Even without the Cardinals, Bengals, Colts, Jaguars, Giants, and Eagles playing in Week 9, there were still plenty of passes thrown. Eight teams surpassed 30 points scored in the 13 games played during another wild weekend of football.

As per usual this season, rushing attacks took a back seat and the passing game led the way. Reviewing each of those passes and their intended targets is a great way to find fantasy value for the upcoming playoff stretch drive. Using data from Pro Football Focus, here are the results from each passing target in Week 9 and what it means for fantasy football as we move forward.

Check out target data for the entire season

Atlanta Falcons

Julio Jones finally scored his first touchdown of the season, breaking a tackle and sprinting his way to a fourth-quarter, 35-yard touchdown. While the touchdown comes as a great relief to long-suffering Jones owners, don’t expect him to suddenly start hitting pay dirt every week in Steve Sarkisian’s offense. Incredibly, Jones has not caught a red zone pass in 2018 and has only been targeted there three times.

Tevin Coleman hasn’t fared well on the ground but had his best game of the season as a pass catcher. Coleman produced a season-best five receptions and 68 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns versus Washington. He’ll continue to split time with Ito Smith, but Coleman remains a solid weekly RB2.

Calvin Ridley scored for the first time in a month. His nine targets in Washington represent a new season-high, while the six receptions and 71 yards were his most since Week 3.

Baltimore Ravens

Joe Flacco’s struggles continue to torpedo Baltimore’s offense. Flacco has been held under 240 passing yards in three out of the past four Ravens’ games and thrown one or fewer touchdowns in four out of five. Maybe some relief will come after the team’s Week 10 bye when the schedule brings matchups with the Bengals, Raiders, Falcons, Chiefs, and Bucs, who all rank in the bottom-10 in terms of allowing fantasy points to quarterbacks.

Willie Snead has led Baltimore in targets in three out of the past four games. Even with the extended looks, Snead still offers little fantasy upside. He has yet to top 60 yards in any one game and hasn’t scored since the season opener.

John Brown was held under 30 yards for the third time in four weeks. Since leading the team with 13 targets back in Week 5, Brown has averaged just over five targets per week.

Buffalo Bills

Kelvin Benjamin’s nine targets were the most for any Buffalo player all season but still resulted in a lowly four receptions and 40 yards. Benjamin ranks dead last in the NFL, creating just 1.7 yards of separation and is next-to-last with a 37.7% catch rate.

Terrelle Pryor played 82% of Buffalo’s snaps in his first action since signing with Buffalo. He only caught two passes, but if his snap rate remains this high, Pryor could become relevant in deep leagues once Josh Allen is back under center.

Nathan Peterman did well at throwing harmless underneath passes to his tight ends. Logan Thomas and Jason Croom combined to catch 10-of-11 targets but averaged just 7.6 yards per catch. Starting tight end Charles Clay injured his hamstring and was not targeted.

Carolina Panthers

Greg Olsen has increased his catch and yardage totals in each of this three games since returning to the lineup. He’s also scored in each contest. Considering the overall state of the tight end position, Olsen looks like a top-five fantasy option down the stretch.

Olsen’s ascendance has, predictably, come at the expense of Devin Funchess. After topping 50 yards in five straight games without Olsen in the lineup, Funchess has been held under 50 in back-to-back games and has caught just seven out of nine total targets.

The big game for Curtis Samuel will undoubtedly make him a popular waiver wire target, but Samuel isn’t playing all that many snaps. He was effective with his 17 plays in Week 9, but he has yet to catch more than three passes or top 30 yards in a game.

Chicago Bears

Chicago’s defense scored all the points the Bears would need to beat the lowly Bills, so we saw depressed offensive numbers from the entire passing game. Allen Robinson (groin) was held out again which led to Anthony Miller leading the receiving corp in targets for the third consecutive game.

Josh Bellamy started in Robinson’s place and played 32 out of 51 snaps, a 68% clip. Bellamy was unable to corral either of his two targets and has no fantasy value.

Chalk it up to a lousy game-script, but it was distressing to see such a poor outing for Tarik Cohen, who generated just 13 yards on seven touches. Things should get better in Week 10 as the Bears host a Lions’ defense that has allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs.

