Saquon Barkley's Leap Backward and More Week 9 Fantasy Breakouts

by Peter Overzet

16 hours ago

In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Mike's Hard Lemonade:
Well, so much for the Joe Flacco era in Indy starting out with a bang.

The Colts scored only 10 points last night vs. the Vikings, as Flacco completed only 16 passes times for 179 yards.

He also had a brutal pick, threw a couple hospital balls late in the fourth quarter, and put a bow on things with back-to-back sacks on the final drive of the game.

To be fair, the Vikings’ pass rush has given lots of opposing QBs fits, but the optics here are brutal …

Benching your franchise QB for a journeyman veteran, who then leads the team to zero offensive points (their only score was defensive strip sack TD) on SNF is just a rough, rough look.

And speaking of optics, Week 9 was chock-full of iconic moments. Garrett Wilson kicked things off on TNF with the catch of the year and the rest of the league kept the momentum rolling on Sunday.

Read on for a full recap of Week 9’s most meme-able action …

What else is in today’s newsletter?

Pete’s Week 9 recap through a photographic lens
Watercooler: Injury updates

A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words …

by Pete Overzet

It's time for Pete's Pick 6—actually, scratch that … this week we are calling it Pete's "Pic" 6 because Week 9 has been littered with iconic moments.

I just got the roll of film back from yesterday's action so let's check out the week's most meme-able pictures.

📷 The backwards Barkley hurdle

Early in the second quarter of yesterday's Eagles/Jags game, Saquon Barkley snagged a screen pass, slipped the first guy, hit the second guy with a spin move, and then did this.

I've seen plenty of NFL players attempt hurdles (I feel like Trey McBride does it at least once a game), but a backwards hurdle? I mean, that requires an absurd amount of spatial awareness and athleticism to pull off while a handful of defenders are closing in on you. It's like the NFL version of And1 Mixtapes. We're going to need to start calling Barkley "Hot Sauce" or something if he keeps this up.

It wasn't just one highlight, though. Barkley finished the day with a massive fantasy line—199 total scrimmage yards and 2 TDs.

I really wish I would have drafted more of this guy.

📷 The roast of Derek Carr

Man, how far we've come since we were writing about the Derek Carr-led Saints being a "legit wagon" (sheesh, that take did not age gracefully) after starting the season with two massive wins.

Fast forward to yesterday, where the Saints lost to the Panthers, arguably the worst team in football heading into the week.

Carr's boxscore was fine (236 yards and 1 TD), but it comes nowhere close to telling the whole story.

Midway through the first quarter he threw a hospital ball over the middle of the field to Chris Olave, who was subsequently concussed after a nasty collision.

This prompted Carr's former WR, Michael Thomas, to sound off on him via his X profile:

Oof, tough scene.

To add insult to injury, Carr is now the first QB in NFL history to lose to 31 different franchises.

4 More Week 9 Highlights

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