A few thoughts from the previous week’s action and the moves you should be looking to make in fantasy.

Will Dak Be Back?

For two NFL teams, the season hit a new low in week nine.

The Dallas Cowboys have now lost three straight games and find themselves third in the NFC East, one win ahead of the New York Giants.

This season, the Dallas offense ranks in the bottom half in both total yards/play (5.2) and net yards/pass attempt (5.9) and is tied-31st in rushing yards/attempt (3.8).

Defensively, the team has allowed the 10th most rushing yards/attempt (4.6) and has allowed the 2nd most passing yards/attempt (8.3). Bad on offense and worse on defense, this season has been awful for a team with Super Bowl ambitions.

Not only did the Cowboys lose their game on Sunday, they also lost franchise quarterback Dak Prescott to a hamstring injury that threatens to end his season.

At 3-5, Dallas have already had their bye week, so even if Prescott does return sometime from week 14 onward, it will likely be too late to make a difference.

Saints Row

Heading into week 3, the New Orleans Saints had the 2nd highest points differential through the first two games of a season, of any team in the 21st century. They were also tied for the 3rd highest points total at that point of the season, in NFL history.

Fast-forward seven weeks and things could hardly look bleaker. The team has now lost 7-straight games, the latest being a humiliating defeat to the Carolina Panthers, the worst team in the league.

Head coach Dennis Allen has since been relieved of his duties, but perhaps the most under-fire individual since the loss, has been quarterback Derek Carr.

In his first game back from a hip injury that had sidelined him for 3 weeks and without his top 2 receivers for most of the game, Carr led the Saints offense to the highest total yardage that any team has managed against Carolina this year. He also threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions as the Saints put up 22 points – not the best, but not terrible.

“Not the best, but not terrible” probably sums up Derek Carr quite well. Among starting quarterbacks since the 2020 season (10+ starts 2020-2023, 6+starts in 2024), Carr’s season-long passer rating rankings average out at QB13.

Among those with a worse passer rating than Carr this past weekend were Geno Smith, Kyler Murray, Matthew Stafford, Jordan Love, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, CJ Stroud and Trevor Lawrence.

Of those quarterbacks mentioned, all but one lost at the weekend. The criticism that Carr has endured though, goes far beyond anything that the others have faced.

The abusive tweets from former Saints receiver Michael Thomas, in-particular, are an example of the toxic hostility that Carr has faced. The quarterback of a struggling franchise is always going to face criticism, but I think that Thomas’ tweets have inspired a fire-at-will mentality towards his former teammate.

While most have seemed to find the tweets funny, I couldn’t find them less so if I tried. Thomas has a considerable following on social media, most of whom are no-doubt Saints fans. To use his platform to publicly tear down a fellow player, simply for not being good enough, is embarrassing in my opinion.

Whatever you think of Carr, he is, at worst, a serviceable NFL quarterback and I hope he proves people wrong in the coming weeks.

Lions Roar To 7-1

On a more positive note, how good are the Lions?!

Detroit have now won 6-straight games and have broken multiple records on their way. After toying with both the Cowboys and the Titans in recent weeks, the Lions went back to basics against Green Bay.

Despite having less rushing yards and less passing yards, Detroit got the win by keeping things simple and executing when it mattered.

Comparatively, Green Bay will feel aggrieved to have let a massive opportunity go to waste, as a collection of errors proved the difference on a cold and rainy evening at Lambeau Field.

A hobbled Jordan Love threw an avoidable pick-6 to Kerby Joseph, who had replaced the ejected Brian Branch, with less than 30 seconds remaining before half-time. He would go on to miss a wide open Dontayvion Wicks in the end-zone late in the fourth. Add that to a missed field goal and the Packers will be ruing what could have been as they sit out week 10.

The Lions head to Houston this weekend to take on CJ Stroud and the Texans. With Houston struggling to get things going of late, the Lions will be expected to return to Michigan 8-1.

Fantasy Football Buy-Lows

This week, I’ve chosen three wide receivers to trade for as we approach the latter stages of the fantasy football regular season.

Before I get to those three, however, if you are already confident of a playoff spot and can afford to plan ahead, you might want to keep an eye on the Raiders.

On a bye this week, the Raiders have some decisions to make, having fired their offensive-coordinator, quarterback coach and offensive line coach earlier this week.

So why the Raiders?

Las Vegas has a great schedule for running backs moving forward. Whilst winning teams will, most likely, already have better running back options, the Raiders face Atlanta, Jacksonville and New Orleans over the course of the fantasy playoffs.

With a new interim coordinator leading the offense, whether Vegas sticks with Alexander Mattison, or switches to Zamir White, could be valuable information come the fantasy championship weeks.

If you’re still in a battle for those playoff spots though, here are three receivers that could help you get there.

George Pickens (Pittsburgh)

Currently outside the WR2 places in half-ppr, George Pickens should be perfectly attainable in a trade. Add in that the Steelers added Mike Williams from the Jets to play opposite Pickens and current owners may be even more open to offers.

Fresh off a bye week, before which he finished 44th among receivers in week 8, Pickens has a very friendly schedule moving forward.

That schedule includes two games against the Ravens and two against the Browns, who rank 32nd and 30th respectively in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers this season.

The third-year jump ball specialist, who had 7 red-zone targets in 6 games with Justin Fields, has averaged two per game since Russell Wilson took over in Pittsburgh.

I’m projecting solid WR2 numbers over the rest of the season for Pickens, with some WR1 finishes thrown in along the way.

Marvin Harrison Jr (Arizona)

So I ran some numbers on 5 rookie receivers from last season, it would have been 6, but I thought the injuries to Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins last year affected Jordan Addison‘s numbers too much.

I added up their half-ppr points over their teams first 8 games of the season and then compared them to numbers from the second 8 games.

Between Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jayden Reed, Quentin Johnston, Zay Flowers and Rashee Rice, the increase in half-ppr points from the first 8 games to the second 8 games averaged out at 63.4% (using 1 decimal place throughout).

Marvin Harrison is currently the WR19 overall in half-ppr, but has been incredibly inconsistent, finishing week 9 as the WR76.

Now might be the best time to trade for Harrison, as he faces the Jets this weekend, followed by a bye week. That might sound counter-intuitive, but current owners will almost certainly check the schedule before responding to any offers, so it works both ways.

Harrison is coming off three games against top 11 defenses in terms of passing yards allowed per game, the Jets are 2nd in that metric, then it’s all bottom half defenses after the Cardinals‘ week 11 bye

Malik Nabers (New York Giants)

Continuing the rookie theme, Malik Nabers‘ elite start to the season might suggest that he’s out of place in a buy-low article.

Since missing weeks 6 and 7 with a concussion though, Nabers has scored 0 touchdowns and has finished as the WR43, WR37 and the WR29 overall.

However, of the three defenses Nabers has faced since returning, two are at the very top of the league when it comes to passing yards allowed per game, over their last three games. Over that same three-game stretch, 6 of Nabers’ 7 remaining opponents rank in the bottom 12 in that metric.

Still the undisputed number 1 receiver for the Giants, I expect the rookie to return to the league-winning form that he showed before his injury, starting at Carolina in Germany this weekend.

Nabers will still be expensive if you wish to trade for him, but he could easily be a top 5 receiver for the rest of the season.

That’s all for this one, I hope it’s helped. I’ll be back tomorrow with my week 10 starts and sits.

In-depth stats from Pro Football Focus.