As I write this, the Saquon Backwards-Spinning-Hurdle is the talk of the town. The man pulled off a move that does not even have a corresponding button in Madden, and I don’t believe has had a button in any football video game since at least SEGA Sports Prime Time NFL ’96 for Genesis.
By the time this article gets published, the fervour may have died down a bit, but don’t worry. Today, we’re totally nerding out on the more distant past. Not Prime Time ’96 – though I did play the heck out of that game – I mean the Saquon leap.
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Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Primer
FGW is a statistic that converts fantasy points into fantasy wins. Players get positive FGW points for outscoring average fantasy starters and negative points for below-average scores. A player can score up to +0.5 FGW for increasing your chances of winning from 50% to 100% or down to -0.5 for dropping your chances from 50% to 0%. Percent started matters – 0% started throttles your FGW down to 0.
For a longer explanation, check out the 2023 FGW launch on my blog. The stat hasn’t changed since its inception.
Who Won Week 9?
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | FGW |
| 1 | Saquon Barkley | RB | 31.4 | 100% | 0.35 |
| 2 | De’Von Achane | RB | 28.1 | 93% | 0.28 |
| 3 | Garrett Wilson | WR | 25.5 | 95% | 0.26 |
| 4 | Derrick Henry | RB | 25.8 | 100% | 0.26 |
| 5 | Alvin Kamara | RB | 24.5 | 98% | 0.23 |
| 6 | Jalen Hurts | QB | 31.9 | 100% | 0.23 |
| 7 | Zay Flowers | WR | 27.2 | 73% | 0.22 |
| 8 | Joe Burrow | QB | 34.1 | 80% | 0.22 |
| 9 | Jaxon Smith-Njigba | WR | 33.5 | 43% | 0.17 |
| 10 | Chase Brown | RB | 24.2 | 60% | 0.14 |
| 11 | J.K. Dobbins | RB | 23.5 | 63% | 0.14 |
| 12 | Travis Kelce | TE | 15.0 | 100% | 0.13 |
| 13 | Justin Jefferson | WR | 18.1 | 99% | 0.13 |
| 14 | Davante Adams | WR | 18.6 | 85% | 0.12 |
| 15 | Los Angeles Chargers | DEF | 18.0 | 54% | 0.12 |
- What rhymes with Saquon, kids? That’s right, J-Kwon. Here comes the two, to the three, to the four; that’s the number of times Saquon has scored 0.30 FGW or more.
- Bottom of the 9th, De’Von Achane‘s gonna score. Achane’s had his 3 best FGW weeks in 2024, as his biggest weeks in 2023 were larger on fantasy manager benches.
- Wait a second, was Saquon’s leap even as good as Garrett Wilson‘s End it Like Beckham catch? The catch feels like it was a month ago now. It turns out that for Week 9, we could have just scored these plays like Olympic judges would, and our weekly winners would have looked the same.
- I checked the dictionary, and it looks like they’re missing a few versions of the word Landslide.
- Sliding down of rocks and mass of earth. Check.
- An overwhelming majority of votes. Check.
- Derrick Henry’s 2024 FGW performance. Missing that one.
- Stevie Nicks’s song. Missing that one, too. Fun fact: It was an underrated fantasy team name for Stevie Johnson/Hakeem Nicks managers around 2009-2010.
Who Lost Week 9?
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | FGW |
| 15 | Dak Prescott | QB | 13.3 | 51% | -0.09 |
| 14 | Jordan Love | QB | 10.9 | 42% | -0.09 |
| 13 | Ja’Marr Chase | WR | 7.8 | 99% | -0.09 |
| 12 | Younghoe Koo | K | 3.0 | 92% | -0.11 |
| 11 | Michael Pittman | WR | 1.9 | 50% | -0.11 |
| 10 | DJ Moore | WR | 5.3 | 75% | -0.11 |
| 9 | Jonathan Taylor | RB | 7.4 | 93% | -0.12 |
| 8 | Kansas City | DEF | 2.0 | 100% | -0.12 |
| 7 | C.J. Stroud | QB | 11.5 | 61% | -0.13 |
| 6 | Kyle Pitts | TE | 1.6 | 79% | -0.13 |
| 5 | A.J. Brown | WR | 4.6 | 97% | -0.16 |
| 4 | Marvin Harrison | WR | 2.4 | 85% | -0.18 |
| 3 | Puka Nacua | WR | 1.6 | 85% | -0.19 |
| 2 | Chris Olave | WR | 1.8 | 88% | -0.19 |
| 1 | Kyler Murray | QB | 4.8 | 71% | -0.23 |
- Here comes the three, to the four, to the five; now I’m looking at Shorty (Kyler Murray), but he won’t apologize. Pretty soon, my family fantasy team won’t be alive. I need another week where his stats are super-sized.
