The Week 9 matchup between the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers features a young up-and-coming lineup against a veteran team fighting to keep up. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 9: Raiders-Steelers featuring Derek Carr, DeAngelo Williams and Antonio Brown
We break down the Week 9 matchup between the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Oakland Raiders
For the first time in a long time, the future is bright in the land of the silver and black. As proof of that, here are quarterback Derek Carr’s stats over the last two weeks combined: 47 completions, 622 passing yards and seven touchdowns. He’s also led the Raiders to a 4-3 record after seven games. Even a diehard fan would be hard-pressed to remember the last time that happened in Oakland. Carr should be able to keep the good times rolling against the Steelers, given that he just scorched the defensive-minded New York Jets.
Carr’s recent display of fantasy dominance should only help the stock of wide receiver Amari Cooper. Cooper found himself held in check thanks to Darrelle Revis last week, but two weeks ago he got five passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. He’s put together an impressive rookie season so far and one can only imagine what his statistics will be like a year or two from now when Cooper is better adjusted to the pro game and Carr is even more consistent.
Pittsburgh Steelers
As one star returns, another exits in Pittsburgh. Running back Le’Veon Bell left last week’s game with a season-ending MCL injury. That makes DeAngelo Williams a hot commodity in fantasy leagues at the moment. The Raiders have been good against the run this year, but Williams impressed while Bell sat out the start of the season due to suspension. He saw 20-plus carries in each of his two starts this year, so a high volume of touches is likely going to equal some sort of study production, even against an opponent allowing just 82.9 yards per contest to rush attacks this year.
One guy who should benefit from the Steelers’ injury carousel is wide receiver Antonio Brown. Brown struggled with Michael Vick at quarterback, but now that Ben Roethlisberger is back and the aforementioned Bell is out, Brown will continue to get looked to heavily. He scored just his third touchdown of the season last week, but hopefully Brown can build on that against a Raiders pass defense that ranks 31st in the league allowing 302.1 passing yards a game.
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SB Nation presents: The Raiders are good now. For real.
