Austin Ekeler on the touchdown that rocked fantasy football | Ekeler’s Edge
Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler joins Yahoo Sports’ Fantasy Expert Liz Loza to discuss his second straight RB1 performance. The touchdown Austin didn’t want to score, and the impact it had on thousands of fantasy squads. Our team will preview the Chargers matchup with the Ravens, as well as recommend three sleepers from three of the biggest games of week 6. Finally, the star of ‘A Million Little Things”, and the upcoming ‘Psych 3’, James Roday, on how he hopes Austin can lead him to a title in the world’s biggest pro-am fantasy football league.
Video Transcript
AUSTIN EKELER: Literally like eight, you know, the Browns guys grabbed me and I'm like, you can see me like pushing away from the end zone not trying to score and they just eventually just throw me in the end zone. The whole team just looking at me like, we told you not to score. I was like, I know, I know.
Hopefully it helped you. For me I still have like a hole in my stomach, like I'm Oh, we could have lost that game.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
LIZ LOZA: What is up, everyone. Welcome to Ekeler's Edge. I'm Liz Loza and this is of course, Chargers running back fantasy football superstar and Mr one arm pull up Austin Ekeler.
AUSTIN EKELER: Thanks Liz. Yes, welcome back, excited for another episode. Back again, sheesh I'm getting used to these. These are fun. Liz I appreciate you just being a great host. We got some good stuff today, looking forward to it.
LIZ LOZA: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Well, we do have a great show for all of our viewers today. We're going to look back at Austin's big day, couldn't miss that against the Browns, and look ahead to an East Coast showdown with the Ravens. Are you by chance fantasy managers now that buys are here and injuries are mounting looking for a couple of sleepers, you might be? Well, we're going to give you three for the price of one and the star of a Million Little things and Psych, actor and fantasy football junkie James Roday is going to join the show.
Austin, we have got to start with another big win that you and your Chargers managed last Sunday. Maybe Justin Herbert by the way, needs to come on the show every week like he did last week, because your Chargers earned a 47 to 42 comeback victory over the Browns and now improved to four in one.
AUSTIN EKELER: Yeah, that game was one of the more memorable games that I've ever played in for sure.
LIZ LOZA: Well, you're going to remember the game, and so will the history books. And you collected 119 total yards and three touchdowns as you mentioned. Two on the ground, one through the air, you are the first player to score three touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a game since Ryan Moats in 2009 with the Texans. And according to the Elias Sports Bureau, you are just the second player in NFL history with two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown in the fourth quarter since Frank Bacon. Oh, who did he play for, the Dayton Triangles way back in 1921.
AUSTIN EKELER: I want to know who digs up these stats because some of these stats are like man, you really got to go back. Is there a line for these stats that's been kept up with, but hey we'll take it.
LIZ LOZA: It was a little bit obvious to us that you didn't want to score that last touchdown. You wanted to kill the clock, which makes sense. But the Browns were like not having that and gave you a bit of an assist into the end zone. Can you take us through that play?
AUSTIN EKELER: The play before I actually slid down like the three yard line. I could like try to cram it in there but it was OK we're trying to make them use their timeouts. So they used the timeout, the next play we ran just like a little inside zone play and I'm just kind of like jumping around in the backfield like Oh you can't get me kind of thing, and then all of a sudden they just weren't having it anymore and just literally like eight, you know, the Browns guys grab me and I'm like, you could see me like pushing it away from the end zone not trying to score, and they just eventually just throw me in the end zone. And the whole team is just looking at me like, we told you not to score. I was like I know, I know.
That's probably actually the first time I actually ever in my career where I was like man, I actually didn't want to score a touchdown. But ended up scoring.
LIZ LOZA: There were likely thousands of fantasy match-ups that were decided by your third touchdown against the Browns. However, some of your fantasy managers and even your biggest fans were not happy with you for not looking to score in that spot. In fact, you have to read this one tweet from Max Colantoni. My hero Austin Ekeler wants to tell everyone to draft him in Yahoo Fantasy and wants to stop short on two consecutive plays to not score. Who needs a hero? Big time hack.
