A bead of sweat, emboldened by gravity, left my brow on a mission to the left eye. Like a snail after a summer storm, I screamed at the salty discharge stinging my precious pupils. You would think this sweat was the product of something strenuous, like yardwork or hitting the heavy bag in my dank garage while wearing a hoodie. I was switching the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Squatting down is easy at 36 years old. It’s exploding upward like an Olympian that was abandoned in the youthful past. I crack open an ice-cold Sprite while grumbling to myself about Arthur Smith.

Week 9 marks the return of bye weeks through the end of the fantasy football regular season. Injuries continue to mount. Onward we forge into the great unknown, assuming we still have a glimmer of hope to see the pearly postseason gates. Anything can happen in the playoffs. By feast or famine, drought or dysentery, we must get into the tournament. These are the pivotal weeks that make or break a fantasy champion.

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Fantasy Football Storylines: Week 9

Chiefs and Dolphins Dazzle in Deutschland

The days of international audiences receiving snooze-worthy teams are long over. The first game in Frankfurt, Germany this season might be the most eagerly anticipated game of the season so far. The Miami Dolphins sport a high-flying offense teeming with speed and explosive plays. The Kansas City Chiefs roll into the Hessen Land with the best quarterback on the planet and the main squeeze of one of the world’s most prominent musical figures.

The game itself will be a party, even for those bleary-eyed fans on the West Coast stirring at six in the morning (it will feel like seven o’clock from Daylight Savings ending). I’d be donning lederhosen and slamming down steins of Hefeweizen if my team was playing in Germany. There would be strudel and schnapps, with schnitzel and sauerkraut. American football deserves Germany’s support, and they deserve the best of what our sport has to offer. Tua Tagovailoa throwing to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle is a spectacle, but watch out for the NFL’s second-leading rusher Raheem “Must-Start” Mostert to have a day against a stout Chiefs defense. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce will try to rebound from their embarrassing loss to the Broncos last week, or be sent down the Main River.

Quoth Lamar, Forever More

The Baltimore Ravens are a team I am now covering in-depth this season. It’s fitting since I predicted they would win the Super Bowl on the heels of Lamar Jackson‘s second MVP campaign. They have looked incredible this season. Baltimore sports a nasty defense and an offense that can win by taking any avenue that works for them. Jackson is on fire with his arm and just as impressive with his mobility as ever before. They roll into a three-game home stretch in the Charm City and four of the next five. The one road game is at the LA Chargers, where there will probably be more purple in the crowd than Powder Blue.

For the remainder of the fantasy season, the Ravens are the team that I believe will have the most fantasy breakout performers. Mark Andrews is having another stellar season but has help on the outside with rookie Zay Flowers. Their Week 9 opponent, the Seahawks, leads the NFC West as we hit the halfway point of the season. They have also done well on offense, but their defense has been mediocre at best. Expect plenty of fireworks in this game with loads of fantasy implications.

No House Advantage in Las Vegas

It seems we are in uncharted territory for QB injuries. It is the year of the backup in the NFL, but don’t tell the Las Vegas Raiders. They seem to have paid one of their starter money, only to fire everyone and send him to the bench where he belongs. Aidan O’Connell gets the nod going forward, which I famously predicted in my preseason hot takes column here. The rookie from Purdue isn’t going to wow anyone. He’s a smart player selected in the fourth round with adequate traits.

What remains to be seen is what the offense will look like in the wake of Josh McDaniels and Mick Lombardi. Bo Hardegree takes over the offense under interim head coach Antonio Pierce. With the litany of unproven QBs taking the reins this week, veteran receivers like Davante Adams will have to deal with the maddening inconsistency in stride. The Raiders probably should have traded away their star WR, but they waited until after the deadline to cut bait with their lame-duck administration and will try to rebuild halfheartedly.

Pierce’s former team, the Giants, head to Allegiant Stadium with starting QB Daniel Jones back at the helm after backup Tyrod Taylor suffered a serious rib injury. O’Connell’s fellow Big-10 and Shrine Bowl alumnus Tommy DeVito was added to the roster as their backup. This might be the least entertaining game on the slate, but I’m sure curiosity will get the best of me and I’ll tune in to see this train wreck.

It’s Always Tony in Philadelphia

Between an arduous recovery from ankle surgery and a tattered, underperforming offensive line, Tony Pollard has not been himself yet this season. The Dallas Cowboys travel to Philly this week and it’s anyone’s guess which team will hop off the bus at the Linc. Will it be the Cowboys team that was dismantled by the Cardinals? Or will the dominant defense and special teams show up to drub the division rivals which Dallas has beaten seven of the last 10 times? One thing is certain: Dak Prescott is not good enough to carry this team. They will need to run the ball more successfully to beat the best team in the league.

Pollard’s metrics are down across the board, save for a huge uptick in volume. The Eagles are the best defense in the NFL at stopping opposing RBs from scoring fantasy points. Where they have struggled is on the back end in coverage. Pollard will need to find room somehow to keep the defense honest, but my honest synopsis is Dallas will be outclassed upfront in this one. The fan in me yearns for the Memphis playmaker to break off some chunk plays like in previous years. The realist in me supposes it might not be in the cards anymore.

The real matchup is the Dallas defense versus the Philadelphia offense. Great going up against great is what football is all about. Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown have been unstoppable this season, never mind the presence of DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, with D’Andre Swift in the backfield. The league’s best offensive line paves the way, but the Cowboys get pressure and turn the ball over better than any defense. Where Philly can hurt America’s Team will be with Goedert in the middle of the field when Dallas drops into their base Cover-3. This will be the game I will be looking forward to the most on Sunday.

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