Cleveland Browns

The first game with Freddie Kitchens as the play-caller certainly boded well for Duke Johnson. After not having caught more than four passes in any game prior to Week 9, Johnson caught all nine of his looks for 78 yards and his first two touchdowns of the season. With one week of game planning and the dismissal of a pair of incompetent coaches, Johnson is suddenly right back into the weekly RB2 conversation.

Jarvis Landry has led Cleveland’s receiving corps in targets in eight out of nine games. Despite the heavy usage, Landry has cooled off considerably. He hasn’t topped double-digit yards per catch since Week 5 and has gone without a TD grab in four out of five.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys made a concerted effort to get Amari Cooper involved early and often. Cooper flashed excellent route-running skills and led the team in targets (eight), catches (five), and receiving yards (58). Cooper also scored a red zone touchdown and led the Dallas receiving corps with an 85% snap rate. Cooper is undoubtedly the No. 1 wideout in Dallas, but is still just a fantasy WR2/3 in this offense.

Cooper’s arrival led to a season-low 5.3 yards per catch average for Cole Beasley. Before the bye, Beasley had racked up 16 grabs in the Cowboys’ previous two games. With Amari Cooper now in town as the primary target, Beasley may no longer be a consistent source of those innocuous passes that put him on the PPR WR4 radar.

Tennessee did a solid job on Ezekiel Elliott, who was held under four yards per carry for the second consecutive game. Zeke touched the ball 21 times and accounted for 112 total yards. The Titans shut down Elliott in the red zone. Elliott has failed to rush for a score in five out of the past six games.

Denver Broncos

Jeff Heuerman has been a sneaky pick up for the past several weeks, but the surprise may be up after his huge showing against the Texans. Heuerman caught 10-of-11 targets for 83 yards and caught his second touchdown in as many games. Heuerman now has 12 red zone targets this season, which ranks fourth among all NFL tight ends.

Tim Patrick looks like he’ll be the main benefactor after the Demaryius Thomas trade. Patrick didn’t make much of a fantasy impact against Houston, catching just one pass, but he jumped up from 19 to 48 snaps. Courtland Sutton also saw a boost but had already been over 70% if the team’s snaps.

Phillip Lindsay out-snapped Devontae Booker 38-26 but both caught three balls on three targets apiece. Lindsay, however, dominated carries, out-carrying Booker 17-3. Once Royce Freeman returns following the club’s Week 10 bye, we should see close to an even split in carries between the two rookie rushers.

Detroit Lions

T.J. Jones played 51% of Detroit’s snaps and, for now, looks like he’ll get the majority of playing time in place of Golden Tate. Jones only received two targets but out-snapped Andy Jones and Brandon Powell by a 36-2 margin.

Playing for the first time since Week 5, Theo Riddick returned to the lineup to lead the Lions in targets (8) and receptions (7). He won’t get many carries behind Kerryon Johnson and LeGarrette Blount, but Riddick is a solid source of receptions who can have weekly RB3/flex value in PPR formats.

Detroit’s offensive line played terribly, allowing 10 sacks to Matthew Stafford, who was held to 199 passing yards and had precious little time to throw the ball. Things won’t get any easier in Week 10 as the Lions travel to Chicago to take on a Bears’ defense that is also in the top-10 in the league with 24 sacks.

Green Bay Packers

Marquez Valdes-Scantling has been running as Green Bay’s starter opposite of Davante Adam. He’s also scored or surpassed 100 receiving yards in four consecutive games. Equanimeous St. Brown is also mixing in, but Valdes-Scantling appears to have the best rapport with Aaron Rodgers and offers the most fantasy upside.

The Packers weren’t able to challenge the Patriots downfield, leading to a lowly 6.0 yards per attempt from Aaron Rodgers. Valdes-Scantling caught a 51-yard reception, but that was the only catch that a Packers’ receiver was able to haul in more than 20 yards downfield.

Adams was held to a season-low 40 yards but somewhat salvaged his fantasy day by hauling in his seventh touchdown of the season.

