Fantasy football advice, Week 9: Who to start/sit for Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Bye week hell continues in Week 9 with six more teams on byes. And you thought it couldn’t have been worse than Week 8? Now fantasy owners get to scramble as skill position players on the Patriots, Bengals, Washington, Cardinals, Bears, and Texans all get to sit out of lineups.

But with the Steelers and Ravens squaring off on Sunday, options, though few of them, still remain for fantasy owners.

The Ravens would be in deep trouble if they fell to 3-5 at the hands of a divisional rival, so it makes sense that they would take every measure to get Steve Smith Sr. onto the field on Sunday. Smith practiced fully on Friday and is back in the WR3 conversation.

Terrance West can also be considered an RB2 with six teams on bye and the Steelers run defense playing like a shell of itself since allowing over 200 yards to Jay Ajayi. However, the possibility exists that Kenneth Dixon’s role will increase coming out of a bye. Despite that, West makes for a solid start against a Steelers defense that has allowed the third-most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs.

Smith’s return could spell doom for Mike Wallace’s production, as the deep threat may have to rely on splash plays to tack on fantasy points instead of heavy targets. Joe Flacco’s woes have led to hampered production throughout the Ravens offense, and there may not be enough value to trickle down to Wallace and tight end Dennis Pitta. Pitta remains a start-worthy tight end in a heavy bye week, but Smith being back in the lineup could cut into his targets.

Flacco, Dixon, and the remaining complementary receivers of the Ravens offense do not deserve fantasy consideration for Week 9, but Dixon should be owned in all 12-team leagues.

The same argument applied to getting Smith onto the field applies to Ben Roethlisberger, who will likely see the field after tearing his meniscus two weeks ago. Though the Ravens pass defense has been capable for most of the season, Roethlisberger remains a high-end QB1 with his full complement of weapons at his disposal. Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell would be started in fantasy leagues of all formats regardless of quarterback, but they both get a boost with Big Ben back in action.

A healthy core of Eli Rogers, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Markus Wheaton, and Sammie Coates may absorb each other’s targets too much for any single player of the four to be counted on. Jesse James can also be benched for Week 9.