Fantasy Roundup: Week 9

With the NFL season now at its midpoint, the race for the Super Bowl remains wide open. The Patriots and Drake Maye continue to make a name for themselves as worthy underdogs. Meanwhile, the Bills and Eagles continue their dominant performances. Other teams, like the Packers or Jaguars, are simply harder to rate—they win the tough games but lose the easy ones. Records are being broken as the Jaguars kicked a 68-yard field goal, shattering the previous NFL mark. For full team rosters, see Week 0’s issue. 

First and Lowell (4-4) vs The Ball Currier (3-5): 122.32-109.2

Top performers: Drake London (38.8) | Kyren Williams (17.4)

Underperformers: George Kittle (6.9) | Patrick Mahomes (10.5)

Kirkland Cousins (2-6) vs Bring it Dome (5-3): 123.66-127.62

Top performers: DJ Moore (22.98) | Josh Allen (28.82)

Underperformers: Jahmyr Gibbs (5.8) | Javonte Williams (7.3)

Pfirst Down (6-2) vs The Inn-Zone (4-4): 144.8-131.08

Top performers: Christian McCaffrey (34.3) | Sam LaPorta (21.7)

Underperformers: Jonathan Taylor (7.7) | Daniel Jones (14.08)

Standout Games:

Bears @ Bengals: 47-42

When you pit two teams with good offenses but terrible defenses against each other, you get this rollercoaster of a game. Immediately, the scoring onslaught began as Cincinnati returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. However, the Bears responded with a successful drive, finishing with a trick-play passing touchdown to quarterback Caleb Williams. The Bears put up another touchdown to lead 14-10 after a field goal by the Bengals.

After exchanging a pair of field goals, Joe Flacco connected with Tee Higgins for an incredible touchdown pass to put the game at 17-20 going into the half. At the start of the fourth quarter, the game was still neck-and-neck, with the Bears up 31-27. However, Joe Flacco was sacked, leading to a fumble recovered by the Bears. Chicago capitalized on this opportunity to put another three points on the board. After a Bengals missed field goal, the Bears scored again to lead 41-27.

With 2:46 left on the clock, things looked bleak in Cincinnati. The Bears went three-and-out, so Flacco had another opportunity to bring the Bengals back. In only 32 seconds, the Bengals scored yet another touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion to trail by only one score. Cincinnati recovered the onside kick to keep its dreams alive. Once again, Flacco and the offense struck quickly, putting up another touchdown to take a one-point lead. Williams and the Bears had less than a minute to either get in field goal range or score a touchdown.

With 17 seconds left in the game and no timeouts for either team, Caleb Williams threw the ball down the middle to tight end Colston Loveland, who broke two tackles and ran into the endzone. This 58-yard touchdown was the nail in the coffin as the “Hail Mary” attempt by Flacco was short and intercepted.

Despite 470 yards and two touchdowns by Flacco, the Bengals’ comeback was thwarted by their own defense. With the continued poor performance of said defense, questions are being raised about whether paying three offensive players is the correct move. The salaries of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins make up over 44 percent of the salary cap, leaving no cap space to sign good defensive players.

Chiefs @ Bills: 21-28

Another installment in the Patrick Mahomes-Josh Allen rivalry, this game marks the sixth regular-season installment between the two. While Allen entered with a 4-1 record in the regular season, the Bills quarterback has been stopped in the playoffs by Mahomes four straight times. Josh Allen continued his regular-season dominance with a touchdown on his first drive of the game. After exchanging punts, the Chiefs answered back with their own touchdown to start the second quarter.

Going into the half, the Bills led 21-13 off of long passes to tight end Dalton Kincaid, resulting in two more touchdowns. The Bills scored yet another quarterback sneak late into the third quarter for their final points of the game. Though the Chiefs put up another touchdown and two-point conversion, the Buffalo defense prevented any comeback from Kansas City. With less than five minutes left in the game, Mahomes’s deep pass was intercepted, theoretically sealing the game. Instead, a missed field goal gave the Chiefs another chance to tie, but they were unsuccessful.

Looking Ahead:

Next week, the Bengals, Cowboys, Titans, and Chiefs are on bye. Meanwhile, several key matchups across the league should help reveal who the real Super Bowl contenders are. To start, the Patriots will face the Buccaneers (TB -2.5). Neither team entered the season as big names, but they have steadily shown that they should be feared. Baker Mayfield hopes to strengthen his MVP campaign, while Drake Maye will continue the resurgence of the Patriots. Similarly, the Rams will have a rematch against the 49ers (LAR -3.5). While the 49ers took the win last time around, they are now between quarterbacks as Mac Jones is still in for Brock Purdy. Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford has played exceptionally well with nine touchdowns in his last two games.

Be sure to look out for these players next week. Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers will play the Rams. McCaffrey has continued to have a phenomenal year, scoring more than 22 fantasy points in all but one week. The last time the 49ers played the Rams, McCaffrey put up 28 points. Also, Jonathan Taylor hopes to have a bounce-back game after their loss to the Steelers. He and the Colts play the Falcons, who allowed 110 rushing yards against the Patriots. With Daniel Jones’ recent poor performance, expect more offense to run through Taylor.

As for a few games that you’d be excused for missing: the Raiders face the Broncos (DEN -8.5) and the Bills match up against the Dolphins (BUF -8.5). Despite Brock Bowers’ return, Geno Smith and the Raiders still lost against Jacksonville. Smith has been horrible this season, as his performance is in contention for the worst starting quarterback in the league. Meanwhile, the Broncos have one of the fiercest defenses, which will surely be enough to silence the Raiders. Similarly, Miami, led by Tua Tagovailoa, has struggled this season, and the Bills’ defense is sure to shut down the Dolphins. 

Tyler Dang ’28 (tylerdang@college.harvard.edu) will be taking next week off to write for the Sex Issue.