Start 'Em, Sit 'Em For Week 9 Fantasy Football: Trust Alec Pierce, Bench Courtland Sutton

It's Week 9 in these fantasy football streets, and it is a great time to remind you of the famous quote made popular by one of the greatest movies ever made, The Shawshank Redemption “Get busy living or get busy dying!”

At this point in the season, are you making moves or taking swings to help you win, or have you accepted your fate? We will never go quietly. We will always fight until the end. Why else would you be playing fantasy? If you are in a league with friends, you can't give them the satisfaction of watching you fold, make them stand up and take notice with your big, bold starts and sits.

Last week, Coach Gene made our very own Matthew Berry go on tilt with the idea of sitting CeeDee Lamb on “Bye-Mageddon” because he was facing the Denver Broncos and Pat Surtain. Lamb finished with seven receptions for 74 yards, even with Surtain getting injured right before halftime and not returning. His Skattebo bold sit was not as good a call, if it were not for injury, he was speeding towards a good day in fantasy, nothing but well wishes for a speedy recovery for him. You must be willing to miss big if you want to hit big at this point in the season.

And from the mouth of Laghezza ... "since there’s no comment section for feedback to throw tomatoes, my epic-level whiffs cannot go unrecognized—transparency matters. And after being really high on the Falcons (womp) and low on James Cook (super-double-womp)—you think I woke up stoked to get back in the saddle or what? Darn tootin’ ..."

RELATED: Be sure to take advantage of our free fantasy football start/sit tool, presented by Xfinity, to nail down your personal start/sit decisions for Week 9!

Start These Players In Week 9

Alec Pierce, WR, IND

LAGHEZZA: As long as Indianapolis keeps steamrolling its opposition on offense, it’s at least a little bit of a surprise the NFL’s top-scoring team boasts just two top-10 WR finishes on the season. Yes, my personal MVP Jonathan Taylor looks like Jim Brown and Barry Sanders rolled into one right now, but still IND’s sixth in passing yards/game, and it’s got to be going somewhere.

The Colts will look to keep things rolling in the Steel City this weekend with a surprisingly high 50-point game total on the board. Pittsburgh’s projected to score +23 on their own—and Indy’s shown a propensity to air the ball out when getting pushed.

Since returning from injury, Alec Pierce leads all Colts’ pass catchers in routes run (93), receiving yards (215) and yards/route (2.15) on a ridiculous +158 air yards/game—second to only superstar Jaxon Smith-Njigba in that timeframe.

Pierce’s archetype matches up well against the Steelers as well—whose typically man-heavy, Cover-1 approach lends itself to one-on-one matchups on the outside. As the Colts’ team leader in targets (11) and weighted opportunity (69.7%) versus man coverage, we’re in line for a few deep shots that can move the needle in one play.

Kyle Monangai, RB, CHI

CLEMONS: The Bears seem dedicated to trying to recreate the Lions Sonic and Knuckles, and Monangai is the Knuckles. Last week, he nearly matched D'Andre Swift's offensive snaps. Two weeks ago, he had a breakout performance against New Orleans with rushing yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.

I expected him to carry the ball well against the Ravens last week, but he only managed 24 yards on seven carries in the loss. This is a great matchup as the Bengals defense is suspect and will be even worse if Trey Hendrickson can't play. If Swift, who missed practice on Wednesday, is unable to go, then Monangai will have the backfield to himself. While they have a lot of offensive weapons missing practices, the offensive line seems to be ready to go. Even if Swift plays, it could be another Week 6 situation.

Bam Knight, RB, ARI

LAGHEZZA: Apparently, Bam Knight headlining my Week 9 steamer column didn’t necessarily inspire the fantasy masses. Still rostered in just roughly one-third of leagues, mark my words—there’s a chance for a big-time splash off the top rope out of nowhere.

Secondary injuries piled up faster than they can be replaced in the Lone Star State, and the league’s worst tackles success rate (48.8%) means everyone can get home against Dallas. Constantly scrambling to cover receivers translates into soft boxes, hence the Cowboys’ bottom-three grades in EPA/attempt (-0.07), success rate (48.8%), explosive rush rate (11.7%) and +20-yard carries (10)—it’s a defensive disaster area.

As if I couldn’t get more excited, the Redbirds just released Michael Carter … and D’ernest Johnson?!? When I heard about Carter’s departure, my first assumption was that perhaps Johnson impressed Arizona immediately. Then the double whammy hits my news feed; honestly, it shocked me.

