The Week 9 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals features intrastate rivals heading in opposite directions as has been the case for years. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 9: Browns-Bengals featuring Gary Barnidge, Andy Dalton and A.J. Green
We break down the Week 9 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Cleveland Browns
Tight end Gary Barnidge has to be a candidate for the Fantasy Player Of The Year award at this point. If there was such a thing it would be hard not to give it to him. He has either a touchdown catch or a 100-yard receiving game in every week since Week 2. Yet before the season, few fantasy experts would have even been able to name the guy. It’s obvious who the team’s offensive game plan revolves around in Cleveland and there’s no reason to think Barnidge won’t be busy in Cincinnati.
The one key change in the Browns’ offense this week that may slow Barnidge down is that Johnny Manziel and not Josh McCown will likely get the start on Thursday. McCown is highly questionable thanks to an injury to his ribs. Manziel completed eight passes on 15 attempts for 172 yards and two touchdowns in Week 2, the last game he started. Starting him in lineups this week would be a gamble, but given that he looked okay to start the season, there may be some upside against the Bengals.
Cincinnati Bengals
Andy Dalton has been a huge reason for the Bengals remaining undefeated to this point, but fantasy owners wouldn’t have guessed that based on last week’s performance. It was a defensive battle against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers and Dalton was due to have a dud performance eventually. He threw for just 231 yards and one touchdown to go with two interceptions. He does face a tough Cleveland defense, but given that the Browns offense is nothing special outside of Barnidge, Dalton should see plenty of opportunities to capitalize as the game goes on and the opposing defense wears out.
Hopefully that’s good news for wide receiver A.J. Green. It’s funny that Dalton didn’t play well last week because it didn’t reflect in Green’s numbers. He had his best game in weeks, catching a season-high 11 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. The performance represented the first time since Week 3 that Green had found the end zone or even gone over 100 yards receiving. Fantasy owners can only hope he keeps a good thing going against Cleveland on Thursday night.
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SB Nation presents: NFL Week 9 fantasy football waiver wire targets
