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Eli analyzes players who overperformed and underperformed from last week to find potential Week 9 fantasy football buy-lows, sleepers and risers based on play-calling and historical data for the 2022 NFL season.
This is the ninth week of this series where I dive into offensive areas that will improve or decline based on past coaching trends in order to glean insight as to fantasy football value.
In Week 9, we saw stat lines such as the Tennessee Titans' wide receiver room combining for zero receiving yards, the Los Angeles Rams tight end room combining for two targets, and the Cincinnati Bengals running back room totaling five touchdowns.
After these types of performances, it is important to look at each of these teams' coaches and their playcalling tendencies to see if these performances are likely to continue, if they will change for the better, or if they will change for the worse.
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Fantasy Football Improvement Ahead?
This article will take a look at which of these areas are in line for improvement and which areas are in line for a decline in future weeks. Let's dive in! These are the areas and positions that will likely improve in the coming weeks, based on the team's play-caller tendencies in the past.
Arizona Cardinals Running Backs
Kliff Kingsbury
| RB Carries | RB Rush Yds | RB Rush TD | RB Rec. | RB Tgts | RB Rec. Yds | RB Rec. TD | |
| 2021 Cardinals | 21.24 | 87.94 | 1.06 | 5.24 | 6.06 | 44.82 | 0.18 |
| Kliff Kingsbury Prior (48 games) | 19.90 | 84.60 | 0.90 | 5.04 | 6.29 | 41.13 | 0.27 |
| Cardinals RBs vs. Seattle Seahawks | 12 | 59 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 34 | 0 |
For the second week in a row, the Arizona Cardinals running back room lands on this list as a group that may improve in the future. In this past Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks, the Arizona Cardinals running back room combined for 12 carries, 59 rushing yards, zero rushing touchdowns, six receptions, six targets, 34 receiving yards, and zero receiving touchdowns. After this game, this group has now totaled 165 carries (18.33 per game), 669 rushing yards (74.33 per game), five rushing touchdowns (0.56 per game), 49 receptions (5.44 per game), 67 targets (7.44 per game), 338 receiving yards (37.56 per game), and zero receiving touchdowns (zero per game) on the year.
This group has been underwhelming all year, but in all honesty, their usage levels are not significantly different from previous Kliff Kingsbury-led years at this point. The key to the Arizona Cardinals' running backs' fantasy value will be an improvement in efficiency. If that doesn't happen it's unlikely that they escape FLEX territory.
Fantasy players this impacts: James Conner, Eno Benjamin, Darrel Williams, Keaontay Ingram
Tennessee Titans Wide Receivers
Todd Downing
| WR Rec. | WR Tgts | WR Rec. Yds | WR Rec. TD | |
| 2021 Titans | 11.41 | 18.29 | 143.24 | 0.76 |
| Todd Downing Prior (33 games) | 11.61 | 19.18 | 142.88 | 0.97 |
| Titans WRs vs. Kansas City Chiefs | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
For the second week in a row, the Tennessee Titans wide receiver room lands on this list with a disappointing performance against the Kansas City Chiefs. In this game, the Titans' wide receiver room had zero receptions on five targets for zero receiving yards and zero receiving touchdowns. After this game, this group has totaled 51 receptions (6.38 per game) on 88 targets (11 per game) for 658 receiving yards (82.25 per game) and one receiving touchdown (0.13 per game) on the season.
These numbers are terrible for any wide receiver room and significantly lower than Todd Downing's previous wide receiver rooms. This group should be better once Ryan Tannehill is back and Malik Willis moves to the bench, and it's a good time to pick up Robert Woods or Treylon Burks off the waiver wire if you are desperate for a potential FLEX option.
Fantasy players this impacts: Robert Woods, Treylon Burks, Kyle Philips, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Cody Hollister, Mason Kinsey
Los Angeles Rams Tight Ends
Sean McVay & Liam Coen
| TE Rec. | TE Tgts | TE Rec. Yds | TE Rec. TD | |
| 2021 Rams | 3.94 | 5.53 | 36.18 | 0.29 |
| Sean McVay Prior (129 games) | 5.37 | 7.52 | 57.75 | 0.36 |
| Rams TEs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
The Los Angeles Rams' tight end room was non-existent against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past Sunday, as they combined for zero receptions on two targets for zero receiving yards and zero receiving touchdowns. On the season, this group has now totaled 38 receptions (4.75 per game) on 60 targets (7.5 per game) for 347 receiving yards (43.38 per game) and zero receiving touchdowns (zero per game). These numbers are better than the numbers of the 2021 Rams tight end room but are slightly lower than Sean McVay's overall career numbers. Overall, there will be better days than this past Sunday for Tyler Higbee and it looks like he'll be a low-end TE1 for the rest of the season.
Fantasy players this impacts: Tyler Higbee, Kendall Blanton, Brycen Hopkins
Decline Ahead?
As mentioned above, this article also looks at which teams and areas are in line for a decline in future weeks. These are the areas and positions that will likely decline in the coming weeks based on the team's play-caller tendencies in the past.
Cincinnati Bengals Running Backs
Zac Taylor & Brian Callahan
| RB Carries | RB Rush Yds | RB Rush TD | RB Rec. | RB Tgts | RB Rec. Yds | RB Rec. TD | |
| 2021 Bengals | 22.29 | 92.88 | 0.82 | 5 | 5.76 | 39.12 | 0.35 |
| Zac Taylor Prior (54 games) | 21.35 | 84.91 | 0.59 | 4.72 | 5.83 | 36 | 0.24 |
| Brian Callahan Prior (49 games) | 21.27 | 85.47 | 0.57 | 4.78 | 5.88 | 36.22 | 0.27 |
| Bengals RBs vs. Carolina Panthers | 28 | 204 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 61 | 1 |
If you had Joe Mixon in your fantasy football lineup last week, there's a 99% chance you won your matchup since he had one of the best fantasy games of all time. In the game against the Carolina Panthers this past Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals running back room combined for 28 carries, 204 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns, five receptions, seven targets, 61 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown. After this game, this group has totaled 176 carries (19.56 per game), 718 rushing yards (79.78 per game), six rushing touchdowns (0.67 per game), 58 receptions (6.44 per game), 75 targets (8.33 per game), 428 receiving yards (47.56 per game), and three receiving touchdowns (0.33 per game) on the season.
Comparing these numbers with head coach Zac Taylor's career numbers, it's clear the 2022 Bengals backfield is performing on the higher side of what we would normally expect - particularly in the passing game. Joe Mixon should still be a solid RB1 for the rest of the season, but if one of your league mates is willing to overpay you should still be willing to trade him - even after his historic day.
Fantasy players this impacts: Joe Mixon, Samaje Perine, Chris Evans
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