Get this. Trey Benson’s not eligible to return until Week 10, and Emari Demercado, currently wearing a Q-tag, hasn’t seen a practice field in weeks. Smash setup loading.

Bold Start For Week 9 Fantasy Football

Jalen Coker, WR, CAR

CLEMONS: It seemed like the Panthers had big plans for the second-year undrafted free agent from Holy Cross after a promising rookie season and a good offseason, but an injury derailed their immediate plans. He missed the first six weeks of the season but returned against the Jets in week seven. He did not record a reception and was targeted just two times. He participated in 47.2% of the routes while getting himself acclimated to the offense.

Last week, his route participation increased to 62.2%. He was targeted four times and caught three passes for 36 yards. This signals that he is becoming more comfortable and embracing his role. With Bryce Young likely to return and this game being one they need to lean on the passing attack, Coker should get all of his “Coke Heads” excited with a good performance against Green Bay.

Sit These Players In Week 9

Courtland Sutton, WR, DEN

LAGHEZZA: Courtland Sutton sat comfortably as fantasy’s WR10 through five weeks, but Denver’s Mr. Consistency has been anything but since. My initial worry for drafting Sutton this year, the Broncos’ sharp increase in target competition slowly but surely manifested its way into existence.

Bo Nix spent the last three weeks rekindling his college connection with fellow Oregon Duck Troy Franklin, leading all Bronco pass-catchers in targets (22), target/route (25.0%) and air yards/game (100.3) during that span.

And none of that mentions how the level of competition’s about to change drastically, from the NFL’s worst defense to one of its toughest across the board—DeMeco Ryans’ secondary leads the league in EPA/dropback (+0.13) and opposer passer rating (70.7) by a mile. We may see an entirely different-looking team in blue and orange come Sunday.

Dalton Kincaid, TE, BUF

CLEMONS: This would not register as a bold sit, but it is a sit nonetheless. Kincaid has been slumping in fantasy lately despite playing against subpar competition. He started the season up and down, scoring double digits in PPR formats weeks one, three, and five but only single digits in weeks two and four.

He missed week six and had a bye in Week 7, but returned in Week 8 only to score 3.3 points against a Panthers squad that surrenders over 10 points per game in fantasy on average this season. There is no alpha receiver on this team, so any one of the pass catchers could be teed up for a good game. The problem seems to be that Kincaid does not participate in many routes. In the first five weeks, he participated in 55.5% of routes, and in Week 8, he only took 13 offensive snaps. It is probably best to see what the deal is before putting him back in your lineup. Even when he was scoring points, he was dependent on touchdown passes, and those have seemed to dry up.

Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, RB, MIN

LAGHEZZA: Part of me wishes you could see my face right now, taking the coward’s way out—but I just can’t take another KO via RB1-in-my-face palm strike. So instead of my first choice, which was a second faceplant from Bijan Robinson in Foxboro, I’m shorting everything in purple right now.

Both Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones find themselves rostered and starting in the vast majority of leagues based on name value alone. Mason’s month-long run as the lone RB was nice while it lasted, but those days feel long gone.

Not only is Carson Wentz done for the season, there’s no guarantee O-line stalwarts Brian O’Neill or Christian Darrisaw will suit up against a really stingy DET front-seven—the Lions surrendered just 7.2 PPR RB fantasy points/game over the last month, good for first place.

Bold Sit For Week 9 Fantasy Football

The Panthers Running Backs

CLEMONS: If either running back owned the backfield by themselves, then you could feel decent about giving one of them a start, but it's just too risky with the timeshare circumstances as they are. The chance for one or both to bottom out against a strong Packers defense is high, especially with suspect quarterback play from Andy Dalton or Bryce Young returning from injury.

Even if one were to have a good day, did you choose the correct one, and was his good day really better than the potential of another back to have a great day because they are receiving the majority of the backfield snaps? The Packers have the third-ranked rushing defense. They only surrender 78.9 yards per game on average, and teams have only scored three rushing touchdowns on them this season.

John's Parting Week 9 Start/Sit Thought

Our start/sit piece wouldn’t be complete without my favorite research tool, updated weekly throughout the season! Whenever I’m in a pinch, this image is my favorite picture without time for a thousand words.

Want to win weekly fantasy matchups? Attach yourself to the highest-scoring game totals. Dallas is currently such an outlier—their 62.0 combined points per game is more than a full touchdown higher than anyone else in the league (next is BAL 54.9).