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I can be your hero, baby
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I can kiss away the pain
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsors
00:00:01
Speaker
Good evening, League of Hard Knocks. This is week twelve episode of Stone by Cornbread, an official League of Hard k Knocks podcast. We are brought to you tonight by our presenting sponsors, River Ridge CPAs and Ryan Construction. Got a great show for you guys tonight. No guest, we'll get to that later, but we've got Some fun segments that I won't tease just yet in a little week that was in a big, big J report coming live from the scene. Let's get into it.
00:01:06
Speaker
Episode 12, Stoned by Cornbread.
Hosts' Personal Life and Interests
00:01:08
Speaker
I'm Blake. I also work on this show in between my day job. James, how how's the day job going? I see you repping the Tito's merch tonight. How's work? dave Yeah, day job is ah great. ah Great season for the wine business. Things are very hectic, but yet I found some time to get out on the golf course today, took some clients out, swiped the company card, shot a 76.
00:01:36
Speaker
took all the Skins money. So I'm having a great day. How's your work going? ah work Work is good. Work is good. Busy sales in Q4. Always a little bit crazy. And it's a mixture of people that want to spend the remaining budget they have for the rest of the year. And the other side of it is people that realize they're out of money and don't want to buy until January. And then you have to go until, in my situation, my VP that Just kidding. That deal we committed isn't coming through because the company we're working with ran out of money. But other than that, I'm great. Still prepping for, uh, the baby, which is getting ever so closer. We're not in the third trimester, which is pretty scary. Still accepting all dad advice from the league. I will highlight that. And, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm feeling good. I went to, I went to see a band I really enjoy last night, um, at the Fox theater in Atlanta a band called King Gizzard and the lizard wizard.
00:02:31
Speaker
And, uh, they brought the house down. It was awesome. Don't know. Uh, don't know if anyone in the league is familiar with them. Probably not. But if you aren't and you're really bored and you want to look up some great music, say, uh, it's a band out of Australia. King gizzard in the lizard wizard. I'll probably pay him. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I'd love to hear him. Sounds like a very Blake band. Yeah. Well.
00:02:59
Speaker
They sold out to Fox in Atlanta, which is it is an awesome feat for for any band. It's the same venue. And AJ's been there with me before, where widespread panic always plays New Year's for three nights in a row. I actually went there with AJ and Al. It was quite an epic night. We ended up back at a bar where AJ dropped a full beer and a glass, a glass glass, and shattered it on the floor. And we kind of got kicked out of that bar. But that's a whole nother story from a whole nother time.
League Strategies and Current Standings
00:03:27
Speaker
ah I know the Cougar is way beyond those years. Well, he still got it in his playbook. Yeah. Speaking of playbooks, ah yes, I was attempting to stir the pot earlier. I've been trying to call it out every time I stir the pot. just Just for the people that have discovered my playbook, I want to make sure that they know that I'm calling it out now when I'm using the playbook, which which is kind of like my, it's kind of like my attempt at a Gus Malzahn offense.
00:03:58
Speaker
It's like, Hey, guess what? You know, that it's either going to be a read option or a bubble screen, but I'm going to do it anyways. And that's kind of my approach to stirring the pot now. Like I'll just, I'll just admit, yes. Hello. I'm running the playbook. I'm stirring the pot and and then proceed to run a bubble screen. I'm still going to stir the pot. Speaking of stirring the pot, the pot has been stirred. Three teams have now clinched the playoffs. There's three X's.
00:04:29
Speaker
for clinched and there's one still, still just one E for eliminated three Xs, one E the E is the Amish one in 10, one in 10 could be the worst season in LHK history. Self-admittedly, the historian himself has said in the current league format with the current league members, this is the worst season on record. He's, he has a 0.091 win percentage.
00:04:59
Speaker
which I kind of like it broken down like that better than just one in 10. He's, he's under the 100 line. James, what's your take on the standings right now as it sits and you can't talk about yourself. We know you're up top at nine and two with the X next to your name. You've clinched the playoffs. You're, you're seeking that first round matchup, I guess against, against the fourth place team. So your, your opponent is TBD.
00:05:27
Speaker
And I realized that, that Will and Larry could still finish in first, but I'm curious to get your take, how you're feeling. It's got to be a great feeling to be in the clubhouse essentially. Oh yeah. I mean, Monday night was electric. Joe mixing with an absolute hero performance 33 in the face of a Nico, even the defense score to touchdown. I hit my parlay.
00:05:52
Speaker
It was a great start to my week and that's, you know, Monday night football can make or break your week. I did think I had a good draft. I did call out and had a good take that Will and Larry also had good drafts. So that that take is aging really well.
00:06:10
Speaker
But the job's not finished. I'd love to get some regular season money. But I've got my eyes on the prize. I've done it three times now. And that's what we're focused on. When I look at the rest of the standings, it is really fascinating. We've got some some little groupings going on. But first, I want to call out Rob. This 10 game losing streak is incredible. I don't think it'll ever happen again unless we have someone on their way out of the league.
00:06:39
Speaker
that just shuts down, like Andrew might leave the signal and then just never touch his fantasy app again, like he threatens.
Fantasy Matchups and Playoff Projections
00:06:48
Speaker
I don't think we're going to see a 10 game losing streak until something like that happens. This has been going on for over two months, Rob. That is wild. I mean, yeah, it's 10 weeks. That's a long time. We were approaching three months. That's a long, a really long time. And so we've got our groupings now. We've got the three clinchers.
00:07:10
Speaker
three teams still with playoff hopes. And we also have four other teams that are clenching their buttholes facing the shame offs. And it's just a great bottom four right now. Bommie is telling himself he has a chance. He does not. His team's underperformed all year. He's had a couple of gritty wins and he he likes his three so number one wide receivers, but I'll get to that later.