AUSTIN EKELER: Oh rough, rough.
LIZ LOZA: I could give you the floor to reply to that one Austin.
AUSTIN EKELER: Yeah. Hey, to the fantasy owners I get it. I definitely get why you'd be upset. I'd be upset too. Like come on get in there. Well, guess what, I got in there so look, we still ended up scoring. Hopefully, it helped you. you know, for me I still like a hole in my stomach like I'm Oh, we could have lost that game if they scored on the Hail Mary, but it didn't happen like that so we can move forward from it.
LIZ LOZA: Let's look to your week six match-up. You and the four in one Chargers travel to Baltimore to face the four in one Ravens. So what should fantasy managers expect from you this week?
AUSTIN EKELER: I can't tell you what it's going to turn out because this is the NFL and we have to make adjustments to how the game is going. But I can tell you this, I'm going to be efficient with the ball in my hands and we're going to score some points regardless of whether it's in the pass game or run game.
LIZ LOZA: So basically you're saying if my coaches trust me fantasy managers need to trust me. And based on the last two weeks I think we certainly should too.
AUSTIN EKELER: Absolutely, let's go.
LIZ LOZA: Your Chargers face the Ravens in a game featuring fantasy stars like Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews, Justin Herbert, obviously friend of the show, and you of course. But who is your sleeper in this? Well, maybe someone a little under the radar? Donald Parham, our tight end for the Chargers. And I thought he was going to be a sleeper coming into the season just because of how he's utilized and especially in the red zone. Huge human at 6' 9", you can put anyone on it but he can reach his hands up or even jump and catch the red zone balls over the top, which he's done in the past two games now. I think that's where the sleeper aspect comes in.
If he's getting in the end zone he might pop 10, 11, 12 points. If you're in a spot where you need a tight end because Yeah, he's rushing 1% I'm seeing right here at Fantasy league.
LIZ LOZA: I love that pick. I do the sleepers column every week for Yahoo Fantasy and I've been tracking Parham. You mentioned two weeks in a row he's found the end zone. Not only that, but Baltimore has given up the third most fantasy points to opposing tight ends, so the match-up is working very well in his favor. And we know they're going to be a lot of points in this game, at least we're expecting a lot of points.
The Browns who just played host the undefeated Cardinals, and again, there's going to be fantasy talent all over the field in this match-up. But which player do you like is a under-the-radar option?
AUSTIN EKELER: I think a sleeper that could possibly come out of this game, he's actually had some just action throughout the season is Rondale Moore. The Cardinals utilize him in the running game and the passing game. And I think when you're getting touches I think that's what's most important, when they're going to keep incorporating him into the offense. So I can see Rondale Moore making the impact and coming to live this game.
LIZ LOZA: I really like that pick because when you look at his skill set matched with what the Browns defense has been doing it's a perfect marriage. The Browns are consistently giving up big plays and we know that Rondale Moore is a big play player with that crazy sub-4.3 speed. I think he's a great sleeper for week six.
All right finally, we're going to turn to the nation's capital where the Washington Football Team will host the Kansas City Chiefs. What kind of sleeper are we looking for in this match-up?
AUSTIN EKELER: Yeah. I mean, I think all eyes are going to be on the tight end position for Washington.
LIZ LOZA: Which is interesting, right? Because you've got Travis Kelce in this match-up. But I totally agree with you.
AUSTIN EKELER: Yeah, I mean, Logan Thomas is going down, who's coming in to fill that role? And you know right now it's Ricky Seals-Jones. Heinicke has been talking about their chemistry and now they're going to have even more of an opportunity to show that.
LIZ LOZA: I love this pick Austin. I talked up Ricky Seals-Jones on FFL last Sunday in a match-up against the Chiefs where there should be a ton of points available. I think he is a great play, and in week five he still drew eight targets. In fact, you already picked him up because you had Thomas, right?
AUSTIN EKELER: I did, I did. Logan went down and so hey, well, guess what, Ricky was stepping up, making plays, and he was available in my league, which is crazy because I have 20 people, but yeah, I was able to get him. So I'm having high hopes for him as well.
