For a massive undertaking like Fantasy Points Data, we need a large team of dedicated, well-trained charting professionals to ensure we can post statistics on the website accurately and quickly.
While the data-charting process is, by nature, objective, our team will obviously form opinions about what they saw, given that we have to watch every play multiple times.
Every week, we’ll select the most notable observations and back them up with the objective data we’ve become known for.
Here are our top observations for 2025 NFL Week 9.
Week 9 Data Charter Observations
1. “Sam Darnold continued to show that last season wasn’t just a product of being in a good offense. He made a few beautiful throws to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Elijah Arroyo to go along with exploiting some busted coverages by the Commanders defense. His connection with JSN this season is as good as it gets in the NFL this season. Whenever they need a play, Darnold dials up number 11 for a big gain.”
The Seahawks cruised to a 38-14 win over the Commanders, improving their record to 6-2 on the season. QB Sam Darnold lit up the scoreboard with 330 passing and 4 touchdowns on an absurd 21 of 24 passing. The Seahawks’ offensive line turned in a masterful performance, allowing pressure on just 4.2% of Darnold’s dropbacks, allowing him to register surgical accuracy numbers with an 87.5% highly accurate throw rate and a 91.7% catchable throw rate. In what has been a great season to this point, Week 9 might have been Darnold’s best game of the season.
While already leading the league in receiving yards, WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba paced the NFL in receiving yards in Week 9 with another 129 yards on 8 receptions. JSN has been completely uncoverable as he now leads the NFL in ASS among all qualified WRs with 0.210 ASS. The Darnold-JSN connection has been the best combination in the league in 2025. The Seahawks have back-to-back divisional matchups against the Cardinals in Week 10 followed by the Rams in Week 11.
2. “The Bills were very effective running the ball with James Cook, as he continues to play like one of the top RBs in the league, breaking tackles and finding creases to rack up the first downs. They were also very effective in play-action, as Josh Allen was able to hook up with Dalton Kincaid frequently. Kincaid showed why he was a first-round pick in this game. I want to say this was his best game as a pro. He was running wide open downfield on a few different plays and took off for big gains, including the touchdown.”
In what seems to be an annual preview of an inevitable playoff matchup, the Bills emerged victorious with a 28-21 win over the Chiefs. The Bills continued to lean on RB James Cook as Cook ran for 114 yards on 27 carries on his way to becoming the first player to run for 100+ yards against the Chiefs in a game since the 2023 season. Cook’s elusiveness was on display with 6 missed tackles forced and a healthy 2.19 YACO/ATT against a formidable Chiefs’ defense. For the season, Cook leads the league in yards per game with 108.4 and ranks just outside the top 10 with 0.18 MTF/ATT.
QB Josh Allen turned in his best game since Week 1 with 292 total yards and 3 total touchdowns while throwing just 3 incompletions on 23 of 26 passing. Allen’s favorite target was TE Dalton Kincaid as Kincaid caught 6 passes for 101 yards and a score in what was arguably his best game of his career. Cook and the Bills’ rushing attack have a prime matchup against the Dolphins next week, as the Dolphins have surrendered the 3rd most rushing yards on the season (1,310).
3. “Jacoby Brissett and the starting job is a hot topic after the past few games, and while I don’t think they’ll actually bench Kyler Murray, it is an interesting issue. Brissett just plays in structure so much more often, and it has led to better numbers for the WRs. Kyler Murray’s elusiveness leads to big plays, and probably would have against this bad defense, but the timing on comebacks and crossing routes is so much better utilized with a QB delivering the ball on time.”
Week 9 was capped off with the Cardinals dominating the Cowboys en route to a 27-17 win on Monday Night Football in Dallas. QB Jacoby Brissett threw for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns with another touchdown on the ground. As it turns out, Brissett’s performance was enough for the Cardinals to name him the starting QB moving forward. With QB Kyler Murray missing the last three games, Brissett has played well by throwing 6 touchdowns to just 1 interception while averaging 286.7 passing yards per game. In that stretch, Brissett has pushed the ball downfield much more than Murray as Brissett owns a 9.1 aDOT and 13.5% deep throw rate compared to Murray’s 6.3 aDOT and 8.1% deep throw rate on the season.
With Brissett attempting more deep passes, TE Trey McBride has benefited the most as he leads the Cardinals in catches (23), yards (201), touchdowns (4), and first read targets (26) over the last three games. McBride’s spike in touchdowns is encouraging and is partly due to his aDOT increasing from 6.3 in the first five games to 8.2 in the last three, showing he is more of a downfield threat with Brissett under center. The Cardinals have a chance to get back into the NFC West race as they also have back-to-back divisional games with the Seahawks and 49ers on tap over the next two weeks.
4. “JJ McCarthy came out with his hair on fire, evading rushers, dropping dimes, and proving himself capable in this O’Connell offense. One of my favorite throws of the day by McCarthy was two plays before Justin Jefferson’s one-handed TD grab. McCarthy hit Jordan Addison on a go-route up the sideline and dropped it perfectly in the bucket. I don’t believe we charted Addison with a drop on this play, but one could argue it was close. The coverage on the play was tight, and McCarthy dropped it perfectly. This guy has a serious gamer gene.”