00:07:39
Speaker
wide receivers are not performing like they have been. And Bomby's kind of got caught with his pants down. So it's going to be an exciting finish two weeks left in the regular season. And me and the clinchers are just going to watch it all play out and laugh, I guess. I mean, it's, it is exciting. We have, we have a mini playoff for this fourth position.
00:08:03
Speaker
and and the failure to make that fourth spot, the margin for error is so small, you could go in one big play, you can make the swing from playoff bound to shame off bound. That's how that how tight this last spot is, and how easy it is to slip into the bottom four. Because currently, and we have to call it out, like Going into this week, it is about the match-ups. And we're we're not gonna do a full week preview on tonight's episode, but we are heading into week 12. There's only two weeks remaining in the regular season of fantasy, and there's three five and six teams. They're all in the wheelhouse for that fourth spot, but theoretically and mathematically, the chef isn't eliminated, although ESPN only gives him a 2% chance to make the playoffs.
00:09:02
Speaker
The Rhino's not eliminated. yeah ESPN gives him a 14% chance to make the playoffs. Bami is not eliminated. He has a 5% chance to make the playoffs. And yes, even the old man, AJ, 1% chance per ESPN to make the playoffs. A lot of things have to go their way. But I don't know if ESPN is truly calculating the most important metric is that although Bami has struggled,
00:09:30
Speaker
He's playing the Amish this week on a 10 game losing streak. And yes, Bobby's team is so bad that the Amish are favored just based on ESPN projections, but, uh, the Amish going in minus minus two. And to the weekend find that interesting. So that's, that's good for balmy rhino at five and six plays the old men.
00:09:56
Speaker
So loser that games out. So that's a playoff game within the playoffs or before the playoffs. Have you want to phrase it? Uh, the chef plays the bandwagoner in a very, very interesting matchup. So that can even either seal the chef's fate as a bottom four team or knock the bandwagoner out of the playoffs entirely, depending on how results go.
00:10:20
Speaker
And then the matchup of the weekend that might not be a match of it all, I timed my bye week absolutely terribly. I have Breece Hall on bye, Josh Allen on bye. I have four bye players. I'm playing a buzzsaw that is a team who has no name and he's currently projected to beat me by 20.
00:10:42
Speaker
It's very, very, very interesting to match up side of things. And I don't think ESPN's math has done the stats on it. I'm walking into a buzz saw. The other five and six teams have layups. So figured I'd highlight that because week 12, either way week 13 is going to be electric, but week 12 could be very, very decisive. I still have a very high shot at being in this bottom four.
00:11:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's frightening. Your points four is going to work well for you and tiebreakers, as we all know. And maybe that's the only thing you can really hold onto right now. It doesn't sound super positive over there. I got the Amish in week 13. I got the Amish in week 13. So I mean, worst case scenario, I will have that to fall back on. But maybe with the healthy, maybe with a healthy Pacheco and a healthy McCaffrey. So maybe I'm walking into the buzzsaw.
00:11:41
Speaker
Because i still I still think there's no way Rob gets to the norm with the squad he's assembled. He's just getting all his losses out of the way in the regular season. taking Yeah, and if you're Rob right now, it's hard to get motivated, but you know you and I have both been norms, Blake. When you know you're going to be in the bottom four or the bottom two, however far it dated back, it's fun to play spoiler at the end of the regular season, right? Just ruin people's playoff chances.
00:12:09
Speaker
it's Get up for this, Rob. I don't like, ah oh, I kind of liked angry Rob today, but maybe he is getting spirited again. I want to see more of Rob, and we'll get to that later. Well, Rob, you have to give Rob credit. It's not been for lack of effort. I know our only other one-win team, I believe, was a person who didn't really attempt to play fantasy football. Rob has made 57 moves this season. Sounds like he's a- You've made 24.
00:12:41
Speaker
Is Rob managing his way out of it? I mean, he could be. That's what that's what Will apparently thinks. you know just Just manage through it. Just manage through it, Rob. But Rob's doing a lot more managing than then Will. Will only has 16 moves all year. ah so bit By my rough math, um Rob is managing about four and a half times more than Will, if you consider transactions managing.
00:13:09
Speaker
it's almost ah He's almost at two losses per move that he's making it at a certain metric. That that math isn't math thing, but you know, Rob's.
Top Fantasy Performers Discussion
00:13:24
Speaker
I like that ESPN also has a home and away record. i I still think that's hilarious. I don't know if you ever go into the standings. It's like, okay.
00:13:32
Speaker
We still have home and away match-ups. Some interesting data from the home and away match-ups is that Rob has really struggled at home. He's 0 and 6 at home. But you're 7 and 0 on the road, James. You've also struggled at home. You're 2 and 2 at home. You're 7 and 0 on the road. You're an absolute road warrior this year. Mike Tomlin-esque. He's not intimidated by the away atmosphere at all.
00:14:02
Speaker
I don't know. I always think that's funny and you're in a four game. You're on a, you're in a bit of a heater yourself, but the losers right now are Rhino on a four game skid, Rob on a 10 game skid. Gosh, there's been, uh, there's been, there's been some interesting developments and, and I know we want to get into how this season has played out James, but I'm curious, like going into.
00:14:33
Speaker
the final two weeks. And I don't know if we'll get, I don't know if we'll get a Thanksgiving episode out. So by the next time, by the next time we release a pod, we might have the playoffs completely solidified. I gotta, I gotta ask like, who's your bottom four and who do you have getting that fourth place position? Cause, cause as much as I hate to say it, you're in the most unbiased position right now. I'm in the thick of it. You're sitting at number one and you've clinched.
00:15:02
Speaker
I gotta, I gotta have your prediction. Wow. I mean, it would be very bandwagon or like to choke away this one game lead. Let me pull up the points for, for him real quick. Narrow margin. Ooh. I mean, the rhino could catch him in points four and you're way ahead of him. I'm not just saying this because you're on the pod right now, Blake, but I really think you're gonna weasel your way in there and it's gonna kind of defy logic. And one thing I've noticed in the NBA and what might happen to your team tonight or your matchup this week, let's say Anthony Davis and LeBron are both last minute scratches for the Lakers tomorrow night. They are in Miami, okay?