Houston Texans

DeAndre Hopkins commanded 50% of Deshaun Watson’s targets, a rate that hasn’t been seen since last year’s struggles. No other Texans’ pass catcher topped three looks against Denver, which is only one-quarter of the dozen targets that Hopkins drew.

In his first game with Houston, Demaryius Thomas started off hot, catching all three of his first-quarter targets. Thomas wasn’t targeted again in the game and had some issues lining up and with routes, which wasn’t unexpected just a few days after being traded. Thomas will be on the WR3 radar down the stretch for his new squad.

The Texans enter their bye week on a six-game win streak and find themselves alone in first place atop the AFC South. Outside of games against Washington and Philadelphia, Houston’s schedule shapes up nicely for the Texans to win another division title quite easily.

Kansas City Chiefs

Sammy Watkins has outplayed Tyreek Hill in back-to-back games. In those two contests, Watkins has caught 13-of-14 targets for 169 yards and a pair of TDs, while Hill has been held to an 11/9/105/1 line. Hill is likely to draw shadow coverage from Patrick Peterson this week, which could lead to another solid outing for Watkins.

Travis Kelce corraled all seven of his targets for 99 more yards and a pair of red zone scores from Patrick Mahomes. Kelce now leads all NFL tight ends with 741 receiving yards and is second in targets (79), catches (51), and touchdowns (six).

Spencer Ware only played 14 snaps but touched the ball six times and produced 81 total yards. Ware played mostly on passing downs but won’t have much standalone value unless Kareem Hunt were to get hurt.

Los Angeles Chargers

Keenan Allen finally broke out, putting up a season-high 124 receiving yards, which was his first triple-digit showing since Week 1. Week 9 was only the third time this season that Allen has topped 10 targets, a mark he hit nine times last season.

Allen led the way with six grabs, but no other Chargers’ player caught more than two passes. Tyrell Williams scored his fourth touchdown in LA’s past three games, this one via a red zone target from Philip Rivers. Williams’s lack of consistent targets assures that he remains a touchdown-dependent WR3 or flex play.

Antonio Gates only played 16 snaps and didn’t record a reception for the first time since Week 2. Gates has been out-snapped by Virgil Green in each of the team’s eight games and holds almost zero fantasy value. He’s outside of the top-40 PPR tight ends as we enter Week 10.

Los Angeles Rams

Cooper Kupp returned to the lineup and saw his first pass targets since Week 5. Kupp was injured in Seattle and missed two games with a knee injury. Kupp hauled in a 41-yard touchdown bomb, his fifth touchdown reception in the past five games. Sean McVay’s potent offense can support three weekly starting wideouts, but Kupp offers the most touchdown potential.

Robert Woods led Los Angeles in targets for the third time in the past four games. Woods is tied with Emmanuel Sanders for 14th in the league with 74 targets through nine games.

Brandin Cooks tied his season-high with eight targets, the fifth time this season that he’s hit that exact total. Cooks has been extremely consistent and has only been held under 11 fantasy points once in eight games.

Miami Dolphins

Brock Osweiler has progressively gotten worse each week that he’s quarterbacked the Dolphins. While this isn’t an unexpected result, Osweiler’s declining yards per attempt total and back-to-back weeks without a touchdown pass mean he’s killing Miami’s offense, but he’ll get at least one more start this week in Green Bay.

Kenny Stills was expected to miss this game with a groin injury but ended up a surprise active. Even though he escaped the game unscathed, Stills only played 28 snaps, which trailed DeVante Parker, Danny Amendola, and Jakeem Grant. Stills was only targeted once in the game and is barely relevant with Osweiler under center.

Minnesota Vikings

Stefon Diggs (ribs) was held out of this game in order to get fully healthy for the playoff stretch drive. The Vikings are off in Week 10, which gives Diggs a full two weeks to rest and recover. He’ll be back on the WR1 radar for Week 11’s matchup with a leaky Chicago secondary.

Adam Thielen’s eight-game streak of surpassing 100-plus yards to open a season came to an end as the Vikings more-or-less struggled to mount much offense against Detroit. Kirk Cousins only attempted 22 passes and accumulated 164 passing yards, both of which were his lowest totals of the season.

