NFL Week 9: Fantasy's Highest-Scoring And All-Bust Lineups

In an ongoing series, PointAfter will break down both the highest-scoring and all-bust fantasy football lineups in the NFL from week to week. If you started the perfect lineup from Week 9, or were unlucky enough to play all of the week's biggest busts, this is what it looked like.

Note: Each lineup will be updated if a Monday Night Football performer puts up more points or busts more egregiously than the players from Thursday and Sunday. The fantasy scoring system used is from Yahoo Sports leagues.

Versions of this article also appear on Yahoo Sports.

Highest-Scoring QB: Cam Newton

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 34.58

Newton’s Panthers had little trouble moving the ball on Sunday against the Packers defense. Cam was able to scramble for chunks of yards — nine carries for 57 yards and a TD — and throw the ball deep downfield. He missed on a number of short slant routes (throwing passes behind his receivers), but ended the day 15-of-30 for 297 yards and three touchdowns against one interception. The outing put Newton atop many other worthy QBs in fantasy and kept Carolina undefeated for the season.

All-Bust QB: Eli Manning

rojected points (position rank): 18.7 (8th)

Actual points (position rank): 14.4 (20th)

Peyton Manning has been getting all the “credit” for causing fantasy owners headaches, but little brother Eli has had his fair share of stinkers, too. In fact, after this week, Eli has one more All-Bust appearance to his name than his older brother, and two more than any other quarterback.

The younger Manning could only muster 213 passing yards against Tampa Bay, which came in allowing the third-most fantasy points to QBs. The Bucs also picked off Manning twice, running his season total to six.

Three of Manning’s last four outings have produced a combined 31.5 points. The other game? Oh, just a six-touchdown explosion against New Orleans. It’s the kind of inconsistency that drives owners crazy. At least Peyton has been reliably disappointing.

Highest-Scoring RB1: DeAngelo Williams

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 36.50

Williams filled in admirably for the suspended Le’Veon Bell to start the season. He even led running backs in fantasy scoring during Week 2, but took a back seat when Bell returned. Now, with the starter out for the year as a result of a knee injury, Williams once again embraced his opportunity to shine. The 32-year-old veteran ran for 170 yards and two touchdowns (to go with two receptions for 55 yards) in Pittsburgh’s 38-35 victory over the Raiders. So long as Bell’s fantasy owners kept Williams as a handcuff, they should be in good shape moving forward.

All-Bust RB1: Doug Martin

Projected points: 13.0 (7th)

Actual points: 2.3 (38th)

Doug Martin found himself nailed to the bench for a large chunk of the first half after a second-quarter fumble. Even when he was on the field, he wasn’t exactly a game-breaker. Martin tallied just 31 yards on 11 carries on the day, with his longest run going for five yards.

Even worse, backup Charles Sims totaled 78 rushing yards on eight carries. Sims coughed it up once, too, but redeemed himself with a 59-yard scamper in the fourth quarter that undoubtedly raised some eyebrows on Tampa Bay’s coaching staff.

It might be time to sell Martin while he still has the value of an RB1 on a standard fantasy team rather than an All-Bust squad.

Highest-Scoring RB2: Lamar Miller

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 26.10

Miami’s rushing leader only ran for 44 yards on 3.7 yards per carry in the loss to Buffalo, but his two scores and prevalence in the passing game provided his fantasy owners with great production. Miller caught seven passes for 97 yards, and wound up leading Miami in both rushing and receiving yards for the day.

All-Bust RB2: Ronnie Hillman

Projected points: 10.7 (16th)

Actual points: 0.1 (59th)

Up until Sunday, Ronnie Hillman seemed like the far more reliable option in Denver’s two-headed backfield, which also features midseason All-Bust selection C.J. Anderson.

But after both tailbacks were held in check by Indianapolis’ poor run defense, with Hillman (seven carries, one yard) having an especially miserable day, it’s nearly impossible to predict which guy will break out on any given Sunday.

