SBNation Minnesota's week 9 fantasy football projections and rankings

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