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SBNation Minnesota's week 9 fantasy football projections and rankings

Seattle's defense could feast on Christian Ponder's mistakes this Sunday.

Harry How

I play plenty of other fantasy games throughout the year. My friends and I compete in fantasy basketball, baseball and even sometimes hockey (though not this year). Whenever I play these other fantasy games, one thing shines through everytime...

There is no game that compares to fantasy football.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the other games. Drafting is always a hoot as the opportunity to meet up online or in person with friends and talk sports is something I will always relish. But no one really seems to care as much. And quite frankly, it's because the games are not as good.

Fantasy football primarily takes place on one day of the week, providing everyone the opportunity for people to give their rosters delicate attention for five or six days and then watch Sunday's games on the edge of their seats. The other games? There are too many each week. There is never the drama of watching your players because there are sixty games throughout the rest of the week that have equal impact.

It's also difficult for everyone to stay as involved as they can be with fantasy football. People have lives. There are only a few of us that can check rosters and injury statuses every single day. Once a week is just fine for everyone, it's the perfect fit and just enough to give everyone a little break from reality.

So while we may all play other fantasy games, make sure to enjoy fantasy football. It doesn't take all year to complete and it offers up the most fun for us all. So cheers everyone, good luck this week.

Here are my week nine LIKES and DISLIKES:

Remember you can always tweet any additional questions or concerns regarding your fantasy football team to Frederick at@SpaceJace27.


QUARTERBACKS


LIKE ‘EM


Michael Vick


I repeatedly seem to put Vick on this list, but this may be the most confident I am that he will put together a great performance. Reid gave Vick the nod as this week’s starter for Monday night’s game in New Orleans. The Saints’ horrendous pass defense has allowed 24 or more fantasy points to quarterbacks in five of their 7 games.


Projection: 22 points


Matthew Stafford


Stafford was awesome last week against a stout Seahawks’ secondary. This week, he faces Jacksonville, who has given up 11 touchdowns to quarterbacks in their last five games.


Projection: 20 points


Carson Palmer


Palmer has been the ideal form of consistency this season. Oakland’s signal caller has scored 15+ points in six of his seven starts. Expect more of the same at home this week against the Bucs.


Projection: 17 points


Sleeper: Russell Wilson has been up-and-down all season. On the bright side he is averaging 16 points over his three starts at home, which is exactly where he’ll be this Sunday when a Vikings’ defense, which is giving up over 18 points per game to quarterbacks, comes to play.


DISLIKE ‘EM


Ryan Fitzpatrick


Fitzpatrick has slowed down from a solid start to the season, scoring just 30 points combined over his last three starts. Now he faces a Texans’ defense in Houston that made Joe Flacco look silly in their last game and is coming off of a bye.


Projection: 12 points


Eli Manning


Manning has struggled in his last three, scoring a high of just 15 points against the Redskins (and that was largely thanks to his game-winning touchdown to Cruz). Pittsburgh has given up a high of 14 points to Quarterbacks over their last four games, including shutting down the likes of Vick, Dalton and, most notably, Griffin. This matchup could be troublesome for Eli.


Projection: 13 points


Matt Schaub


The matchup looks great. The only problem for Schaub is that Houston runs the ball against bad teams... A lot. Schaub has just 18 points in the Texans’ two games, though both were blowout wins for Houston. Buffalo has the worst run defense in the NFL, so look for Foster to touch the ball often. Schaub should play the "game manager" role in this one.


Projection: 12 points


RUNNING BACKS


LIKE ‘EM


Darren Sproles


Sproles is proving to be one of the most consistent backs in fantasy this season. He has scored 11+ in five of the Saints’ seven outings. Sproles should see plenty of action this week, the Eagles have allowed 20+ receiving yards to individual backs in five of their seven games.


Projection: 12 points


Reggie Bush


Bush has been bad of late. The USC product is averaging just over six points per game over his last five showings. Good news for Bush: he is going up against a Colts’ defense that’s given up double-digit fantasy performances to five different backs this year.


