Fantasy Football Week 9: Biggest Takeaways from Sunday

Another week in the NFL means another glorious mess of numbers and performances to sift through.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger proved throwing for six touchdowns is no big deal, doing it for the second week in a row. Rookie receivers continued their torrid pace, but did the usual suspects contribute to fantasy teams?

Jeremy Maclin had another huge game for the Philadelphia Eagles, and Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill fulfilled the expectations of many with an injured starter out.

How did this all play out in the fantasy realm? Click through for some of the biggest takeaways from Week 9 of the NFL season.

Ryan Tannehill Can Ball

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Slowly but surely, Ryan Tannehill is becoming a reliable fantasy option.

Surrounded by suspect weapons, porous offensive lines or poor play-calling in past seasons, the Miami Dolphins quarterback has been plagued by maddening inconsistency. He got off to a slow start this season too.

Once offensive coordinator Bill Lazor started maximizing his talents, however, Tannehill became a weapon in his own right.

The third-year quarterback has posted some of the best games of his career over the past five weeks—the lone exception being a matchup with a quietly tough Jacksonville Jaguars defense in Week 8—and with that has come great fantasy output.

Tannehill is on pace for 3,814 passing yards and 28 touchdowns to go along with 490 rushing yards. That pace includes the first couple of games, when Tannehill's stats were depressed and Lazor wasn't utilizing him in the read-option.

His emergence hasn't helped any particular player around him thanks to his propensity to spread the ball around. Receiver Mike Wallace has benefited the most over the course of the season, but it seems like every week we'll see a different player or two have a big game.

As for Tannehill himself, it seems like he is worth rostering, at the very least. He has raised his floor thanks to his running game, and his ceiling keeps inching up with every good performance. Yahoo's Scott Pianowski agrees, despite a tough schedule: 

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The upcoming schedule is also a bit of a killjoy for the Tannehill story: Miami faces Detroit, Buffalo and Denver over the next three weeks. There's not an easy draw in that group. But that's tomorrow's problem; for now, we'll tip the cap for a job well done.

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Detroit on the road is particularly problematic, but, again, that rushing ability has raised his floor quite a bit—rushing for 40-plus yards is like throwing an extra touchdown in standard fantasy scoring.

Downgrade Dallas

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Dallas has hit a wall, and it hasn't been pretty.

After a promising 6-1 start, the Cowboys have old demons haunting them again. Two bad losses in a row have fans reeling, the specter of past collapses emerging like a ghost released on All Hallows' Eve.

At the core of their recent slide has been a flailing offense. An unfortunate back injury to starting quarterback Tony Romo has been the root of that problem, and it remains to be seen when exactly he will be able to return.

Romo has two fractured transverse processes, according to ESPN.com's Todd Archer. Of course, that is the same injury from which Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty returned after missing just one game in college, so there is certainly hope.

For now, however, Brandon Weeden is the man, and we saw just how much of a disaster that was. Weeden stared down receivers and impersonated a statue in the pocket, taking the offense down with him.

Even running back DeMarco Murray couldn't get going. Arizona's run defense had something to do with that, but a bad all-around offense certainly didn't help.

Hopefully Romo can make it back soon without risk of serious aggravation to that back injury. Otherwise the Cowboys might be sinking into the abyss, and fantasy owners of anyone on that offense will suffer.

RG3 Is Back

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With great anticipation and trepidation from fantasy owners across the land, Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III made his season re-debut Sunday.

Griffin made his first start since injuring his ankle in Week 2, bringing with him all the promise and fear he carried into the regular season.

He hasn't been able to replicate the success he saw in his explosive rookie season, but Griffin certainly has the potential to be a difference-maker in the fantasy realm if he can stay healthy. 

Griffin took on a strong Minnesota Vikings defense and nearly pulled it out, ultimately succumbing to a turnover on downs and a 29-26 loss. He did a nice job, however, throwing for 251 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball seven times for 24 yards.

It may not have been a huge performance, but Griffin looked pretty good out there, even absorbing some nasty hits.

Rookies: Great, but Inconsistent

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Last week we looked at the historic pace the 2014 rookie receiver class has set midway through the season. Quality play from rookie wideouts has been a boon for fantasy owners thus far this season.

They continued their collectively torrid run in Week 9, catching seven touchdowns Sunday alone. The problem? It wasn't the usual suspects.

The guys who had been leading the class were either duds or on a bye this week—namely Carolina's Kelvin Benjamin and New Orleans' Brandin Cooks on Thursday night. Buffalo's Sammy Watkins was on bye.

No matter, as Tampa Bay's Mike Evans racked up 124 yards and two touchdowns, Jacksonville's Allen Hurns had 112 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns, Miami's Jarvis Landry impressed with 46 yards and a tip-toe touchdown and even Cleveland's Taylor Gabriel went for 87 yards and a score.

Then there is the latest sensation, Pittsburgh's Martavis Bryant, who added another pair of touchdowns to tie Watkins and Benjamin for the league lead among rookies.

The lesson in all this is that rookies are volatile in the fantasy realm. One week they might be putting up 25 fantasy points and the next could be a dud. Well, unless you are Martavis Bryant, who seems to be capable of scoring every game.

Jeremy Hill Is Going to Cause Problems

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Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill became a hot commodity last week after starter Giovani Bernard suffered a hip injury in Week 8. Bernard's lack of practice made Hill a titillating option, particularly in daily fantasy contests.

The rookie out of LSU far exceeded expectations with 154 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a 60-yard scamper to all but ice the game. Perhaps more importantly, Hill survived 25 touches despite getting dinged up early in the game.

So what's the problem?