Hillman is still averaging 4.6 yards per carry, but Anderson has been more productive of late. If you’ve had to rely on either for a prolonged period of time, it would put your sanity to the test.

Highest-Scoring WR1: Antonio Brown

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 28.60

The 2015 season has been a roller coaster of a campaign for Brown. With Ben Roethlisberger at the helm, he’s been nothing short of brilliant. But when Big Ben isn’t under center, the wideout hasn’t been as much of a factor. Brown missed out on a truly gargantuan fantasy day by being held out of the endzone, but he hauled in an absurd 17 passes for a team-record 284 receiving yards. He joined Terrell Owens as the only other player in NFL history to catch 17 or more passes for 280 yards or more in a single game.

All-Bust WR1: Demaryius Thomas

Projected points: 12.4 (4th)

Actual points: 5.0 (T-60th)

Denver’s big-name wideouts managed to avoid the All-Bust team for the season’s first seven weeks despite Peyton Manning’s woes. But after Emmanuel Sanders occupied the WR1 slot last week, Thomas is here following a 5-50-0 output, his worst of the year.

After hauling in 35 touchdowns during the first three years of Manning’s reign in Denver, Thomas has reached the end zone just once in 2015. His yards per reception are also down to a career-low 12.4 yards from a peak of 15.5 yards in 2013. For someone with high usage like Thomas, that can end up making quite the difference in the long run.

Highest Scoring WR2: Sammy Watkins/Michael Crabtree

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 22.80

Crabtree and Watkins had very different box scores, but finished the week with identical fantasy scoring outputs. Watkins accounted for eight of Buffalo’s 11 total receptions. He caught every single one of his targets, converting them into 168 yards and a TD. Crabtree, on the other hand, caught seven of his 12 targets for 108 yards and two scores.

All-Bust WR2: DeSean Jackson

Projected points: 8.4 (22nd)

Actual points: 1.5 (66th)

DeSean Jackson couldn’t take advantage of a friendly matchup against New England’s secondary in his return following a two-month layoff from a nagging hamstring injury.

Jackson’s first three receptions of the season went for only 15 yards, as he finished fourth on the team in targets behind Pierre Garcon, Jamison Crowder and Jordan Reed.

Crowder was a beneficiary of Jackson’s extended absence, and it appears he’s here to stay in Washington’s wideout pecking order. Jackson will have another shot to re-establish himself against New Orleans’ soft secondary next week.

Highest-Scoring TE: Delanie Walker

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 23.50

Tennessee pulled off an upset win over the Saints in Mike Mularkey’s debut following the firing of former head coach Ken Whisenhunt. Walker played a huge role. He admittedly had plenty of luck on his side, as one of his touchdown catches should have been an easy interception for New Orleans. But luck aside, Walker ended the day with seven catches for 95 yards and two TDs to lead all tight ends in Week 9.

All-Bust TE: Rob Gronkowski

Projected points: 11.3 (1st)

Actual points: 4.7 (16th)

As a guy who’s been projected as fantasy’s top tight end virtually every week this season, usually by several points, it’s kind of amazing Gronkowski hasn’t ended up in this space before.

Sunday marked Gronk’s first truly disappointing game of the season, with his first output of fewer than 50 yards coming on the same day he didn’t score a touchdown for the first time since Week 5.

Highest-Scoring Flex: Tyler Eifert

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 23.30

Eifert’s three-touchdown performance from Thursday night didn’t hold up through the weekend as the best among tight ends, but it was still enough to keep him on Week 9’s perfect lineup in the flex spot. The Notre Dame product has been consistently brilliant this season — now second behind Rob Gronkowski in fantasy scoring among TEs. For A.J. Green’s fantasy owners, however, Eifert’s touchdown hawking has caused headaches.

