For a massive undertaking like Fantasy Points Data, we need a large team of dedicated and educated charting professionals to ensure that we can get statistics posted on the website both accurately and quickly.
While the data-charting process is, by nature, objective, our team will obviously form opinions about what they saw, given we have to watch every play multiple times.
Every week, we’ll select the most notable observations and back them up with the objective data we’ve become known for.
Here are our top observations for 2024 NFL Week 9.
Week 9 Data Charter Observations
1. “How do you sum up the Ravens offense? It’s almost like playing Madden on rookie mode. The balance of power run game, mixed in with the threat of Lamar Jackson escaping the pocket, and finally sprinkling in receivers who can find the soft spots in the middle of the field while separating from man coverage. This is legitimately scary.”
Well on his way to by far the best passing season of his career, Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson is firmly entrenched in the MVP race yet again. Already the best running QB in the league, Jackson is unfairly up to 2,379 passing yards (3rd most), a league-leading 9.33 YPA, a ridiculous 20-2 TD:INT ratio, and an excellent 6.1% CPOE (2nd highest).
Meanwhile, RB Derrick Henry is breaking the explosive run stat with a league-high (by a significant margin) 523 rushing yards on explosive runs. Henry also checks in at 3rd in both YACO/ATT (3.18) and YBCO/ATT (3.08), who could have guessed that adding an elite runner to an elite running offense would go so well? Toss in WR Zay Flowers, sporting a solid ASS of 0.169 and a 19.3% win rate leading to 654 receiving yards (5th most), and the Ravens offense is a runaway train. The Bengals will look to slow down the Ravens' offense in a short-week showdown on Thursday Night Football.
2. “Dak Prescott missed a couple of wide-open throws that would’ve likely been touchdowns. One was to Jalen Tolbert in the first quarter, and Dak not only didn’t see it, but also took a sack on the play. The offense just looks broken and at times, it felt like they were trying to find anyone to be the WR2, and nobody wanted it.”
Lack of depth and an injury to WR Brandin Cooks helped sink the Cowboys to 3-5 on the season, following a 27-21 loss on the road at the hands of the Falcons. QB Dak Prescott left the game early and will likely miss some time, which puts the Cowboys season at risk of being lost. WR CeeDee Lamb continued to get peppered with targets, leading the team with 12 in Week 9, but could not do much with the looks by ending the day with just 47 yards on 8 catches. TE Jake Ferguson has been productive when healthy, but the WR2 spot on the Cowboys has been a challenging problem for the Cowboys to solve this season, as no WR outside of Lamb and Cooks has run at least 100 routes and registered a win rate higher than 10.9%. The Cowboys will look to avoid a 4-game losing streak in Week 10 and will have their hands full with the division-rival Eagles on tap.
3. “After Sunday, I am ready to come in here and crown Chase Brown the new bell cow for Cincy. The Fantasy Points Charters have been raving about Chase’s explosiveness and game-breaking ability compared to Zack Moss on tape for weeks, and on Sunday, we saw it on full display. What he showed in a limited sample size, he showed on every play, including some incredible awareness in the pass game with a little toe tap touchdown in the back of the end zone.”
Bengals’ RB Chase Brown led the Bengals to a dominant 41-24 win in Week 9 over the visiting Raiders. Teammate Zack Moss missed the game, but the Bengals were starting to have no choice but to play Brown over Moss more and more as Brown is ahead of Moss by a wide margin in yards (479-242), YPC (4.56 to 3.27), explosive yards (125-31), MTF/ATT (0.20-.012) and YACO/ATT (2.53-1.99).
With Moss landing on IR after the game, Brown will have an opportunity to help bring the Bengals back from a dismal 1-4 start, although the status of WR Tee Higgins clouds the Bengals’ chances of making a playoff run. Higgins also did not suit up in Week 9, allowing TE Mike Gesicki to griddy his way to a stat line of 5/100/2. Up next for the Bengals is the aforementioned showdown with the Ravens, who have been a pass-funnel defense thus far this season.
The trade for Khalil Herbert is more for depth than a threat to Brown’s workload.
4. “This felt like a step forward for Jayden Daniels. It could have been a letdown spot coming off an emotional win and now on the road against a divisional opponent, but Daniels stayed within the offense, and the Commanders won with relative ease. Daniels made some excellent throws, including the two touchdowns to Terry McLaurin.”
After beating the Bears in Week 8 with a hail mary, Commanders’ QB Jayden Daniels methodically led the way to a 27-22 victory over the Giants, in which the Commanders were winning by double-digits for the majority of the second half. Daniels tossed a pair of touchdowns to WR Terry McLaurin including an 18-yard catch right before halftime to seemingly put the game out of reach early.