Well, Bernard owners might not have liked Hill's outburst. For starters, it tells the Bengals that Bernard need not rush back from injury, not if Hill is playing this well. That could be a factor in deciding whether Bernard plays this week, especially given the Bengals play Thursday.

More importantly, Hill's emergence could cut into Bernard's touches, which will impact his fantasy scoring opportunities. What was once a lead back job could have become a timeshare with Hill's outburst.

The Hottest Waiver-Wire Pickup of the Week Will Be...

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He's back!

After wandering through the wilderness for 40 proverbial years, Mark Sanchez is back as a starter in the NFL. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback took over for Nick Foles after the latter left Sunday's tilt against the Houston Texans.

The Sanchize immediately went to work, completing his first pass attempt for 52 yards to receiver Jeremy Maclin. The rest of the game had mixed results, but all in all it was a positive day for the oft-maligned quarterback.

The former New York Jet completed 68 percent of his passes for 202 yards and a pair of touchdowns, though he did have two interceptions to go along with that.

Foles has a broken collarbone, per NFL.com's Ian Rapoport (via Conor Orr of NFL.com), meaning the reins are in his backup's hands for the foreseeable future. Much like Foles last year, Sanchez could play well enough to keep them in the win column for much of the rest of the way.

Perhaps he can keep your fantasy squad in the win column, too.

If you just lost Foles or you own an ailing or flailing quarterback like Tony Romo or Andy Dalton, Sanchez might be the guy to save your season. A change of scenery seems to have helped quite a bit, and Sanchez has some bona fide weapons this time around.

Jeremy Maclin Counting on Mark Sanchez for Continued Production

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For the second consecutive week, Philadelphia Eagles receiver Jeremy Maclin went nuts.

Has he entered the elite echelon of fantasy receivers?

Maclin has been a nightmare for opposing defenses this season, totaling 790 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on the season. The past couple of weeks have been particularly great for his fantasy owners, as he has racked up 345 yards and four touchdowns in that span alone.

The only issue with those statistics is they are padded by the competition.

The Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans were among the most generous defenses when it came to giving up fantasy points to opposing receivers, and Maclin exploited both defenses to great effect.

The week before his two-week tear, Maclin caught two balls for 16 yards. In the three weeks leading up to his Week 8 explosion against the Cardinals, Maclin had just 149 yards and one touchdown. That's less than his output in each of the past couple of weeks.

The other question here is how well newly minted starter Mark Sanchez is going to perform over the long haul. His track record isn't exactly promising, though he seems to have reinvented himself under head coach Chip Kelly.

Sanchez threw a touchdown to Maclin on Sunday, so hopefully there is nothing to worry about. If he turns back into a pumpkin, however, Maclin and his fantasy owners could be in for some bitter disappointment down the stretch.

Weather? What Weather?

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Much ado was made about the weather heading into the heavyweight bout between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots.

It was one of many storylines heading into yet another matchup between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. The forecast called for high winds and potential snow, something head coach Bill Belichick mocked during the week, per Boston.com's Steve Silva:

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When you play in New England, you've got to be ready for everything. Based on the forecasts we've gotten so far this year, none of them were very close to what the game conditions were. There was a 100 percent chance of rain last week, and the only water I saw was on the Gatorade table. It is what it is. We've got to be ready for whatever it is.

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It was a nasty morning at Foxborough, but the weather cleared up for the most part by game time. It was still cold and windy, but far from the wintry mix that blanketed the field earlier.

A lot of good it did the opposing defenses.

While Manning didn't have a particularly good game, he still passed for 438 yards and two touchdowns. Brady was better, shredding the Denver defense for 333 yards and four touchdowns on the day.

It's proof positive that inclement weather forecasts aren't all they're cracked up to be. We have seen these quarterbacks—particularly Brady—perform well in nasty weather, after all.

Of course, perhaps the quality of the quarterbacks and the teams in general have something to do with that. A bad quarterback is probably going to be made worse by bad weather.

At any rate, don't automatically bench players because you hear of a little wind or rain.

Beware the Traveling West Coast Team

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The San Diego Chargers were rolling a scant few weeks ago. Then they hit the skids, culminating in a 37-0 throttling at the hands of the Miami Dolphins.

Now, the Dolphins have certainly proved to be a quality opponent. They are currently six seconds away from a five-game winning streak—that's how much time they had left before Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers threw a game-winning touchdown.

The game result shouldn't be terribly surprising—the Dolphins are 14-1 against visiting West Coast teams since 1999, per USA Today's Chris Strauss—but that was no reason to believe they would smash the Chargers by 37 points.

Quarterback Philip Rivers and Co. looked completely out of sorts against the Dolphins, and the entire San Diego offense suffered in a brutal showing for fantasy owners everywhere.

It was an extreme example of the trouble it seems West Coast teams have when playing early slates in general. Plan accordingly in the fantasy realm.

Game Flow Is Important

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The weeks leading up to Sunday were rather disappointing for Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch and his fantasy owners. A home matchup against the Oakland Raiders cured what was ailing him, however.

Indeed, Lynch scored a pair of touchdowns and had 143 total yards despite overall ineffectiveness by the Seahawks offense.

It was a predictable output for Lynch despite his lack of fantasy scoring in previous weeks. Why? Simply put, he was likely to get a ton of touches, and not just because the Raiders were soft against the run.

The Seahawks were favored by more than two touchdowns, meaning a big lead was predicted. A big lead typically means more rushing attempts, and Lynch is still the lead back in Seattle.

It wasn't a particularly efficient performance, but Lynch got the job done for his fantasy owners. Jeremy Hill's big performance with the Cincinnati Bengals was in a similar scenario.

Of course, it's difficult to predict game flow even with solid odds, but these are the little things to account for when looking for an edge, particularly in daily fantasy contests.

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