00:15:57
Speaker
All of a sudden Jimmy Butler says, and it's a Friday, let's call it a Friday night game. Jimmy Butler says, Oh, I saw they're out. I'm, I'm sitting down too. And then you've got a really shitty matchup. And I just see some teams just lay down and they see the big guys go out. And I think it could happen to you this week. So.
00:16:22
Speaker
You are absolutely obliterated by, by weeks. Larry's been on a heater. Like what could possibly go wrong? It's like the Moneyline parlay leg that everyone adds and it never hits. So that's what I would say about your final two weeks playing Larry and then Rob, yeah i mean I'm Vegas's biggest, biggest friend right now. Like all of the, all the public money is hammering Larry.
00:16:51
Speaker
as they should, it's one of the biggest spreads I've seen in fantasy this year. I mean, I'm starting Gus Edwards, I running back. i'm I'm debating between Jared Goff and Bo Nicks for my quarterback. Things are bleak, but what could go wrong for Larry? I mean, he's got Lamar on Monday night, Zae Flowers on Monday night, Lad McConkie on Monday night, JK Dobbins on Monday night.
00:17:19
Speaker
He could have zero points going into Monday night and potentially still beat me, but I like it. I like, I like this role. I like this role. There's nothing to lose. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to feel the guys we got. We're going to feel the guys we got. I got some, I got some heroes on my team, James. Yeah, we all need heroes.
00:17:52
Speaker
Would you dance if I asked you to dance? Oh, the sweet soothing voice of Enrique Iglesias. What a song. Heroes are the theme of tonight's segment. And before we get to our 10 fantasy heroes here, I was trying to do a little stat digging on some guys and some interesting things popped up. There's a lot of talk about kickers today.
00:18:22
Speaker
We have seven kickers averaging 10 points per game or more, okay? You might not have any context for that. Seems a little high. And mind you, these are, there's gonna be some outliers in here, right? These are points per game played. So you could have guys with injuries that go off for a few weeks. There was one kicker in there that had one 13 point game and he's been hurt or whatever.
00:18:52
Speaker
For receivers, there are only 13 receivers this year, averaging 10 or more points per game. So there's a little bit of context. The kickers are catching up to the receivers and points per game scored. But here is the wild stat. There are 27 running backs, averaging 10 or more points per game this year. More than double the receivers.
00:19:18
Speaker
And that's standard format. That's crazy. That is standard format. You could say there is a little shift in the tide of how offenses are deciding to move the football right now in a league where every, every everyone, including myself got very receiver happy over the last few years. And you'll notice, wow you'll notice on this list, it is very running back heavy because that's how the league's played out this year.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, it it is an interesting, this is an interesting statistic because we we added the extra and very controversial flex position, which only allows you to put a wide receiver or a tight end. So a pass catcher into that slot. And a lot of teams like myself, and this might be my fatal flaw this season, decided to utilize all those spots for wide receivers.
00:20:17
Speaker
and and And there's been different strategies that have emerged this year, but i've i've I've gone with a four wide receiver stack most of the season. And it's it's definitely Boomer Bus. It's definitely Boomer Bus. And to your point, like there's not really a good average for receivers because you just don't get any sort of consistency.
00:20:44
Speaker
But the fact that kickers are only, only six players behind, basically there's only six receivers that are more valuable than the top seven kickers is absolutely insane. And there's only 30 kickers. There's only, there's three, sometimes four wide receivers on the field at one time and only one kicker. It's a wild stat. That was a really interesting thing to set the table for our, our list here.
00:21:11
Speaker
And at the end of the list, you'll notice there's one team that is kind of dominating the heroes list. And we'll let our listeners arrive at that conclusion. First one, we'll alternate here, Blake. Lamar Jackson, number one overall fantasy scorer this year. He's been incredible. Several of us have owned him over the years in LHK.
00:21:35
Speaker
I even had him during an MVP season, but it was nothing like this. He looks very comfortable in the Todd Monken offense. He's running effectively, but not getting hurt. He's throwing the ball. Well, it's been an incredible season and a big reason why Larry has clinched for the playoffs.
Team Analysis and Strategies
00:21:58
Speaker
Yeah. Now that, I mean, Larry's got a lot of reasons he's clinched for the playoffs. He's got top 10 talent.
00:22:05
Speaker
top to bottom in his lineup. He's got the best kicker in the league, which you've already stated how important that is. And his kicker is coming off a 24 point performance where he outscored everyone on Larry's team, uh, except for one player. And it's interesting. I mean, you jump back, you jump back in time and, and, and kickers have not always performed this way.
00:22:34
Speaker
But one guy has always performed this way. And that's Derek Henry. And I'm going to throw him. I'm going to put a a helmet sticker, if you will. A hero helmet sticker career for Derek Henry. Slap it on there. Yeah, I'm biased. He's on my team. But he's the number one running back this season. And I don't think anyone. I don't think any fantasy guru. I don't think AJ with his multiple monitors and spreadsheets. I don't think Will with his football acumen. I don't think anyone.
00:23:04
Speaker
thought Derek Henry was going to have the season he's had. And Derek Henry is averaging 19.6 points per game. He's the number one ranked fantasy running back. He's arguably the most important player on the Ravens now, because I think that he's taken the running pressure and the goal line pressure off of Lamar. He's kept Lamar healthy.
00:23:28
Speaker
And so I like putting these two in our first two heroes because I do think they really feed off of each other. I think Lamar has lost a lot of weight over the off season. He dropped her around 15 pounds, he's more nimble, he's faster, but he's also he's also not had to take as many hits. They got they got Derek to pound the rock. As soon as they get inside the 10, you know you can hand the ball off three times and Derek's gonna find his way in the end zone.