Projection: 14 points


Doug Martin


The Raiders are giving up six and a half catches to running backs per game over their last five games. Doug Martin should have a field day coming out of the backfield.


Projection: 15 points


Sleeper: Jonathon Stewart could be a sneaky RB2 this week. Stewart touched the ball 21 times last week. The Redskins’ rush defense has been solid, but did give up over a hundred yards last week to Jonathon Dwyer.


DISLIKE ‘EM


Chris Johnson


Johnson has scored double-digit points for his owners each of the last three weeks and has turned himself back into a viable fantasy option. However, this week he goes up against a Chicago defense that hasn’t given up 85 rushing yards to a back all season.


Projection: 7 points


BenJarvus Green-Ellis


The Lawfirm hasn’t scored more than seven points since week two against Baltimore. He needs to score a touchdown to be successful. Denver has given up just three rushing touchdowns to backs all season.


Projection: 5 points


Mikel LeShoure


LeShoure hasn’t done much of anything since his week three performance against Tennessee. The Jaguars’ defense has been stout against the run each of the past two weeks. I have some difficulty trusting the Lions’ starting running back right now.


Projection: 6 points


WIDE RECEIVERS


LIKE ‘EM


Percy Harvin


Seattle has a solid secondary, but it was torched by Stafford and the Lions last week. One thing about Percy Harvin, it doesn’t matter how effective the opposing defense is, he is going to get touches and he is going to move the ball.


Projection: 14 points


DeSean Jackson


Jackson has not reached double-digits in his last three games. This week will be different. The Saints have given up 10+ to 11 different receivers in seven total games this year. Jackson and Maclin should have nice evenings.


Projection: 16 points


Stevie Johnson


Johnson seems to be hitting his stride. He’s going up against a solid corner in Joseph, but Joseph has struggled a bit as of late. And hey, there is always garbage time for Buffalo as Houston should get up big.


Projection: 12 points


Sleeper: Sidney Rice has put up nice games in two of his last three and the Vikings will be without their top corner Chris Cook, so Rice could be effective against his former squad.


DISLIKE ‘EM


Torrey Smith


Smith has been lacking the big play as of late. This week’s matchup looks favorable, but he should go up against Hayden which doesn’t bode well for him. I expect Ray Rice to do most of the damage for the Ravens this week.


Projection: 7 points


Dwayne Bowe


It’s difficult to trust any wideout with that quarterback situation in Kansas City right now.


Projection: 6 points


Larry Fitzgerald


The Packers’ defense has played better of late and Clay Matthews probably won’t be giving Skelton much time to throw the ball deep. Tramon Williams is also a difficult matchup.


Projection: 6 points


TIGHT ENDS


LIKE ‘EM


Brent Celek


The Saints’ defense actually hasn’t been too bad against tight ends this season, but I have a hunch Celek will find the end zone.


Projection: 10 points


Antonio Gates


The Chiefs have allowed three touchdowns to tight ends this season and Gates had 59 yards against Kansas City in week four.


Projection: 11 points


Sleeper: Logan Paulsen has been sufficient in Washington since replacing the injured Fred Davis and this week he has a favorable matchup against the Panthers.


DISLIKE ‘EM


Jermichael Finley


I have given up on Finley, so this will probably be the week he goes off. I also expect Arizona’s secondary to give that Packer passing attack at least a few problems.


Projection: 5 points


DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS


LIKE ‘EM


Seattle


The Seahawks have been pretty good at home and Christian Ponder is prone to handing the defense the ball in the last couple of weeks.


Projection: 14 points


Denver


The Bengals have struggled in the past three weeks and Denver’s defense is looking like they may be returning to last year’s form.


Projection: 13 points


DISLIKE ‘EM


Dallas


This simply comes down to the matchup. No defense has been able to slow down Matt Ryan thus far this season.