Contrary to previous seasons, the Commanders were able to slow the pace down and run the ball in the second half, finishing with 38 total runs (including scrambles) for a healthy 149 yards. Daniels’ ability to take off on pass plays certainly contributes to this, but the Commanders currently rank 2nd in rush attempts at 293 and 3rd in rush yards per game with 163.9. The Commanders get two of their toughest tests in a row up next as they square off against the Steelers and Eagles back-to-back, both of whom rank top-5 in rushing yards allowed on the season.
5. “Awful day for Caleb Williams, in which he regressed to how he looked early in the season. He didn’t get much help from his offensive line or receivers. Chicago’s receivers only had two recorded drops, but it felt like more with how ineffective they were. Chicago’s offense was back to trying deeper routes where the offensive line couldn’t give Williams time to let the play develop. Yes, he had some snaps where he didn’t feel the pressure well, but the offense wasn’t built to help him this week.”
The Bears’ season is teetering on a collapse following their second straight loss this time at the hands of the Cardinals in a 29-9 loss in the desert. QB Caleb Williams has been under fire the entire season as the Bears’ offensive line has struggled to give the first overall pick time in the pocket, and Week 9 was no different as Williams saw 18 pressures (t-3rd most).
His time-to-pressure rate was 2.71 seconds, but his time-to-throw rate was 3.16 seconds implying that Williams is not trusting what he sees downfield and is holding the ball too long. Another major side effect of the poor offensive line play is Williams’ poor accuracy, as Williams is ahead of just Colts’ QB Anthony Richardson in catchable target rate at 67.8%. The Bears have somewhat of a get-right game at home against the Patriots and currently need every win they can get as their schedule toughens after Week 10.
6. “Some turnovers for Drake Maye, but he made some exciting throws that promise the Patriots’ future. Their receivers have to be the worst in the league, yet Maye can move the ball with his legs when plays aren’t open downfield, or protection breaks down. It reminds me of early Josh Allen, where he relied on scrambling while his passing is a work in progress.”
Patriots fans rejoice? Tough to say that considering the Patriots lost, but QB Drake Maye continued to show promise in what was expected to be (and has been) a tough season for the Patriots. An easy-to-see improvement that Maye has made in the move from Jacoby Brissett to Maye is the rookie's accuracy on throws of 10+ yards downfield. Unfortunately for Maye, he is set up in a tough environment as he has faced a 9.35% PrROE (3rd-highest, with Brissett ranking 2nd), and his pass catchers rank bottom-10 in drops and drop rate on the season.
It is tough to find wins left on the Patriots’ schedule as they take on several playoff contenders after the Bears this week, but maybe that’s what Patriots fans not-so-secretly want?
7. “Deep passing and big plays are clearly a thing of the past for the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes looks underneath what seems like every play to DeAndre Hopkins and Travis Kelce. Hopkins is exactly what the Chiefs needed. Then Kareem Hunt hits the hole and pushes the pile for 5 yards, and the Chiefs just bleed the ball down the field. Meanwhile, Xavier Worthy looked lost, particularly on the near touchdown in the first half. He just drifted upfield and caught the ball with both feet out of bounds.”
The Chiefs kept their undefeated season alive after eking out a win over Baker Mayfield and the Bucs in a 30-24 win at home in Week 9. As is the new normal with the Chiefs, QB Patrick Mahomes attempted just 3 passes 20 yards downfield, lowering his Deep Throw Percentage to 5.9% (last among qualified quarterbacks). WR DeAndre Hopkins turned in a classic DHop performance with 8/86/2, even hauling in a 35-yard catch while fighting through traffic.
While maybe not a classic performance from RB Kareem Hunt, the veteran scored the game-winning touchdown to go along with 117 total yards and his first explosive run of the season. One area of concern has been rookie WR Xavier Worthy, who crushed fantasy owners with -10 total yards and zero catches, including a would-be walk-in touchdown, if not for Worthy losing track of the sideline and stepping out of bounds on the catch. The Chiefs get a difficult defensive matchup next week in an AFC West game against the Broncos.
Bonus Observations
Raiders TE Brock Bowers — Bowers is a menace. He is a top-5 receiving tight end in the league already. He is a mismatch and he runs really good routes. You can tell it is clicking for him now. Bowers scored his second touchdown on the season to go along with his 580 receiving yards (most among tight ends). In a rough year for the Raiders, Bowers has been among the brightest spots on the team.
Dolphins RB De’Von Achane — Achane is the biggest beneficiary of Tua Tagovailoa returning. The entire offense moves faster, and the motions are all more effective, which leads to the offensive line being able to create bigger holes, and Achane is running with a purpose. Achane’s rushing has been great, but his work on the passing game has set him apart. His route share is high for an RB, but more impressively, he leads the Dolphins in TPRR at 0.28.
Panthers QB Bryce Young — Young looked the most confident in the pocket that he has ever looked in his career. It wasn’t his best statistical game, but the swagger was there. The former first-overall pick was given another chance after an off-the-field injury to Andy Dalton left a void at QB for the Panthers. Young got the ball out to his playmakers by averaging just 2.53 time-to-throw, helping the Panthers pick up their second win of the season.