Laquon Treadwell was the only Vikings’ pass-catcher to exceed 30 receiving yards. Thielen and Dalvin Cook led the team with only four receptions.

New England Patriots

Rob Gronkowski (back) was held out of New England’s Week 9 victory over Green Bay. The Patriots have a bye in Week 11, so there’s a pretty good chance that the Patriots’ will hold Gronk out for another game in the hope that he’ll get healthy starting in Week 12.

This was the second 100-yard outing for Josh Gordon since he joined the Patriots. Gordon has played 85% of New England’s snaps over the past month, but this is only the second time in six games that he’s topped 50 yards. While his big-play ability has been on display, Gordon is a bit of a boom-or-bust weekly starter.

Even with the team struggling with injuries and in need of pass-catchers, Chris Hogan did not catch a pass and was only targeted twice by Tom Brady. While Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon are playing a high number of snaps, Hogan has become increasingly irrelevant.

New Orleans Saints

Michael Thomas had a huge performance against solid Rams cornerback Marcus Peters. Thomas led all players with 15 targets and made 12 receptions for a career-high 211 yards. Thomas is averaging 23.5 PPR points per game, which trails only Adam Thielen.

After a solid start with New Orleans, Cameron Meredith has fallen out of favor. Meredith only played 13 snaps against the Rams and went untargeted. Meredith hasn’t caught a pass since Week 5 and has been getting out-snapped by Austin Carr.

Since taking over WR2 duties for Ted Ginn, Tre’Quan Smith has finished second among the Saints’ wideouts in targets in each of the four games. Smith has been fairly quiet as Drew Brees has relied more on the ground game, but he has scored three touchdowns in those four games.

New York Jets

Jermaine Kearse caught all nine of his targets back in Week 6 but has been a disaster ever since. Following his breakout performance against the Colts, Kearse has caught only six out of 20 targets for 50 total yards and two drops. With Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson back in the lineup, Kearse can be dropped in redraft leagues.

Chris Herndon is about the only good thing to develop out of New York’s sluggish offense. Herndon has scored, and/or topped 50 receiving yards in each of the past four games. Up next, the Jets host a Buffalo offense that’s actually worse, so there should be plenty of opportunities for Herndon to remain in the TE2 mix.

Jets’ running back snap/touch/yardage counts from Week 9: Elijah McGuire 36/10/67. Isaiah Crowell 23/14/60. Trenton Cannon 7/1/15.

Oakland Raiders

There were some ugly offensive performances in Week 9, but Oakland’s three-point showing against a vulnerable San Francisco defense might have been the poorest showing of the week. Derek Carr, who was besieged by a tough 49ers pass rush, took seven sacks and A.J. McCarron was dropped for an eighth. Halfway through the NFL season, Derek Carr finds himself outside of the top-20 fantasy signal-callers.

No Oakland receiver or tight end caught more than three passes or even hit 30 receiving yards in this forgettable offensive display. One note to take away, Brandon LaFell once again led the Raiders in snaps. Martavis Bryant has been relegated to WR4 and has averaged just 14 plays since LaFell debuted.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Antonio Brown was on the field for every one of Pittsburgh’s 81 snaps, the first time all season he’s been in on every play. Brown, as usual, led the way with 10 looks and scored for the sixth consecutive game. Brown leads the NFL with nine TD grabs.

As well as James Conner has played in all facets of the game, it looks like we may have seen the last of Le’Veon Bell. Not only has Bell not showed up, but there’s also little incentive for the Steelers to play the disgruntled running back, who will be allowed to walk as a free agent following this lost season.

The Steelers host Carolina on Thursday, which will be a good spot for both Vance McDonald and Jesse James. The Panthers have allowed the most fantasy points to tight ends, including an NFL-high seven touchdowns so far. McDonald has top-10 upside on this short week, but James might be a solid streamer for Kyle Rudolph owners.