Projection: 5 points




Week 9 Positional Rankings



Quarterbacks



1

Drew Brees

2

Aaron Rodgers

3

Robert Griffin III

4

Peyton Manning

5

Matt Ryan

6

Michael Vick

7

Matthew Stafford

8

Cam Newton

9

Ben Roethlisberger

10

Eli Manning

11

Josh Freeman

12

Tony Romo

13

Andrew Luck

14

Jay Cutler

15

Matt Schaub

16

Carson Palmer

17

Joe Flacco

18

Phillip Rivers

19

Andy Dalton

20

Ryan Fitzpatrick

21

Ryan Tannehill

22

Brandon Weeden

23

Matt Hasselbeck

24

Russell Wilson

25

Matt Cassel

Running Backs



1

Arian Foster

2

Ray Rice

3

Matt Forte

4

LeSean McCoy

5

Marshawn Lynch

6

Trent Richardson

7

Alfred Morris

8

Adrian Peterson

9

Ryan Mathews

10

Willis McGahee

11

Darren McFadden

12

Doug Martin

13

Jamaal Charles

14

Reggie Bush

15

Darren Sproles

16

Ahmad Bradshaw

17

Chris Johnson

18

Rashad Jennings

19

Michael Turner

20

C.J. Spiller

21

Fred Jackson

22

BenJarvus Green-Ellis

23

Mikel LeShoure

24

Jonathon Dwyer

25

Jonathon Stewart

26

Felix Jones

27

LaRod Stephens-Howling

28

Alex Green

29

Donald Brown

30

Pierre Thomas

31

Daniel Thomas

32

Vick Ballard

33

Michael Bush

34

Andre Brown

35

Peyton Hillis

36

Ronnie Hillman

37

DeAngelo Williams

38

Joique Bell

39

Isaac Redman

40

Jamie Harper

Wide Receivers



1

A.J. Green

2

Brandon Marshall

3

Victor Cruz

4

Demaryius Thomas

5

Percy Harvin

6

Marques Colston

7

Reggie Wayne

8

Vincent Jackson

9

Calvin Johnson

10

Jordy Nelson

11

Roddy White

12

Andre Johnson

13

Julio Jones

14

Mike Wallace

15

Eric Decker

16

Larry Fitzgerald

17

Miles Austin

18

Dez Bryant

19

Hakeem Nicks

20

Steve Smith

21

DeSean Jackson

22

Stevie Johnson

23

Denarius Moore

24

Torrey Smith

25

James Jones

26

Randall Cobb

27

Dwayne Bowe

28

Jeremy Maclin

29

Mike Williams

30

Lance Moore

31

Antonio Brown

32

Malcom Floyd

33

Brian Hartline

34

Titus Young

35

Josh Gordon

36

Sidney Rice

37

Andre Roberts

38

Santana Moss

39

Anquan Boldin

40

Kenny Britt

Tight Ends




1

Jimmy Graham

2

Jason Witten

3

Tony Gonzalez

4

Owen Daniels

5

Antonio Gates

6

Heath Miller

7

Brent Celek

8

Brandon Pettigrew

9

Martellus Bennett

10

Greg Olsen

11

Kyle Rudolph

12

Jermaine Gresham

13

Scott Chandler

14

Jermichael Finley

15

Jared Cook

16

Brandon Myers

17

Jacob Tamme

18

Logan Paulsen

19

Dallas Clark

20

Dennis Pitta



Defense/Special Teams




1

Chicago

2

Houston

3

Green Bay

4

Seattle

5

Atlanta

6

San Diego

7

Baltimore

8

Minnesota

9

Denver

10

Detroit

11

Miami

12

New York (N)

13

Pittsburgh

14

Washington

15

Cleveland

16

Kansas City

17

Tampa Bay

18

Dallas

19

Indianapolis

20

Oakland


*You might notice some projections do not match up with the rankings (Stevie Johnson is six spots behind Larry Fitzgerald, yet I have Johnson projected for six more points). Projections indicate how I believe the players will perform, while rankings indicate who I would start at the position (Fitzgerald may not outscore Johnson this week, but I would still start Fitzgerald over Johnson based solely off upside).

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.