- Hey, remember how Kyle Pitts had a good Week 8? So much for that. Thankfully, his percentage only increased from 74% to 79%. We’re wise to your game, Kyle.
- Michael Pittman at 50% started sticks out to me. That’s a 12% bump from Week 8, so many of you can thank Joe Flacco for tricking you into starting him. It might be time to bail on Colts pass catchers. Jonathan Taylor gets a week or two probation, but then we have to decide for him, too.
- It’s fairly uncommon for team defenses to get 100% started rates. Weather forecasts may have driven that number up a bit. Usually, starting defenses in the rain is a great play, but I guess 2024 Baker Mayfield changes the math.
Week 9 Junior Varsity All-Stars
| # | Player | Pos | Pts | %St | bFGW |
| 1 | Mike Gesicki | TE | 24.5 | 7% | 0.29 |
| 2 | Demarcus Robinson | WR | 24.4 | 0% | 0.26 |
| 3 | Jaxon Smith-Njigba | WR | 33.5 | 43% | 0.22 |
| 4 | Quentin Johnston | WR | 20.0 | 0% | 0.18 |
| 5 | DeAndre Hopkins | WR | 24.6 | 35% | 0.17 |
| 6 | Josh Oliver | TE | 14.3 | 0% | 0.12 |
| 7 | Daniel Jones | QB | 26.4 | 1% | 0.12 |
| 8 | Courtland Sutton | WR | 20.8 | 44% | 0.11 |
| 9 | Rico Dowdle | RB | 19.2 | 26% | 0.10 |
| 10 | Chase Brown | RB | 24.2 | 60% | 0.09 |
| 11 | Zay Flowers | WR | 27.2 | 73% | 0.08 |
| 12 | Theo Johnson | TE | 12.6 | 0% | 0.08 |
| 13 | J.K. Dobbins | RB | 23.5 | 63% | 0.08 |
| 14 | Cade Otton | TE | 17.7 | 58% | 0.08 |
| 15 | Cedric Tillman | WR | 16.5 | 29% | 0.07 |
- Rumour has it someone demanded Mike Gesicki sign with either the Bengals or the Vikings so he could properly learn the Griddy.
- Here comes the four, to the three, to the two; Demarcus Robinson production coming out of the blue.
- Every time I looked up at RedZone during Seattle’s game, I saw Jaxon Smith-Njigba doing something. This was officially the first good fantasy game of his career. It’s not his highest percentage that started, though – he was at 52% in Week 5. This was actually only his 5th highest percentage start of the season so far.
- Do I always start the Cowboys in fantasy? Not consistently, no, but from time to time, I Dowdle.
Everybody In This League Getting Tips(y)
Last week I mentioned how rough of a season it has been for fantasy managers. Well, week 9 is now two weeks in a row with positive FGW for the league as a whole:
| Week | Total FGW |
| Week 01 | -1.26 |
| Week 02 | -0.39 |
| Week 03 | -1.18 |
| Week 04 | -1.04 |
| Week 05 | 0.16 |
| Week 06 | -0.07 |
| Week 07 | -1.36 |
| Week 08 | 1.38 |
| Week 09 | 0.58 |
This is a good thing – it means the players in starting lineups are generally outscoring averages from the past few years. Some teams may be turning their seasons around if they keep starting their studs. Things are looking up for us fantasy managers.
If you have at least 3 wins in the bank at this point, you have a shot at the playoffs. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. Here’s hoping your Week 10 has Stevie Nicks singing about your team’s performance. See you next week.
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