San Francisco 49ers

Some credit is due to Oakland’s lousy defense playing on short rest but undrafted free agent quarterback Nick Mullens got his first NFL action and looked like a seasoned pro. Mullens completed 73% of his throws for 262 yards, three touchdowns, and an impressive 11.9 YPA mark. Mullens is going to get at least one more start for San Francisco but gets a tough challenge against a Giants’ defense that ranks 10th in the league against opposing fantasy QBs.

Matt Breida, who has been dinged up himself, is going to get a bigger piece of the workload after Raheem Mostert broke his arm during Thursday’s win over the Raiders. Alfred Morris will get more carries as well, but he’s only gotten 22 touches over the past four games.

Pierre Garçon was the favorite target for Nick Mullens, leading the Niners with five targets and scoring his first touchdown since the Clinton Administration. As far as snaps for the rest of San Francisco’s receiving corps, Marquise Goodwin led the way with 40, followed by Garçon (37), Richie James (23), Kendrick Bourne (12), and Dante Pettis (11).

Seattle Seahawks

The secret that nobody talks about is how few targets Tyler Lockett has been getting. Lockett has been a solid weekly performer due to his six TD grabs, but he’s also a total of only 12 targets since Week 5. Hard to maintain WR2/3 value with so few looks.

Starting running back Chris Carson is banged up with a hip injury and a new thigh ailment that he suffered against the Chargers. Caron was unable to finish the game, which led to Mike Davis taking over as the dominant ball-carrier. We won’t likely know much about Carson’s status this week, so he’s looking at another dreaded game-time decision tag. Mike Davis should be one of the biggest waiver priorities in most leagues.

Ugly game for David Moore, who caught just two of his six targets for only 16 yards and had an end zone drop at the end of the game. Moore is still entrenched as the club’s No. 3 wideout but remains a touchdown-dependent WR4 at best.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A forgettable game for Mike Evans, who had a drop but also was the intended target on several misfires from Ryan Fitzpatrick. Evans only caught one of eight targets, but was even worse if you remove phantom throwaways that are credited to his area. Evans had enjoyed more success from Fitzpatrick than Jameis Winston, so we’ll just have to chalk this up to a bad day at the office.

While Evans had his worst game, slot receiver Adam Humphries benefited to the tune of eight grabs for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Humphries has played the vast majority of slot reps for the Bucs all season and recorded three-plus receptions in all but one of Tampa’s games this season. He’s a priority waiver add in PPR leagues.

The tight ends combined to catch seven out of eight targets for 68 yards, but it was O.J. Howard who continues to stand out as the star. Howard accounted for 78% of those yards and scored both touchdowns.

Tennessee Titans

Dallas has a solid pass defense, but Corey Davis still managed to put up solid numbers. Davis earned a respectable 10 targets and had his most catches since Week 4. Davis only has one touchdown all season, but he’s earning enough targets to remain a weekly WR3.

Derrick Henry played a season-low 14 snaps. Henry did rush for a touchdown to salvage his fantasy day but Dion Lewis out-touched him 23-8. Lewis is taking control of the backfield, while Henry has dissolved into a touchdown-dependant goal line back.

Washington

Maurice Harris has excelled playing in the slot for Jamison Crowder. Crowder has missed a month and has yet to practice, so there’s a solid chance he’ll miss at least one more game. Harris led Washington in targets and receptions and should maintain a role even after Crowder returns, especially after news broke that Paul Richardson’s season is over.

Josh Doctson played all but one snap against Atlanta and should remain an integral part of the offense in the wake of Richardson’s shoulder injury. Doctson has recorded three-plus receptions in the past four games but has yet to hit 50 yards in any contest. He’s got an excellent shot at finally topping that figure in Week 10 as Washington travels to Tampa to face a Buccaneers’ secondary that allows the second-most fantasy points to wideouts.

Vernon Davis and Jordan Reed combined to catch 9-of-13 passes for 96 yards. Davis has played 48.7% of the team’s snaps this season, and that rate is likely to grow with Washington down two starting wideouts. Davis can be a solid streaming option this week against a putrid Tampa Bay defense.

Find and analyze trades for your team with My Playbook

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | TuneIn | RSS

Jody Smith is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jody, check out his archive and follow him @JodySmithNFL.