The Vikings went into Detroit and pulled out a 27-24 upset win over the Lions in Week 9. After missing the previous five games with an ankle injury, QB JJ McCarthy played the role of game manager on his way to 143 passing yards and 2 touchdowns while adding 12 yards and another touchdown on the ground. McCarthy’s accuracy was a bit shaky in this one as he registered just a 36.0% ACC, 72.0% CATCH, and 20.0% OFF. It was a difficult matchup on the road, and he was coming back from a lengthy layoff, but McCarthy will need to improve his accuracy as he gets more starts under his belt.
Something that will help McCarthy is the combination of WRs Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Despite the Vikings struggling to get their passing game going, Jefferson and Addison are among the best WR duos in the league in separation as they have registered a 0.110 and 0.082 ASS, respectively. The Vikings will have an opportunity to get their passing game going next week against the Ravens, who have allowed the 6th-most passing yards per game (259.8) so far this year.
5. “The fun the Giants were having just a few weeks ago seems to have come to a screeching halt. With all the skill player injuries, it shouldn’t be a surprise, but the supporting cast is just not good enough to boost Jaxson Dart up. I am worried about Dart trying to do too much, be Superman, and get himself hurt. I suppose this is a pretty common worry with his dangerous running style. That being said, that reckless abandon could get even worse as this guy continues to play like Mini Baker.”
The Giants fell to 2-7 on the season following their third straight loss, this one by a score of 34-24 to the 49ers. With injuries piling up over the past few weeks, QB Jaxson Dart has put in a valiant effort to try to carry the Giants’ offense. Dart threw for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns on 24 of 33 passing while rushing for 56 yards and 1 touchdown. Since taking over as the starter in Week 3, Dart ranks 6th in hero throw rate (5.1%), 27th in first read target rate (63.4%), and 4th in scrambles (20), which highlights him trying to overcome a depleted pass-catching corps by trying to extend plays or make a difficult throw.
WR Wan’Dale Robinson is one of the few bright spots in the Giants offense outside of Dart. Since Dart took over, Robinson leads the Giants in targets (48), receptions (33), and receiving yards (343). Dart and company have a decent matchup in Week 10 against the Bears who have allowed the 10th most passing yards per game (248.3).
6. “Kyle Monangai took his chance to start and made the most of it, leading the league in rushing this week. The soft opponent played a huge part in it, but he’s probably earned some more opportunities due to how his style contrasts with D’Andre Swift. He’s a solid north-south runner who did a good job hitting the hole and driving past the point of contact to pick up those extra yards.”
The Bears outlasted the Bengals in a 47-42 shootout in Cincinnati to improve to 5-3 on the season. With starting RB D’Andre Swift missing this game, rookie RB Kyle Monangai exploded for a huge game with 176 rushing yards on 26 carries and 22 receiving yards on 3 catches. Monangai took advantage of a favorable matchup against a porous Bengals’ run defense by posting 3.81 YACO/ATT and a 69.2% success rate. A couple of weeks back, Monangai showed flashes of his ability against the Saints, but with a huge opportunity in Week 9, he did not disappoint. For the season, Swift and Monangai are close in a number of metrics, including explosive run rate (Swift 6.0%, Monangai 5.9%), success rate (Swift 51.0%, Monangai 55.9%), and MTF/ATT (both 0.15). The Bears go from the worst run defense in Week 9 to the second-worst run defense in Week 10 with a matchup against the Giants on tap.
Bonus Observations
Falcons WR Drake London — Drake London was an absolute beast. He is playing so well right now. His contested catch ability was on full display with three short touchdowns where he Moss’d the DB on a highlight reel catch. He also stole the ball from Christian Gonzalez on a crucial 40+ yard catch where he came back to the ball and again completely mossed Gonzalez. London posted 9 catches for 118 yards and 3 touchdowns and saw 10 first-read targets in Week 9.
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson — A little bit of a vanilla game from the Ravens offense, which was probably ideal for them with Lamar Jackson coming back from injury. They didn’t really need to open things up with the Dolphins offense failing to convert drives into touchdowns. Jackson did most of his damage in the first half before the Ravens turned to Derrick Henry to salt the game away. I would expect this offense to ramp up more as Jackson gets another week removed from his hamstring injury. Jackson completed 18 of 23 passes for 204 yards and 4 touchdowns, but only ran 3 times (not counting kneel downs) in his first game back from a hamstring injury.
Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr — Brian Thomas Jr. struggled again in this game and left early with an ankle injury, but this game doesn’t make me as pessimistic as some of the other ones earlier in the season. He saw a lot of press coverage and safety help, which opened up other WRs and parts of the field. Thomas hauled in just 3 passes for 55 yards in Week 9 and has struggled this season with separation, registering just a 0.019 ASS.
Cardinals RB Emari Demercado —Emari Demercado handled the majority of snaps for the Cardinals, and I think that will continue until Trey Benson returns. They actually had a high amount of run plays stuffed in the matchup against the bad Cowboys defense, but were able to pick up enough chunk plays on the ground to put up solid stats. Demercado carried the ball 14 times for 79 yards while taking advantage of good run blocking that led to an average of 3.00 YBCO/ATT.