LIZ LOZA: All right, we are now joined by the star of a Million Little things and the upcoming Psych three movie, Fantasy football fanatic, and my friend James Roday. Thanks for joining us James.
JAMES RODAY: Yeah thanks for having me. This is cool.
AUSTIN EKELER: Yeah this is awesome man.
JAMES RODAY: What's up Austin.
AUSTIN EKELER: How are you doing, man?
JAMES RODAY: You look like a dude who just lit up some other dudes.
AUSTIN EKELER: Only on the weekends. Only on the weekends.
LIZ LOZA: James, what do you love about Fantasy football?
JAMES RODAY: You know, we all have things that we can do in order to turn off our brains, right? I think it's really important to have some kind of respite from the tragedies and at times overwhelming melancholy of the real world. And for me that has always been sports, and more specifically fantasy sports. I can stare at a waiver wire for 20 minutes clean and have a cathartic sort of meditative experience.
AUSTIN EKELER: Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. How long you've been playing fantasy?
JAMES RODAY: I started playing fantasy in high school before the internet had been invented. So my boys and I would use these number values that the USA Today Sports page would put on like their back page for like nerds that were like playing fantasy analog style. And of course, we didn't have money, so there were no real stakes. But we would pick teams and then each week our guys would have a number of value that went up or down and we would do the math, and that that's sort of how we created our own roto sort of situation.
AUSTIN EKELER: All right, I see you, the pioneers.
JAMES RODAY: The pioneers [INAUDIBLE].
[LAUGHS]
LIZ LOZA: He called you a pioneer.
AUSTIN EKELER: Pioneers of fantasy football out here. So how many leagues are you in right now?
JAMES RODAY: I overextended my club this year. I was really proud of myself last year, I cut myself off at eight, and that's probably the most efficient that I've ever been. And the results reflected that. This year I'm back to pushing my limits. I think I'm in at least 12 leagues, and again,
AUSTIN EKELER: 12 leagues?
JAMES RODAY: It shows-- I got a lot of stinkers out there Austin I'm not going to lie to you.
AUSTIN EKELER: 12 leagues, that's a lot to manage. I have three I'm on the edge already just trying to figure out who, injuries, this is happening and that's happening and--
JAMES RODAY: Plus I have a job. I mean, what are you doing all week? Let's be honest.
AUSTIN EKELER: I'm trying to score you fantasy points.
JAMES RODAY: Well, you are doing a fine job of it this year, so I would imagine that there are a lot of very happy owners out there.
AUSTIN EKELER: Yeah, do you have me in any of the leagues, do you have me in one?
JAMES RODAY: I've got you in the Scott Fish Bowl which is the biggest PRO-AM fantasy tournament in the world. And you are my running back one sir.
AUSTIN EKELER: Let's go, let's go. Will keep that rolling.
JAMES RODAY: I will. Stay, Yeah, stay on your feet. That's all I ask.
LIZ LOZA: Thank you so much James Roday for joining us on Ekeler's Edge.
JAMES RODAY: Thank you. It's a good edge to be on. There's a smoothness but you still, you know, you don't want to get too comfortable because it'll get you. Pleasure was all mine. Great to meet you Austin.
AUSTIN EKELER: Great to meet you as well. Hey, I'm going to keep bringing it for you. Let's go, let's go get the championship.
JAMES RODAY: Let's do this.
LIZ LOZA: Wow that show was packed Austin.
AUSTIN EKELER: Hey, that's what we do on here. We try to bring as much action packed knowledge to the game and some outsider's perspective to see what else is going on in the fantasy community because it is really a community that I appreciate and a lot of other people appreciate for many different reasons. It's just a great place to be and I'm glad that we can be here to have the show and produce some good content for everyone.
LIZ LOZA: Look at you always thinking about the community. You are keeping them smiling whether it's through your play on the field or through the advice you're bringing to this show on the weekly. Don't forget to tune in next week for another jam packed episode of Ekeler's Edge.