All-Bust Flex: Jeremy Hill

Projected points: 14.2 (3rd)

Actual points: 5.2 (30th)

If you look strictly at yardage, Jeremy Hill has yet to put forth an exemplary performance. He hasn’t eclipsed 70 all-purpose yards once, a stunning feat for someone who’s still being labeled a solid RB2 for standard leagues.

His 15-52-0 line wasn’t as bad as the other backs on this week’s All-Bust team, but it was still a full nine points less than what Yahoo projected. As a result, Hill is on the All-Bust team for the third time this year, tied with Eli Manning, Randall Cobb and Houston’s defense for the most appearances.

This is your reminder that Hill is in a strict two-back rotation with Giovani Bernard, and his weekly outputs will widely vary depending on whether or not he crosses the goal line – which is bad news, since Hill isn’t the preferred red zone tailback in Cincinnati. He’s had just two red zone carries in Cincinnati’s last four games, compared to 11 for Bernard.

Highest-Scoring D/ST: New York Jets

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 14.00

The Jets defense surrendered 23 points to the lowly Jaguars, but six sacks, two interceptions (both by cornerback Marcus Williams) and forcing two fumbles for loss was enough to lead a week devoid of huge defensive performances.

All-Bust D/ST: Green Bay Packers

Projected points: 7.6 (8th)

Actual points: -2.0 (24th)

Up until Green Bay’s bye in Week 7, most words written about the Packers defense praised the underrated unit for holding strong and keeping the team in games while the big-name offense worked through some confounding issues.

Not anymore. Last week, Green Bay was the first team to make Peyton Manning look like the guy who led the 2012-14 Broncos instead of the shell of a Hall of Famer who’s been under center this year. On Sunday, the defense reached a new low. The Panthers staked out to a 37-14 lead that sparked in-fighting among Green Bay's veterans and rookies and ultimately proved too much to overcome.

Luckily, Green Bay has four relatively pedestrian NFC North offenses on the docket until the end of most fantasy leagues’ regular seasons. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess if this unit is truly underrated.

Highest-Scoring K: Greg Zuerlein/Josh Brown

Fantasy Points (Yahoo Sports Leagues): 17.00

Zuerlein entered Week 9 owned in just 5 percent of Yahoo leagues, which makes sense provided he was an ugly 3-of-9 on field goal attempts in St. Louis’ previous three contests. In the loss against Minnesota, however, the 27-year-old converted four of his five field goal tries, including one from 61 yards out. Brown, meanwhile, was perfect for the Giants. He hit all four of his field goals and both of his extra points. He didn’t hit one from 60+ yards, but he did knock home a 53-yarder in the fourth quarter.

All-Bust K: Mason Crosby

Projected points: 8.5 (7th)

Actual points: 3.0 (23rd)

As is so often the case in this column, the kicker’s spot belongs to a player whose fortunes were determined by the follies of an underperforming offense.

Crosby’s workload was limited to just three extra points on Sunday, as the Packers fell behind big to Carolina and had to rely on two-point conversions to get back into the game by the time their offense was truly humming.

Final Tally: Highest-Scoring Lineup

Here's the final recap of the perfect fantasy lineup from Week 9 of the 2015 NFL season:

Cam Newton: 34.58
DeAngelo Williams: 36.50
Lamar Miller: 26.10
Antonio Brown: 28.60
Sammy Watkins/Michael Crabtree: 22.80
Delanie Walker: 23.50
Tyler Eifert: 23.30
Jets D/ST: 14.00
Greg Zuerlein/Josh Brown: 17.00

Final Score: 226.38 points

Final Tally: All-Bust Lineup

Here's the final recap of the most disappointing lineup from Week 9 of the 2015 NFL season:

Eli Manning: 14.40
Doug Martin: 2.30
Ronnie HIllman: 0.10
Demaryius Thomas: 5.00
DeSean Jackson: 1.50
Rob Gronkowski: 4.70
Jeremy Hill: 5.20
Packers D/ST: -2.00
Mason Crosby: 3.00

Final Score: 34.2 points

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