners had, they've lost
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs and they've lost to the Ravens, So
Speaker 1: I don't really know which team I want to see
Speaker 1: them face the most. I think I think that I
Speaker 1: think Baltimore is the more complete of the two teams. Defensively,
Speaker 1: they are amazing. Offensively, we know what Lamar Jackson can do.
Speaker 1: Their pass catchers, I think are good enough getting Mark
Speaker 1: Andrews back at the right time, and I think they
Speaker 1: will have just enough to get by what I think
Speaker 1: is going to be really entertaining, really fun game, So
Speaker 1: it won't be Harball v Harball this time. Around. But
Speaker 1: I do think we're gonna see the Ravens and the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers back in the Super Bowl again, and
Speaker 1: hopefully this time there's no big power outage early in
Speaker 1: the second half to a delay the game for like
Speaker 1: half an hour or whatever it was that happened in
Speaker 1: New Orleans, and then none of the.
Speaker 2: Conspiracy theories of like they did that to make it
Speaker 2: a game, yeah, man, because the Niners started to come
Speaker 2: back after that, or the Ravens came back and after that.
Speaker 1: Right, I don't remember I locked that. I was gonna
Speaker 1: trust your beard, ya, I mean, I blocked that game.
Speaker 1: I blocked that game out. I just remember three freak
Speaker 1: looking fades to Michael Crabtree in the corner of the
Speaker 1: end zone to end it. That's all I remember. That's all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that was about the time. Was that before or
Speaker 1: after the Richard Sherman exchange. That would have been after,
Speaker 1: I believe after the Richard Sherman yelling at Aaron Andrews thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I'm all four coaches going for it and
Speaker 2: being aggressive and stuff. But the fade isn't the play.
Speaker 2: You do that one time, try to catch them off guard.
Speaker 2: After that, let's let's do something else.
Speaker 1: That was a Greg Roman offense. By the way, just
Speaker 1: putting that out there, that's all I'm saying. Anyway, enough
Speaker 1: of that. That is our look at the championship weekend.
Speaker 1: For sure, it should be a lot of fun. We'll
Speaker 1: be back next week to kind of talk about what happened.
Speaker 1: We'll diving some other things. We'll talk about some awards
Speaker 1: finalists too. I'm probably getting some of these coaches changes
Speaker 1: as well. We'll find things to occupy our time and
Speaker 1: your time with as well. Hopefully it's entertaining. But that'll
Speaker 1: do it for this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.
Speaker 1: A happy, safe, and healthy, do good, and live well.
Speaker 1: Enjoy Championship weekend everybody, and we'll talk to you next week.