The Cincinnati Bengals will face the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 9. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding QB Joe Burrow.
Is Joe Burrow Playing in Week 9?
Burrow is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any setbacks, he is on track to play this weekend.
We’ll continue to monitor the Bengals’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Joe Burrow in Week 9?
I’d take my chances most weeks if you told me Burrow was going to complete over 70% of his passes, funnel over 30% of his looks to Ja’Marr Chase, and run for 15 yards. That profile, more often than not, is going to make him a usable piece. But against the Eagles last week, it resulted in his worst weekly finish since Week 1.
The Friday injury to Tee Higgins certainly disrupted what this offense wanted to do, and the lack of a ground game certainly didn’t help (Chase Brown and Zack Moss ran 17 times for 43 yards with a long rush of five yards). This week should be better.
Not only will the team have a contingency plan in place for the Higgins situation, a level of balance is much more likely as they face a defense that ranks 23rd in rush success rate and 28th in yards allowed per carry after contact to running backs this year.
Burrow has been able to marry an increase in quick strike rate with regular downfield shots, a combination that should prove lethal in this spot. The Raiders create pressure at the fifth-lowest rate and allow the fifth-most red-zone trips per game (3.6). I have zero hesitation about going back to Cincy’s franchise man — he’s my QB6 for Week 9.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 9 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Joe Burrow’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 9
Burrow is projected to score 20.4 fantasy points in Week 9. This includes 272.6 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, and 0.7 interceptions. It also includes 3.4 rushing attempts for 12.3 yards and 0.2 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insights: Las Vegas Raiders Defense
It has been a pretty poor season for the Raiders’ defense, outside of a couple of relatively promising results against the more middling offenses they have faced. This unit was completely pulled apart by the Carolina Panthers in Week 3, which should be fairly telling in itself.
The combination of being in the bottom 10 when it comes to getting pressure without blitzing, forcing turnovers, and red-zone defense is far from ideal. The rest of the numbers are not a disaster by any means, but those three are a part of the core elements that defenses need to do well in order to have success.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Joe Burrow’s Week 9 Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 11:45 PM ET on Saturday, January 25.
Conference Championship QB PPR Rankings
1) Josh Allen | BUF (at KC)
2) Jalen Hurts | PHI (vs. WAS)
3) Jayden Daniels | WAS (at PHI)
4) Patrick Mahomes | KC (vs. BUF)
Las Vegas Raiders at Cincinnati Bengals Insights
Las Vegas Raiders
Team: The NFL team average is 4.5 yards per carry—the Raiders failed to reach 3.5 in five of eight games last season (Week 8: 21 carries for 33 yards).
QB: Gardner Minshew’s average depth of throw over his past four appearances (ending with Sunday’s mark against the Chiefs): 8.3 – 7.7 – 6.2 – 4.6.
Offense: The Raiders either scored or went three-and-out on every drive on Sunday against the Chiefs.
Defense: Before Sunday, the Raiders hadn’t allowed more than five third-down conversions in a game this season (28.9% conversion rate). Amidst Kermit Gate, Patrick Mahomes picked up 12-of-16 (75%) opportunities.
Fantasy: What made Jakobi Meyers great on Sunday? A season-low 5.8% aDOT and 42.2% slot usage (under 23% in each of his two games before his injury).
Betting: The Raiders have covered five of their past seven road games, with three of those covers coming by more than six points.
Cincinnati Bengals
Team: The Bengals have three wins this season – against the Panthers, Giants, and Browns.
QB: Joe Burrow’s red zone completion percentage is down to 53.7% from 67.4% last season
Offense: The Bengals have averaged under 5.0 yards per play three times this season, two of which have come in the past two weeks.
Defense: Cincinnati blitzed 28.6% of the time on Sunday (their highest since Week 3), but created pressure on a season-low 13.6% of Philadelphia dropbacks.
Fantasy: With Tee Higgins sidelined, Mike Gesicki’s role reappeared. The tight end had twice as many targets on Sunday (eight) as he had in the month prior.
Betting: The Bengals are 0-4 ATS at home this season, failing to cover three of those games by double figures.
