The guys are back after the holiday break to bring you Episode 5 of the self-titled podcast. Sticking mostly with NFL this week — we breakdown the benching of Eli Manning, whether or not Michael Crabtree needs to retire, and predictions for some of the close division races. We also debut a new segment — “Jackass of the Week” — where we all pick the week’s most boneheaded move.
The Oklahoma State coach has spurned down the University of Tennessee’s offer to become one of the highest paid coaches in the SEC. Gundy reportedly had a 6 year, 42 million dollar offer on the table after meeting with Tennessee officials but ultimately decided to turn it down.
This just goes to show how Tennessee football is starting to become a joke. Gundy, a proven head coach, just turned down a lot of money and it’s doubtful they will be able to pull someone better than him. Gundy of course has ties to the Cowboys after playing QB for them and spending a majority of his coaching career there, was never a guarantee to leave but not accepting that money says a lot more about Tennessee than it does him. With the playoff system now fully in place, the allure of going to an SEC school may not be as strong anymore.
The best tradition in college football, the Army/Navy game, takes place on 12/9 at 3:30 PM at the Linc. Ahead of the game, Navy released this jersey which is absolute fire. I have no preference when it comes to the game and respect both branches easily but tell me Navy is going to lose in these jerseys and I’ll laugh you out of the building. These are easily the best jerseys in college football and it’s a shame that they will only wear them for one game.
Army is coming into this game at 8-3, superior to Navy’s 6-5 record and both teams LOVE to run the ball (Army coming in hot with 335 passing yards on the whole year). The game may not be great but the tradition is awesome and atleast we will get to see these jerseys in action. Bet the farm on Navy.
For the first time in 13 years, Eli Manning will not be the starting QB for the New York Giants. Who is their backup you ask? Well…
Geno Smith everybody. What a fantastic idea by Coach McAdoo. As if he wasn’t digging his grave already, he goes and makes Geno Smith the starting QB.
Manning was given the option of starting against the Raiders to keep the streak alive, but declined.
“Coach McAdoo told me I could continue to start while Geno and Davis are given an opportunity to play,” Manning said. “My feeling is that if you are going to play the other guys, play them. Starting just to keep the streak going and knowing you won’t finish the game and have a chance to win it is pointless to me, and it tarnishes the streak. Like I always have, I will be ready to play if and when I am needed. I will help Geno and Davis prepare to play as well as they possibly can.”
Have to give credit to Eli here. The Giants only have two wins and have severely under-performed and Eli takes some of the brunt of that. I totally understand why he wouldn’t want to be benched mid-game and would rather just let the other two play to save face. Have to wonder here if this is the last time we see Eli in a Giants uniform, with rumors swirling that Coughlin would like to have him back in Jacksonville.
Sounds like the Giants are ready to move on without him if they see any promise from either of these back-ups (they won’t). Manning finishes 87 games short of Brett Favre’s all-time QB starts in a row streak at 210.
Week 12 is officially in the books and although the week wasn’t full of crazy endings, it still was very entertaining. There were a few players in particular that busted out and hopefully won you your match up this week.
The top 2 QBs this week were Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers.
Big Ben threw for 351 yards, 4 touchdowns and ran for 25 yards. Although he threw 2 interceptions, he still managed to put up 38 points in most leagues.
Philip Rivers and the Chargers lit up the Cowboys on thanksgiving, throwing for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns. Rivers put up an average of 35 points.
Hats off to Josh McCown, he threw for over 300 yards and 3 scores. Not to shabby for a 38 year old journey-man QB.
The top 2 RBs this week were Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams.
Kamara had his best performance of the season and as usual, he did it on the ground and through the air. He rushed 5 times for 87 yards and a TD, he also caught 6 balls for 101 yards and a TD. Kamara put up an average of 36 points.
Jamaal Williams came out of nowhere and did his best to help his Packers beat the Steelers but fell a little short. He rushed 21 times for 66 yards and a TD, he also caught 4 balls for 69 yards and a TD. Williams put up an average of 28 points.
Shout out to the owners that played Rex Burkhead over Dion Lewis. Dion has been getting most of the national media love, but Rex had a big day, scoring 2 TD’s and racking up 19 points.
The top 2 WRs this week were Julio Jones and Antonio Brown.
Julio played out of his mind catching 12 balls for 253 yards and 2 TD’s and rushing once for 15 yards. He was a man amongst boys yesterday and overall had the best fantasy week putting up 50 points.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before — Antonio Brown caught 10 balls for 169 yards and a TD. It feels like he puts up these numbers every single week. Brown put up an average of 40 points.
Robbie Anderson came up a few points short of Antonio this week, but I feel compelled to congratulate all of the owners that started him this week. It was a risky move but he payed off by putting up an average of 32 points.
The top 2 TEs this week were Zach Ertz and Rob Gronkowski.
Ertz had one of his better games this year catching 10 passes for 103 yards and a TD. The Eagles blew out the pathetic Bears and it was partly because of the Wenz-Ertz connection. Ertz has finally become the fantasy player we thought he would be, if you have him as your TE, you are sitting pretty. He put up an average of 26 points.
Gronk had himself a day, catching 5 passes for 82 yards and a 2 TD’S. As usual, he helped carry the Patriots to another win and blowout against the Dolphins. Gronk put up an average of 22 points.
An honorable mention is Kyle Rudolph, he caught 4 passes for 63 yards and 2 TD’s. It was a big TD week for Tight-ends, so no matter who you started they probably did well.
CONSENSUS PICKS:Â Â 52-17Â (LW: 5-2)
CONSENSUS: KC, CAR, PHI, TEN, NE, ATL, SEA, OAK, JAX, PIT, BAL
Office Chatter’s premier (and only) fantasy football podcast has its second episode. The guys talk about the Woods injury, what to do with the Cowboys running backs, and the potential waiver savior of week 11. Since it was a slow fantasy week, we finish up with our personal busts of the year (and why David Johnson does not count) and our sleeper starts of the week.
https://soundcloud.com/allen-gray/bye-week-episode-2
