🔑 Key Fantasy Information for Week 9

WE ARE BACK.

It's The Touchdown Press Newsletter. Your #1 source for all things fantasy football, DFS, and sports betting, along with 10,000+ fellow degenerates.

Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

• Player news you’ll need for Sunday ✅ 

• A deep-dive into stacking PHI-DAL 🔍

• How to differentiate your stack 📚

• Everything but the snacks and beer 🍺 

When you finish reading, I’m live on YouTube every Sunday morning from 9:00-11:00am EST. Come join us!

My prop drop newsletter is hitting at a winning rate, and helping tons of people win more on player props. Check it out.

🏈 QB Justin Fields Practices Friday; First Time in Weeks

😢 Cardinals to Keep Kyler Murray Inactive for Week 9

🎶 Tune to Start for Arizona

🛑 QB Stafford Unlikely to Play

👿 K.J. Osborne Ready to Go on Sunday

🐏 Rams Sign QB Dresser Winn in Prep for Stafford’s Absence

🐻 Bears Finalize 4-Year Deal for Montez Sweat

⚡️ WR Josh Palmer Misses Saturday’s Practice

✅ Suspended WR Bryant Reinstated; Seeks Team

💨 Pats’ Speedy WR Thornton Questionable

🤕 Ridder Clears Protocol, Will Back Up Heinicke

🧀 Jaire Alexander Cleared to Play vs. Rams

🧲 RB Zack Moss Misses Practice, Should Play

🐬 Terron Armstead Activated, Will Start

✈️ Allen Lazard Questionable for Jets

😱 Daren Waller Placed on IR

❤️‍🩹 Josh Downs Officially Questionable

😫 Tyrod Taylor Placed on IR

Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles (-3)

I expect to see some fireworks in this one. It has the highest total on the slate, and it’s one of the only games this weekend where we’d expect both teams to push each other. As a bonus for the DFS crowd, it’s a 4:25 EST game, too.

The Eagles have scored on a league-high 48.8% of their possessions, which leads the league. Dallas, for their part, is 3rd in the same category. Last year we didn’t get to see Dak Prescott and Jalen Hurts face off, so it’s exciting to see how these offenses will match up.

Looking at Fantasy Life’s Game Hub for this one, we can see some high offensive rankings on both sides of the ball. It will be interesting to see how these teams play each other to get an edge.

If you want to see the video version of this breakdown… subscribe to my YouTube channel.

QB: Jalen Hurts (PHI)

As awesome as Hurts has been for fantasy (a top-5 option in 5 of his past 6 games), there is some concern about the bone bruise in his knee. It’s capped his rushing and scrambling upside for two weeks running. That didn’t really hurt his fantasy production against Washington because he as able to sit back and throw it all over them, as QBs have done all year, but Dallas is a different beast.

The Cowboys’ defense might be one of the better units Hurts has seen. When he saw them last year he only threw for 155 yards, which was his 2nd-lowest total of the season. This year they are 1st in pressure rate. So if Hurts’s mobility isn’t there, he may have a tougher time.

The concern is enough to give you pause before clicking on DraftKings, where his price is $8,000.

WR: A.J. Brown (PHI)

If you’re going with a Philly stack, it probably starts with Brown. Obviously we have the 6 straight games of 127+ yards, but we also have the matchup vs. man coverage.

Dallas is 3rd in rate of man coverage at 38.6% of opponents’ passing plays. Against those looks, Brown's been targeted on 50% of his routes and ranks:

• 1st in targets

• 1st in receptions

• 1st in receiving yards

• 3rd in yards per route run (4.3)

So, he’ll have a chance to make some big plays.

QB: Dak Prescott (DAL)

We’ve seen guys like Sam Howell, Kirk Cousins, and even Mac Jones find success against Philly by turning up the aggression and passing often, especially on early downs.

What Dak has going for him is how good he can be under pressure. When under siege, he’s completed 63.8% of his passes, which leads the NFL. He’s 2nd in yards per attempt and 4th in QB rating in such situations.

Plus, he’s been really good the last 2 weeks. Just have to hope he doesn’t have that letdown game.

WR: CeeDee Lamb (DAL)

In the last 2 games, Dallas has lined up Lamb on the outside at his highest rates of the season. He’s rewarded them with some big production:

• Caught 8 of 9 targets

• 4.6 yards per route run

• 153 yards and a touchdown

But look, Lamb is good no matter where he lines up. From the slot he’s still at 3.2 yards per route run, with 11 catches for 132 yards and a TD in those games.

The Eagles are a little more vulnerable to outside guys, allowing a 7.9% TD rate (31st). If Lamb plays more outside, he can get it.

According to Fantasy Life’s defense vs. position tool, Philly is actually dead last in fantasy points vs. WRs. That’s what’s going to make Lamb so popular this week.

WR: Michael Gallup (DAL)

While we’re talking about Lamb bumping to play on the outside, we should note that Gallup is the one usually playing on the opposite end of the offense. Brandin Cooks is the one that bumps into the slot.

Keep that in mind when building your lineups.

TE: Jake Ferguson (DAL)

His 85% route participation last week was a season high. It’s literally gone up every single week for 5 straight games. That denotes a nice vote of confidence from the coaching staff.

Among TEs, only Travis Kelce has a higher target percentage in the red zone than Ferguson.

While the Eagles have faced the 4th-fewest targets to TEs overall, on those targets they are 30th in catch rate, 30th in TD rate, and 27th in yards per target allowed.

RB: Tony Pollard (DAL)

Man, what’s up with this guy? He had an absolute bust in Week 8 and hasn’t been nearly the productive guy we thought we were getting at the start of the season. A lot of that is due to game flow, but not all.

This is a terrible matchup for Tony. The Eagles have allowed just 2 rushers to get to 50 yards all year. They’ve allowed the least fantasy points to opposing running backs. The one saving grace is that they are 15th in receiving points allowed to opposing backfields.

Click here if you want to differentiate your PHI-DAL stack with a contrarian tournament play!

Remember: it’s ok to eat your betting money but not to bet your eating money. Good luck in Week 9!

The Touchdown Press is a must-read for every NFL fan — pure signal, highly actionable, and one-liners funny enough to make you pee a little bit.

If this one didn’t hit the spot, reply to this email... I would love to hear from you on how you think we can do better next time.

Reminder, I’m live on YouTube every Sunday morning from 9:00-11:00am EST. Drop in chat that you found the show from the newsletter!