00:23:56
Speaker
If anything, they've underutilized him. And that was actually some criticism I saw this week on, on watching NFL live was, you know, the games that they have lost, the games, the Ravens have lost. The only games they've lost is when Derek Henry has under 20 carries. Every single game that Derek Henry has over 20 carries, the Ravens win the football game. Maybe, maybe pound the rock. This guy gets it done. Derek Henry leading all flex players with 13 touchdowns.
00:24:27
Speaker
got to, got to give it up to him. And if I'm going to sneak in the playoffs, it's going to be on the, on the shoulders that man. I don't know why anyone doubted him. Maybe because they think he's old. He's not old. Yeah. Derek Henry really incredible year. I was counting on his demise like two or three years ago, but there's certain guys that know how to take care of their body and also have this like indestructible, uh, availability kind of like LeBron, right?
00:24:54
Speaker
These guys just don't get hurt. It's absolutely wild playing that position especially. And I'm with you on the analysis of the Ravens. If you look back at the Chiefs game they lost last year that I lost a ton of money on, they got very, very pass happy. What works when it gets cold outside? It's always running. And the good coaches know how to play two different styles of ball. And what I see from the Chiefs right now is they're preparing for winner ball right now. Nothing sexy. And to your point about the touches per game for Derek Henry, I kind of, I do agree with that. That's always a very skewed stat. Like if you're up in the game, you're going to be running the ball more in the fourth quarter, but it's the Ravens kind of getting in a negative game script where they can't give them the ball.
00:25:47
Speaker
as much, but I do agree with you. There is some correlation there. Yeah. I mean, on i mean i would the last thing I'll say on that is like, if you talk about running backs in general, I think that based on this the data you've given us, I would be very surprised how many people could be the number one running back and average as few carries as Derek Henry has averaged this season.
00:26:15
Speaker
I think that's what's most insane is he's averaging six yards of carry. And every season that he was on the Titans, he never averaged this many yards per carry. His top was like 4.9, uh, in 2018. So, and they had some good O lines there too, which is great. O lines, which is it's just insane. that The season he's having, but who we got up next.
00:26:40
Speaker
Next up, we're staying on the running back theme. Joe Mixon, my boy, coming off that 33 point heater on Monday night. He is in the 10 touchdown club this year, not quite to 13 like Derek Henry, but he's also missed three games. And for being a fourth round pick,
00:26:59
Speaker
He is leading all running backs and points per game. So this can get skewed a little bit, of course, with with injuries. But when he's on the field, he leads all fantasy running backs points per game. I'm not going to throw up my team too much for that draft pick. So I'll toss it back to you.
00:27:21
Speaker
No, I mean, i mean that's that's fair. Joe Mixon was by far the man with the largest penis on the field on Monday night. You could you could see it right off the bat. It reminded me when when Anthony Edwards first got in his groove last year and everyone started being like, okay, this guy could be the next MJ. There's a certain swagger on the field that if you if you watch a lot of sports, you immediately know Okay. Well, that guy has a bigger Dick than everyone else on the field right now. And the way that Joe mixing carries the football, the swagger that he runs with the way that he, he breaks into holes and and he hits that, that fifth gear.
00:28:05
Speaker
they were like, oh, he's gone. and And I think it was his second touchdown. He had just had a touchdown called back because they they like deemed him down, I think, at the one. It was it was like an inside dive of in between the tackles. he does He gets up, he does a dance, celebrates his touchdown. He's like, I should have got called back. Give it to me again. You could see you could see on the headset that the texture is just like, oh, give him the ball again. Give the guy the ball again.
00:28:32
Speaker
runs it out wide, I believe it was off the right hash, he slows down just to let the cornerback think he has a chance at catching him, does this little swaggy, high step, almost Dion-like hop into the end zone, and then immediately hits him with the too small. And I was just like, damn, Jim, mixing your dick is huge. And that's all I can think about. It's how big- The kids are calling it.
00:28:58
Speaker
His dick. Yeah. BDE e is the term now. Yeah. A lot of. I'm trying to stay with the times. A lot of swag and a lot, a lot of big dick energy from Joe Mixon. Yeah. I mean, he's great. He's great. He's only averaging four and a half yards to carry though, compared to, compared to, to Derek six, but he's, uh, he he's.
00:29:25
Speaker
He's elite, he's elite. And another old guy, another 28, 29 year old, I don't know exactly what he is. Another guy that people wrote off is passed his past as prime. Maybe medical sciences come a long way in the last 10 years. It's definitely working on the kicker's legs, whatever they're injecting. Anyways. Perhaps. Who we got next on the list? like Speaking of legs, Quad Father Saquon goes without saying there's a reason Larry's had the season he's had.
00:29:55
Speaker
Quad Father is a big part of it. He's got the number one running back. um I'm sorry, the number one quarterback in Lamar Jackson, the number two running back in fantasy in Tae Kwon Barkley. And there's not a lot we have to say about Tae Kwon. We always knew he had the talent. I think i think the most interesting piece about Tae Kwon was kind of slept on. Was he kind of slept on? I feel like he was kind of slept on. Fourth overall, I don't know. I mean, hindsight's always 20-20.
00:30:24
Speaker
But Saquon's played like a number one pick this year without a doubt. I mean, the, the, the, the reverse hurdle is what's going to get the the media attention. But when I look at Saquon, what, what really sets him apart is his consistency. It's his consistency. He's averaging 5.8 yards a carry. That's more than he averaged at any season in New York, which, you know, he played, he played in New York, which.
00:30:53
Speaker
absolute, absolute hole to fall into. Um, 2020 was cut very short. He only played in two games in 2020, but it's crazy that he was in New York for six full seasons and really just almost let his entire career rot away at the, at the G-man. And, uh, now he's, he's, he's the quad father we all wanted, but we didn't get in New York. He's in Philly.
