Fantasy FaceOff - Week 12
Andy Behrens and Matt Harmon compare the Broncos' Latavius Murray to similarly ranked running backs.
Video Transcript
MATT HARMON: Andy, it's time for our Fantasy Faceoff. This is where we take the hottest pickup of the week, someone that's pretty buzzy, maybe just came off the waiver wire, and pit him against some, you know, flex plays, some options there, some rather established guys.
We've got a-- I mean, a true list of goofballs, especially as we're talking about Latavius Murray as the hot item of the week. I mean, my god. We'll get to the Denver Broncos later. But for now, let's entertain this Latavius Murray nonsense here.
Latavius Murray versus D'Onta Foreman, Andy. Look, Foreman's been on a hot streak, but he's also had some games when he's-- basically, when he's not playing the Atlanta Falcons, it's like, OK. Yeah. That's a backup running back for the Carolina Panthers. So how are we feeling about Latavius Murray versus D'Onta Foreman this week?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, we are transitioning from some Kirkland Signature wide receivers to some Kirkland Signature running backs. This is-- this is wild.
MATT HARMON: I'm not even sure-- I'm not even sure Costco's throwing these on the shelves, dude. I don't know. This might be, like-- we're talking, like, Goodwill thrift store brand here.
ANDY BEHRENS: That is a very fair point. Like, some guys make it look easy, and Latavius makes it look so hard some days. He's averaging less than 3 and 1/2 yards per carry on the season. So like, what you're hoping for with Latavius is a lot of volume, and he is the guy who stumbles into the end zone and scores Denver's lone offensive touchdown, right?
Foreman, however, is also like-- he either has 120 yards and multiple scores, or he has, like, 23 yards and no touchdowns, and he never catches a pass, he's not really involved much as a receiver. This is going to be a really low-scoring game.
I'm going to-- I'm going to give the slightest possible lean to D'Onta Foreman here. I've got him, like, literally one spot ahead of Murray. They're both just volume plays. I've just seen it a little bit more with Foreman, and I have a slightly greater belief in the player.
MATT HARMON: Ugh. Yeah. I mean, I guess. I think I'll take Murray over Foreman, just because that match-up is pretty intimidating with the Carolina Panthers going against Baltimore. You know, this match-up is a little more intimidating for the Panthers than we're typically used to seeing against the Atlanta Falcons. Let's move to the next one here.
Speaking of the Atlanta Falcons, Latavius Murray versus Cordarrelle Patterson. And look, that's-- I think some of the things we've said is a little disrespectful to Cordarrelle Patterson. This guy's a good player.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yes.
MATT HARMON: OK. But we know he's not going to get the bulk of touches. Latavius Murray might get the bulk of the touches, but again, not even Costco bulk. We're talking about, like, Goodwill thrift store, Salvation Army type of bulk of the touches here.
Andy, how are you feeling? Are you taking those nasty bulk, or are you taking the excitement? It's such a big play, with Cordarrelle Patterson against Washington.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, this one is actually kind of a classic fantasy debate when you're looking at, like, flexes and RB2s, right? It's the guy who you really have a lot of faith in, but he's probably only going to get 10, 12 touches, and that's Patterson. They have limited his workload somewhat since returning from the injury. Tyler Allgeier also looking really good for Atlanta, so they have multiple very good options in the backfield.
Patterson is coming off a great game, but again, I'm concerned about workload. I'm also concerned about the match-up against Washington. Washington is, like, number 6 overall against the run. So I'm going to lean volume here. And in this case, I'm actually going to go with Murray.
MATT HARMON: I think that's the right answer. You know, match-up decent enough there for Murray. So I'm with you. I'd go with Latavius Murray over Cordarrelle Patterson there.
How about our last one here. Latavius Murray up against Michael Carter, who's going against your Chicago-- Nathan Peterman-led Chicago Bears, Andy. Michael Carter. That's a pretty good match-up, too, against a defense that has gone in the tank since trading away their good players.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah. I actually love Michael Carter this week. This, for me-- he's free and clear of Latavius Murray. I am definitely starting Carter in this one. Remember last year, there were a couple of-- there were a couple of games with White at the controls for the Jets where, like, Michael Carter saw 14 targets, 9 targets. You can have a screen game with White at quarterback, you know. He'll check it down. So this is a great situation for Carter.
Also, we learned this morning that James Robinson is going to be a healthy scratch in this one. So we've got to get him out of the ranks. We've got to get him out of lineups. That's a little bit more Carter. So it's basically just going to be Carter and Ty Johnson.
The Bears, of course, an extremely friendly match-up. Given up 4.7 yards per carry on the year. All the rushing yards that you can possibly want. So for me, this one is definitely Carter.
MATT HARMON: Thank you for reminding me to adjust my ranks when I'm not on screen in the next segment, Andy. Thank you.
