Fantasy football projections, Week 9: Steelers-Ravens featuring Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Terrance West, more

The Week 9 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens features a Super Bowl contender facing off against a team trying to keep its head above water. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Ben Roethlisberger practiced in a limited fashion Wednesday and everybody expects him to play against the Ravens. Big Ben’s return certainly gives the Steelers a step up on offense. Prior to being hurt, Roethlisberger had started out the season with 15 touchdown passes in his first five games. While turnovers became a problem over the last couple of weeks, he’s been in top form generally speaking. The Ravens are generous to quarterbacks and the Steelers haven’t had a problem topping Baltimore over the last number of years. They should win this game by a fair margin and it will benefit Roethlisberger’s fantasy statistics.

Hopefully the same can be said for the numbers of wide receiver Antonio Brown. He hasn’t found the end zone since Roethlisberger went down with his knee injury. The good news is Brown still managed seven catches for 106 yards against the New England Patriots in Week 7. Brown failed to catch a touchdown pass against the Ravens all of 2015. It’s time for him to make up for lost time. Only three teams in the league have given up more points to receivers than Baltimore. Brown is going to crush his projected totals in Week 9.

Running back Terrance West may be about to lose some of his fantasy value the rest of the season. Coach Jim Harbaugh hinted this week that it might be time to give rookie Kenneth Dixon some more touches. It’s going to happen sooner or later. For now it’s hard to tell how fast things will change. West is coming off of a Week 7 effort that saw him carry the ball just 8 times for 10 yards against the New York Jets, one of the worst rush defenses in football. The bottom line is throughout West’s career he’s been mostly touchdown dependent. It looks like the Ravens coaching staff is finally starting to realize that. The good news is he is facing a Pittsburgh defense that is the second worst in the league at limiting fantasy production from the running back position. Perhaps West rises way above his projected totals in Week 9 so that he can try to keep his starting job.

Regardless of whether he does or not, wide receiver Mike Wallace will be the go-to guy in the passing game. Wallace has 14 catches for 217 yards in his last two games combined. Prior to the team’s bye, he scorched the Jets for 10 catches and 120 yards. He’s normally not a juggernaut when it comes to receptions but Baltimore is thin at the receiver position. It’s obvious that makes Wallace more of a commodity in PPR formats than he’s ever been before. Pittsburgh has been solid at limiting fantasy production from wide receivers this season, but Wallace is the team’s best option. He hasn’t had three straight 95-yard-plus games in a long time. Don’t be surprised if his numbers come down a little bit in Week 9.