00:31:21
Speaker
He's got a point to prove he's already over a thousand yards this season. Man, I'm, I'm just getting more and more worried about my, my matchup this weekend against Larry, but quad father got to give, give him his props. He's he's at an amazing year. Yeah, he's, if we had not gotten so a wide receiver happy in our league years past same scenario, him getting traded to the Eagles, he would have maybe gone.
00:31:50
Speaker
third overall at worst, because this used to be just a crazy running back. You know, everyone just piling on him in the first round, but it's proven to be good value for Larry, who always seems to draft good teams and teams that play well late in the year. Next guy on our list, my I'm putting my flag on this, my favorite player in the NFL right now.
00:32:19
Speaker
Jamar Chase. It was absolutely gutting when I saw all of his contract dispute stuff pre-draft because I was totally locked on him at number seven and had to kind of pivot. It would have worked out fine to take him. He's a beast. Highest point total this year for the bomb squad with 44. Second most touchdowns in the league just behind Derek Henry with 12. He's electric to watch. He's fun to have. He's a hero.
00:32:49
Speaker
Point blank. I would push back a little. He's the number one ranked wide receiver and total points, but he's he's had to have been frustrating for balmy. And the reason I say this is because like, it goes back to what I talked about receiver inconsistency. The first two weeks, he puts up 6.2 points and 3.5 points. Bobby takes him L's. Then he decides he wants to be good at football again, puts up a 23 point game.
00:33:19
Speaker
But not two weeks later, he puts up another seven pointer. Has a couple decent games getting over 10 and then puts up a four pointer against against a very bad Vegas team. And then Thursday night, Thursday night's always a little scoring. I found out about that with my one point scary Terry performance. And he goes off and puts up 44.4. That's when he got to see cocky bomb me a little bit. He waited till week 10 to really go off. He had a good week in week five, I think against the Ravens as well. I had a couple of touchdowns.
00:33:48
Speaker
But if I had to poke a hole and Jamar is a hero, it's that he's not helping his team win games. He's putting up stats, but the Bengals keep losing. And just like the Bengals, he's put up some big games for Bommie, but Bommie still finds himself in a very precarious position. So he's he's a fringe hero for me. I might actually disagree on that one, James. Fringe hero. I know he's put up some big numbers. Inconsistent.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah, and he's, I'm a little biased with my Jamar takes, uh, just love the guy, but I see what you mean there, but heroes win weeks and that's what Jamar does single-handedly is kind of why I put him here. I didn't want to put too many guys that were high draft picks, although there are some, some on this list. Um, let's, let's move along from Jamar too much, too much chase talk. Yeah. Let's go from Jamar to Jamir.
00:34:46
Speaker
We've had Lamar, Jamar, and now Jamir. Jamir Gibbs. Worst game this year has been nine points. He's been the staple of consistency. He's been the anti-Jamar, if you will. Now, is he the best running back in the league? No, because he shares a backfield with a very, very good David Montgomery, who I traded away early this year. And and so good that this this Lions team can house two elite, elite fantasy running backs, and we have to say it. It's insane. It's absolutely insane to to have a two-headed monster like this. David Montgomery is the ninth ranked running back in fantasy right now. And then on the flip side, guess who's team he's on. Of course, again, Larry's team, Jamir Gibbs is the fifth ranked running back.
00:35:41
Speaker
In fantasy, imagine if one of these guys was actually a bell cow in Detroit, it would be, it would be scary. It would be very, very scary, but maybe they wouldn't, maybe they wouldn't produce the way they're producing. But, uh, what can we say about the lions? Uh, Jamir Gibbs does it. He does it on not that many touches. He averages between 11 and 13 touches averaging 6.3 yards a carry.
00:36:06
Speaker
Wow, he's he's he's a stud, he's a stud and he's consistent. He only has that one week under 10 points. ah One week under 10 points is insane. You can just roll him out there, you know he's gonna get you 10. Anybody would take that guy. Anybody would take that guy. And and again, that was my that was my one rebuttal towards Jamar. Inconsistency, Jamir,
00:36:34
Speaker
God, you love to have a guy like this on your team. Yeah, he's incredible. If you were ah to place a team, place a bet on any team to win the Super Bowl, why would it not be the Lions is what I want to know. Dan Campbell, Dan Campbell making an idiot fourth down decisions, not taking points when he should take points. That's really the only, I mean, that's why they they didn't win the Super Bowl last year. Dan Campbell tried to get cute,
00:37:03
Speaker
He'll run fake punts when you don't need to run fake punts. He'll go for it when you should take three points. He loves going for it. I just, see I don't know if he's, he's, he's smash mouth. He's not, he's not wily. See, normally I would poke a hole in the the Jared golf defense, but if they're the best record in the league and the highest scoring offense and playing all their playoff games at home, the small hand cold weather golf that sucks.
00:37:33
Speaker
is it's not relevant to the conversation. He's so good in a dome. that's That's what the Lions have in their favor this year for sure. So I'm kind of pulling for them. They're a fun team to get behind. Oh, they're a great team to get behind. I mean, they're 5-0 on the road, too. I mean, their their one loss was at home. Hasn't really gotten cold yet, but their point differential is insane. The Lions' point differential is plus 159 this season.
00:38:02
Speaker
It's like NBA numbers for a first place team of the division. Uh, you take the Falcons who are in first place in the South, they're they're at a minus 30 point differential despite being the first place to get six and five. It's like, uh, yeah, they're just, they're demolishing teams at an absolutely historic base. So love, love me some lines.
00:38:33
Speaker
Okay. I had a guy on this list just to try to get to 10 names, but I'm going to do a last minute, just cross him off the list. He's not a real hero, so I won't mention his name. Late scratch. Sometimes with lists, 10 seems so nice, but you just have filler in there. So I'm going to move it on to a little bit outside the box here.
00:39:00
Speaker
JK Dobbins, again, Larry has four guys on this list. Unbelievable. JK Dobbins was a 10th round draft pick and he's averaging over 10 points per game. That screams value, good draft. No one wanted to touch this guy and he just came from the depths with that Harbaugh smash mouth offense.
