Fantasy Football

D.J. Moore has graduated to the paying up section after two consecutive face melting performances as the Panthers primary offensive weapon. He has seen double digit targets in back-to-back weeks and saw 250 Air Yards last week which included this dope pass from P.J. Walker. Look for D.J. Moore to continue on this trend against Eli Apple and the Bengals in week nine. This is likely the last time he is priced below $6,000, get him in your cash lineup while you can, although he may be too chalky for tournaments.

For the second consecutive week Darnell Moony is the top Air Yards Value play. He finished last week with 12 fantasy points securing five receptions for 70 yards. Mooney posted these numbers despite seeing a season low 28 Air Yards, a figure that will likely increase to his season average of 70.9 this week. He remains an intriguing play in all formats heading into a potential barnburner against the Dolphins.

Entering Week 8, the Raiders were the No. 4 best matchup for QBs in both passing and rushing points allowed. Las Vegas’ defense has allowed 10 passing touchdowns and gotten just one interception over its last four games. This is a juicy enough matchup to where you must consider Lawrence in a week where six teams are on bye. Comfortably fire up Lawrence this week.

Despite back-to-back poor showings, the Arizona secondary has been surprisingly solid against opposing WRs. They have allowed just two WR touchdowns in their last six games, both coming in the last two weeks to back-up WRs. Metcalf will face Byron Murphy, a top-20 CB in PlayerProfiler’s Cornerback Rankings. Metcalf was held to two receptions on seven targets last time against Arizona and Murphy.

Welcome to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to RB for Week 9! Normally, I start this column off with the same introduction each week. I talk about what this column covers, and frankly attempt to get out of my own way given each edition typically stretches 4,000-5,000 words. However, this week I can do no such thing. Fantasy Football is at times a remarkably frustrating game. You’re taking large stands at thin margins which often go awry. Even when you hit big on a talent profile, you can still come away fruitless due to team circumstance, bad luck, or injury. Therefore, I think we all deserve to breathe in the air when the winds are favorable.

If not for Elliott’s contract, and Jerry Jones’s unwillingness to admit a mistake, Pollard would be Dallas’s lead back. To Elliott’s dismay, he sat out Week 8 against the run sieve known as the Chicago Bears while Pollard exploded for 131 rushing yards and three scores on just 14 carries. That’s 9.4 Yards per Carry, folks. Elliott has never put up 9.4 Yards per Carry in 99 career regular-season or playoff starts. In the 19 career games, when Pollard has been given 10 or more carries, he averages 5.9 Yards per Carry. Only two backs this year, Khalil Herbert and Travis Etienne, are averaging more. Only Rashaad Penny did better last year.

Welcome to the Waiver Wire Week 9! Chalk up Week 8 as a positive one for the fantasy community. The day started with Travis Etienne gashing the Broncos and looking like a rest-of-season strong RB1. A.J. Brown smashed with a three-TD outburst. Kyler Murray showed signs of life as a high-end QB1 play moving forward. Tyreek Hill AND Jaylen Waddle smashed. Kyle Pitts saw nine targets and posted a 5-80-1 line, a stat line we expected to be a regular occurrence in the preseason but is now a call for celebration in mid-season. “Tony Pollard Week,” was a smashing success as Pollard went nuts in Zeke Elliott’s absence with a three-TD, 131-yard smash game. And in a happy turn of events, D.K. Metcalf not only did not miss this week with an injury but found the end zone in an important Seattle win.

The worst part of our beloved game is the frequency of injuries. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of such a fast-paced, contact-heavy sport. It’s something that is important to remember as we approach the first full week of the preseason. Luckily for the NFL players, they have access to some of the best doctors in the world and can usually return to form at least by the next season. Unfortunately for us fantasy players, it’s not always easy to know when a player will get hurt. To another degree, sometimes your roster isn’t big enough to plan ahead for an injury. This series, the Infirmary Report, will give you advice on the injuries that have happened every week during the season. Without further ado, here is the Infirmary Report: Post Week 8 of regular season action.

Possibly the best spot from this game lies in the Bengals rushing attack led by Joe Mixon. The Browns have hemorrhaged fantasy points to enemy running backs this season. Their 23.9 Fantasy Points Allowed per game average is No. 4 most in the NFL.

The Denver Broncos have been a massive disappointment in both fantasy football and real-life football. Courtland Sutton started the season strong but has faded recently. The wide receiver was averaging 16.2 fantasy points per game over his first four games but has since averaged just seven points over his last three. So why would anyone want to buy into a player that is seemingly fading? Sutton’s recent struggles present a buy window, and we love buy windows at the Fantasy Supermarket. 

Here’s the good news: we had another winning week! That makes three of the last four weeks victorious against Las Vegas. That’s awesome! The bad news is, we only went 7-6 again. We’re still below .500 for the season at 44-55-2. But we’re making progress, and that’s all that matters here. All we’re trying to do here is win bets and fantasy matchups. We’re in the thick of the NFL season now. We should know by now which teams are good, which ones aren’t, and what these teams’ tendencies are. This should help us not only hit more bets but also find out who is poised for big fantasy performances. I feel like we’re about to make a big push here. Let’s get Week 8 rolling!

Injuries suck and fantasy football owners paid the price heavily in Week 7 by losing highly-relevant offensive names like Breece Hall, D.K. Metcalf, David Njoku, and Matt Ryan. Luckily, there exists a ton of value in player props, so we get a new shot every week thanks to playing DFS. Welcome back to the article series where we spot values in player prop over/unders. In these articles, I review selections from the previous week, then give out my favorite player prop pick ‘ems for the upcoming weekend on the DFS pages of Underdog Fantasy and Sleeper.