00:39:28
Speaker
And he looks good again. It's Hey, modern medicine, right? You were talking about it earlier. When you can find a guy in the 10th round like that, it, it is the difference in separating from the pack. Oh yeah. I mean, did you see his run on Sunday night to finish out that game? Like he's still got, he's still got another gear too. That's what's crazy. I mean, these running backs are turning back the clock and a lot of them after some really significant injuries. I mean,
00:39:56
Speaker
Saquon had a very, very, very rough injury. And now he looks like one of the fastest, strongest guys in the league. JK Dobbins has had what two or three season end ending injuries. And he had one before the season even really got going. He had that Andrew drafted him and then passed out in the bathtub. But, uh, yeah, looking like the JK Dobbins, we all thought it could be the Harbaugh bowl. We haven't talked about it a lot on, on Monday night football. It's going to be pretty awesome.
00:40:24
Speaker
I love this matchup Ravens chargers. I'm going to get demolished. Like I said, Larry's got like four or five guys going that night, but man, it's going to be fun to watch as a neutral. I can't wait to watch Derek Henry versus JK Dobbins. It's going to be great. It's going to be, it's going to be a fantastic, fantastic game. Herbert versus Lamar should be exciting. Uh, well, I guess we got to talk about Baker Mayfield, right? Let's talk about other QB.
00:40:54
Speaker
Baker Baker, touchdown maker. I'm gonna give him a helmet sticker. He wrote sticker. Throwing in zens, slinging the rock. He's just a Florida man. He's just a Florida man. There's not a lot that needs to be said about Baker other than he's a Baker that everyone everyone knows. He plays to win the game. I love the guy. I love the guy. He's a winner. I wish he was on my team. I love Josh Allen. He's got the same winner energy.
00:41:24
Speaker
But Baker's just got a little bit more edge to him. Just got a little bit more edge. Like they both talk trash, but I think it would really throw me off if Baker talked some shit to me. Like if I was playing defense and I thought Baker was going to slide and he just lowered his shoulder, ran me over and spit some Zen on my face. I'd be like, damn, Baker. He'd probably tell me that his dick was bigger than mine too. Would you pay James? Would you pay to just not have announcers and have like an HBO style, fully mic'd up and NFL or NBA. I mean, I pay a good amount for that. Yeah. Let's, let's pitch this idea to the networks.
00:42:07
Speaker
text it off The players, the the PR, the PR teams for the players would never allow it. But I mean, God, even when they do mic'd up, it's so filtered. and And the players get to review it, I found out, before they ever like release it on ESPN or whatever. But to just be able to shut Tom Brady or Jim Nance or whoever up and just listen to Baker talk shit all game long, that's what the people want. yeah At some point, you gotta get, I mean, Red Zone was a good development. i think I think the next phase is just, what do I need to pay a year to cut out commercials?
00:42:45
Speaker
and listen to the players and maybe, maybe Scott Hanson still. Cause I do love Scott Hanson, but it's just, it's just Hanson like cutting to different players. Mike's like that's yeah now we're going to like pivot to the the Ravens game. And, uh, we're going to tap into, we're going to tap into Derek Henry's Mike. It'd be great. It'd be great. I, I love that idea. I would pay for it. Uh,
00:43:09
Speaker
as a subscriber of the premium sports network, getting red zone. That's, I would definitely add that on for whatever they told me. You know, when they do the mic'd up stuff, it is always super disappointing when they are mic'd up and they go to their buddy and go, Hey, I'm mic'd up. You're like, Oh,
00:43:28
Speaker
I'm not, I don't care about this anymore, but it does make me very nostalgic to like watching the NFL network when I was in like middle school and watching all those mic'd up, it would be like a 30 minute episode, right? And can you guess who my favorite, he is Baker-like in a way to tie it into the segment, my favorite mic'd up guy ever. He was a quarterback. Quarterback, favorite mic'd up quarterback ever.
00:43:57
Speaker
A real character, a gunslinger. Gosh, and I'm going, I'm going back in time. A real, a real character, a gunslinger. I mean, is, is Brett Favre too far in the back? That's exactly who it was. It's a great guess. And I, when we get done or tomorrow, just go watch his mic'd up stuff. It's incredible. He seems like a child out there having fun. It's inspirational. So, uh, love Brett Favre.
00:44:27
Speaker
There's some quarterbacks now with some Brett far of energy. So that's good for the league. Yeah, we could, we can maybe, if we can't pitch this idea and it doesn't land with any of the executives, so we could always pitch miked up fantasy watching with like Rob.
Player Highlights and Personal Insights
00:44:47
Speaker
I think I would also pay for that. Like a Sunday red zone, but also all the things that happen in between Rob Checking his app and watching football. Cause you know, Rob probably watches like 30 minutes to an hour of actual football on a Sunday. He's got kids and house chores and family stuff going on. I think that would be pretty, I would watch a live stream of Rob on a Sunday, miked up. Sure. Five bucks, especially on a 10 game losing streak.
00:45:20
Speaker
Oh, so last, last guy on the list here, Blake, this has been a fun. I put Brandon Aubrey just ah without looking at the stats, but really kickers in general. And Chris Boswell is the real kicker hero with 129 fantasy points this year. Unreal. The guy's on a heater. He's only missed one kick this year. Yeah, kickers, kickers are the heroes right now.
00:45:48
Speaker
a very relevant discussion for our league. So current events tying in. Yeah. I mean, it's hard. It's hard to say that it hasn't changed. How many, how many points did you say Boswell has this year? 129. Okay. Okay. That's more than. Oh, this is the full game more than who all, but all, but two players on my team, maybe kickers are.
00:46:19
Speaker
Maybe kickers are going a little too far. I know i know we chatted with our last place member about this briefly, who was, we were thinking about maybe even having him as a guest on the show this week, but I know you got some intel. Let's break to it. Yes, this is a Big J reporting live from the basement. I do have some news to break. We tried to get the man on an over two month ah losing streak.
00:46:47
Speaker
10 Total Games, Mr. Bob Leonard, the Amish. He, he neglected to join, citing reasons of being grouchy, working on Kelsey's car. I can respect a man needing to take care of his duties and not wanting to bring grouchiness to the podcast. So Rob, hopefully we can get you on some other time. It would be great. I know you're listening and, but what I really wanted to dive into is.
00:47:15
Speaker
Rob did have time for the group text and he had some takes. He was really firing off and he said, you can use this for material if you want. So we've we've green lit this project and we're going to read off a few because ah we know the league likes to hear it. So the first one, this is just out of nowhere. The hypocrisy of Will's statements is comical.
00:47:43
Speaker
My strategy is outdated because the game is evolving, but let's not change any rules. Meanwhile, the three people who are most against change are profiting the most from change. Number one, Larry. Always good on paper. Terrible sitter start accuracy. Will is number two. Bommie is number three.
00:48:06
Speaker
The only two people who still roster their drafted kicker is Andrew and Jake. Will took Fairbairn in the last round after telling me not to wait until the last round. My last running back was Jordan Mason in the 12th. No one took a kicker before the 15th. Will took three RBs between the 11th and 14th rounds. Last year I went wide receiver, wide receiver, first and second round and took Nico Collins in the 15th, not an RB.
00:48:36
Speaker
That was a lot. i It really challenged my intellect to get through all that one. Any any thoughts there, Blake? Well, we have to first consider the mental state of this man and the mental state of both these men. It is a lot easier, it is a lot easier to criticize the rules in place when you're the very worst team. And it's very easy to like the set of rules when you're at the top. It is, it's just easier. It's easier to say that when the economy is going well, it's because of me, because I'm the best, the economy goes up, the economy goes down, it's the other guy's fault, but in all reality,
00:49:30
Speaker
Will has profited from the rule change that he set out at the beginning of the season to shut down. and Will came out hot like week three. He had stayed pretty quiet in the off season, and he came out hot. He just absolutely hated this tight end amendment. Just hated it. So did Larry. I can't believe you guys always want to change the league. Well, guess guess what? They both clinched.
00:49:54
Speaker
and they both clenched without really incorporating their tight end. I mean, I think Will is finally throwing Kelsey in his lineup just because he's clenched, but he's been on the bench for Will most weeks. Larry, Larry's just, he's been cruising, absolutely cruising without playing a tight end. Even though he's got the number two tight end in the league and Brock Bowers, he's just sitting on the bench.
00:50:23
Speaker
So I get where Rob's coming from here. I think there's some validity to what he is saying is that we don't really have a neutral party here, but we'll, we'll can be a little hypocritical sometimes sometimes, especially when he's on top, just a little. Yeah. My, my take would be that all rule changes in the league have evolved from This happened to me recently and it sucked. Did it also happen to you? Can I have your vote? And that's a lot of what I see going on right here. ah Let's take me, for example, the tight end ah removal was really my baby three years ago, but sometimes with legislation, it takes a while to pass. Do you know why I hated tight ends so much? You probably got sick with a shitty tight end.
00:51:18
Speaker
I never prioritized tight end in the draft because I kept watching the teams that did and their lineups were very thin. So that's, that spurred the rule change for me. I never had a good one, but I never drafted one. So you could say that's my fault. And that's a lot of what goes on in the league. And yes, will is profiting from his lack of management when he's telling other people to manage their way out of it, which is funny.
00:51:50
Speaker
But yeah, it's great. I love the chatter that it all creates. When I was commissioner, it kind of wore me out. And all I wanted to say was, hey, guys, there's going to be a time to vote on this. But now I just want it to keep flowing. And I knew on Sunday, Blake, yes, a kicker did go off against your team. But I knew in your dark little dentist mind, you're going, hmm, it's been a little quiet today. I'm going to say I agree with Rob and hate kickers.
00:52:21
Speaker
I'm gonna agree with my 10 game losing streak rival who I face in week 13. And I'm gonna agree with him because I think this is fun. I mean, it's the playbook. And it worked. It worked. It's the playbook, yeah. And it got him going because the thing about, the thing about this is too is it's happening to me. I'm sitting there watching my number one draft pick in CD lamb.
00:52:50
Speaker
up against a kicker. And we went into Monday night pretty much even. And I feel like I'm playing from behind with my first round pick and Jake's, what, last round pick. And I mean, that's that's really the situation we're in. Aubrey most weeks outscores CD-Lam. And it's interesting. I mean, the league's changed, the league's evolved. I mean, I will say that when we talk about kickers,
00:53:19
Speaker
The range has changed. 50 yarders used to be very, very rare. And I think I saw Aubrey, it got called back, or actually I think the Cowboys took a penalty to take it off the board, but he casually drilled a 64 yarder. Just casually. Didn't even look at his truck. I do think that there is some validity. I think there's a lot of validity.
00:53:47
Speaker
Thinking about how tough it is to get yards, that one, one swing of the leg is worth 50 passing yards or 50 rushing. I'm sorry, not even passing yards, 50 receiving yards or 50 rushing yards. And I do think, I do think it's crazy that you don't lose a single point on a missed extra point. We'll, we'll defend to that. We don't need any rule changes for kickers, but.
00:54:12
Speaker
that's That's bizarre that you don't you don't even lose a point for apparently the easiest kick you can make. But anyways, enough about kickers. I actually, I see both both sides of it. I think kickers are fun, but they're a complete wild card and it it does make cheering for that position really hard because I guess what you're what you're cheering for is your your team to get like across the 50 but stall out between like the 30 and the 40. It's a weird way to watch a football game too. I don't, I can't say I like it. I normally like watching for fantasy related purposes, but watching for your kicker is a very bizarre anxiety riddled viewing experience. Yeah. I would add that it is not, there is actually a little bit of strategy with kickers. I know there's a lot of variants.
00:55:08
Speaker
But what what do the top kickers all have in common? Decent team stall out. It's stall in the red zone. And you can start to figure out who those teams are pretty quickly. The Steelers normally, Boswell is normally near the top. And I would also say that, do you think NFL teams like the variants of kickers either? We want this to mirror football, right? It's fantasy football. There needs to be some of this variance.
00:55:38
Speaker
And I like it. I do agree. Extra points being missed should probably be minus one. But all of this weird, I don't know how many fireballs Rob was on when he said a game winning 60 yarder should be worth 11 points. I don't, maybe I was a little too deep in the bourbon. I was like, what?
00:55:59
Speaker
Anytime we're getting into weird format scoring like that, I am so out. I, I can't even tell you, but, uh, Tommy proposed points per first down a while ago, which is very interesting. Yeah, that's awful. And the the other fun thing to your point, we talk a lot about quarterback wide receiver stacks, but it is really fun.
00:56:23
Speaker
to try to stack the kicker with either your quarterback or your running back. And you just know once they get across the 50, you're cooking. And so there is strategy. let's Let's not all be idiots here. Just because you get shelled by brandon or by Boswell doesn't mean we need to remove kickers or change the scoring. This is just variance that happens every year. And because it's happening to some people that have very loud voices,
00:56:52
Speaker
It's gaining traction and potentially votes. I mean, and thats that's the two, those are the two voters you get. You get the guy that's doing well, that probably wants to keep things how they are. And then you get the guy that's not doing so well, that wants to change, change. It's no different than American politics or any any sort of democratic institution. You know, the poor man wants change and the rich man's pretty happy where he's at. Maybe just give me less taxes. so Yeah, I'd love to to read off a couple more texts from Rob, because there's only a couple before we wrap up. Big J here could give us some more talking points. I think it will. I'd also like to point out that due to the lack of PPR slash Larry stack squad, the best rookie pass catcher in NFL history hasn't started again. Brock Bowers.
00:57:48
Speaker
I'm three for three on amendments would probably be four for four, but I had a norm title. Marco Polo slash mandatory hard knocks talks had leaked participation at an all time high. At this point, he says, I'm just using the stream for notes, maybe sharpening his takes for the winter meetings.
00:58:09
Speaker
Easy to play the conservative card on the group me, but I passed keepers and wide receiver tight influx with the proper platform back to back years. I'm done going to dinner bath bedtime. Rob out big J out.
00:58:28
Speaker
Wow. Wow. I got nothing left. I got nothing left in the tank. James Thanksgiving.
00:58:40
Speaker
It's a great holiday. There's football, there's family. Are you doing a Turkey trot this year? Maybe, maybe not. I have not committed to one. I will probably just go running for the hell of it because I like to run and a 5k for me. It doesn't get me going anymore. I did win my, my neighborhood Turkey trot. Uh, I three peated and then retired, but, uh, no, just, just solo jog and maybe me and Moby, what about you?
00:59:09
Speaker
Uh, yeah, there's a neighborhood one that I go to. It's a 5k. I don't go too hard. The main goal is not get injured before the big day of feasting in Turkey and football, but, uh, we might not see each other until after Thanksgiving. So if we don't happy Thanksgiving to the Hicks family. Uh, by the next time we have a pod, we'll probably have playoffs locked in and be doing a playoff preview, which is pretty, pretty exciting.
00:59:38
Speaker
It's pretty exciting.
Season Reflections and Thanksgiving
00:59:39
Speaker
i I'm always shocked at how fast the fantasy regular season goes by. And this is my absolute favorite time of year. I know it gets cold. I know a lot of people don't love being around their families. Sometimes I'm the same way if it's family overkill. Some people love their families and eat up every second of it.
01:00:00
Speaker
It can be a hard time for some, but to the League of Hard Knocks, I truly appreciate you all more than ever during this holiday season. That is sincere. That's not manipulative or part of the playbook. It just warms my heart. No matter how far I get into it, I feel like Right around Thanksgiving, the league turns it up. It just turns it up a whole other level. I think it's like people are away from work. There's more time to stare at your phone, get really riled up. Maybe people are drinking a little bit more than usual. It's a very jolly time.
01:00:38
Speaker
It sure is. And I can say this from experience of being the norm three times, and maybe you can add some insight. But being in the bottom four absolutely wrecks your holidays. You're just a little bit more irritable with everybody. Some of you are going to claim that it doesn't affect you, but we know that it does. Don't lie. You ain't got a lie to kick it.
01:01:02
Speaker
But yeah, have a great Thanksgiving with your families. If you are in the bottom four near it, I don't know, just drink a lot and I promise you'll get through it. I'm i'm curious. This is the last thing I'll ask you, James, and I'll give my take on it as well. um Of the shame off eligible teams, who who do you most want to see run up that hill? ah It's AJ by a mile. There's just final answer. There's no one better.
01:01:32
Speaker
to be the norm. I'm going to go with the commissioner. I'm going to go with the commissioner. I think it would be quite the spectacle. I, uh, I think Jake would be really funny too, because he would, he would be at the, the biggest dilemma in his mind of, do I stick with D GAF or do I, do I get competitive and go out and try to beat some people's Hill times?
01:02:01
Speaker
And he would be caught between two brains and it would be very funny to watch it play out. Like, Oh, I'm too cool to do this. He'll run. This is so dumb. But then like, I'm also like a former professional athlete and I should probably beat everyone else up this hill. It just, it would be a funny, they call it the prisoner's dilemma. I'm not sure if that's the prisoner's dilemma. It's something, it's something along those lines, but yeah, we also appreciate our sponsor Ryan construction.
01:02:29
Speaker
ah our earth extract river is cpa I can totally see Jake just saying being caught in the middle and being like, well, I'll run fast, but with a beer in my hand. Yeah. Throw a dip in. All right. I'll see you buddy. Have a great day. All right. I'm out. Peace.