The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 9 matchup between the Steelers and Titans on Thursday Night Football.
Find a breakdown of every Week 9 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Tennessee | Rank | @ | Pittsburgh | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0 | Spread | -3.0 | ||
| 16.5 | Implied Total | 19.5 | ||
| 18.9 | 23 | Points/Gm | 16.1 | 29 |
| 20.0 | 13 | Points All./Gm | 21.0 | 18 |
| 57.1 | 30 | Plays/Gm | 59.3 | 27 |
| 63.4 | 15 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 68.1 | 29 |
| 5.2 | 15 | Off. Yards/Play | 4.6 | 28 |
| 5.4 | 21 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.6 | 28 |
| 45.25% | 9 | Rush% | 39.52% | 23 |
| 54.75% | 24 | Pass% | 60.48% | 10 |
| 44.14% | 20 | Opp. Rush % | 44.44% | 21 |
| 55.86% | 13 | Opp. Pass % | 55.56% | 12 |
- Tennessee games are averaging a league-low 120.6 combined plays per game.
- 34.4% of the scoring plays against Tennessee this season have been touchdowns, the lowest rate in the league.
- 48.3% of the scoring plays against Pittsburgh have been touchdowns, sixth in the league.
- The Steelers are last in the NFL in time of possession differential per game (-6:11).
- Pittsburgh is averaging 1.17 points per drive, 31st in the NFL.
- The Steelers have punted on a league-high 49.4% of their possessions.
- Just 18.1% of Pittsburgh drives have reached the red zone or scored prior, the lowest rate in the league.
- Pittsburgh is averaging 110.9 fewer yards per game than their opponent, the worst differential in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Will Levis: Levis made serious noise in his NFL debut, completing 19-of-29 passes (65.5%) for 238 yards and four touchdowns. He added 11 rushing yards.
Levis was the sixth quarterback to throw four touchdowns in his debut and the first since Marcus Mariota, who also did so on the Titans.
There have only been 13 games this season with more passing points than the 25.5 Levis posted in standard leagues on Sunday.
There have only been five games better than the 0.880 passing points per attempt that Levis notched.
The rookie averaged 11.8 air yards per pass attempt, second in the NFL in Week 8. 28.6% of his pass attempts were 20 yards or further downfield, the highest rate of any passer last week.
Levis threw three of his touchdowns on those throws, connecting for scores of 33, 47, and 61 yards.
This one is a mixed bag to unpack.
We are welcome to the upside that Levis can provide, and we should be excited about any passer that we can add to the pile of viable fantasy starters.
However, we also do have a question if this is a sustainable path to success. Or at least bankable outcomes.
In just one week, Levis is now tied for second in the NFL with three touchdowns on throws over 30 yards in the air.
Under pressure, Levis was 4-of-11 (36.4%) for 42 yards (3.8 Y/A) with one first down (one of his scores).
On third downs, Levis averaged 3.6 Y/A with two first downs on 10 dropbacks.
The Steelers are equally a mixed bag on defense and are prone to giving up big plays downfield if Levis is going to push the rock.
Pittsburgh has allowed a 108.7 rating on throws 20 yards or further, 29th in the league.
When they can pressure the quarterback, Pittsburgh has allowed a league-low 38.4% completion rate, 5.7 yards per pass attempt (14th) with two touchdowns and four interceptions, good for a 44.0 rating (second in the league).
When they have not gotten pressure on the quarterback, Pittsburgh is allowing a 69.4% completion rate (still good for eighth), but 8.4 yards per pass attempt (28th) for eight touchdowns and three interceptions, a 103.4 rating (21st).
Pittsburgh is also going to be without Minkah Fitzpatrick in this game.
Levis has a wide range of outcomes here as a boom-or-bust fantasy option.
I still would prefer to start Levis in 2QB formats since we have a road quarterback with a team total below 17 points.
But we have Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy, Russell Wilson, and Jared Goff on bye this week, and we just had injuries to Kirk Cousins and Matthew Stafford.
If you are less risk-averse and chasing another QB1 week, Levis already has more demonstrated upside than other streaming options over a half-season sample.
Steelers QB: We are still awaiting the status of Kenny Pickett after he was forced from last week's game with a rib injury.
Pickett has said he will play, but we will keep tabs on his status heading into Thursday.
If Pickett cannot play in a short week, Mitchell Trubisky will start in his place.
Trubisky entered last week and connected on 15-of-27 passes for 138 yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions.
Trubisky made five starts for the Steelers last season, ending those weeks as the QB25, QB23, QB16, QB35, and QB18.
Pickett himself has struggled in this offense, failing to log a QB1 scoring week on the season.
No matter which quarterback we get here, both Pickett and Trubisky are back-end 2QB options.
Tennessee is 23rd in passing points allowed per attempt (0.431) and is allowing 7.9 yards per pass attempt (30th) to offer a path to production here, but they also have allowed fewer fantasy points to each of the three past quarterbacks they have faced compared to what those passers were averaging entering the matchup.
Running Back
Derrick Henry: Henry racked up 122 total yards on 26 touches Sunday.
We are six games into the season, and Henry has given us two duds, but he has at least 95 total yards in four of his six games while hitting the century mark in three of his past four.
Henry has the lowest explosive rushing rate of his career (7.5%) but is still stacking a high number of touches.
In his first start with Levis, Henry handled a season-high 81.3% of the backfield touches. He also had a season-high 88.0% of rushing attempts from the backfield.
His past two games have come against better run defenses than the one he is drawing here.
The Steelers have allowed 4.4 yards per carry to running backs (26th) with 14.9 rushing points per game to backs (25th).
In the past two weeks, Pittsburgh has allowed 132 yards and a touchdown to the Rams backfield and then 186 yards and a touchdown to Jacksonville backs last week, although Travis Etienne posted 70 yards and a touchdown through the air, something we are not going to expect from Henry.
He may have more volatility than in recent seasons, but Henry is a volume-based RB1, especially in a week with the top two scorers at the position on bye.
Najee Harris: Harris managed just 55 yards on Sunday against the Jaguars.
He handled just 12 touches, his fewest in a game since Week 2. Harris rushed seven times for 13 yards, his fewest in a game this season. If looking for a silver lining, his five receptions for 42 yards were both season-highs.
With 57.1% of the backfield touches, Harris has reached 60% of the backfield opportunities in just two of seven games so far.
Harris has now rushed 35 times for 103 yards over the past three weeks and runs into a tough assignment here if we are hunting for production on the ground.
Only one running back has reached 70 yards rushing against the Titans this season, and just one has had more than 76 total yards in a game.
Harris will need to find the end zone as back-end RB2/FLEX.
Tyjae Spears: With six touches for 36 yards Sunday, Spears has reached double-digit touches in just two games this season.
He has just 26.3% and 18.8% of the backfield touches the past two weeks. The two times this season he has reached 40% of the backfield touches were two lopsided losses, leaving Spears as a thin FLEX play.
Jaylen Warren: Warren turned nine touches into 38 yards on Sunday.
He has not fared much better than Harris when touching the ball this season and has 16 total touches in the past two games for 69 combined yards.
Warren is a low-ceiling FLEX in full-PPR formats that is still largely stuck as a handcuff rather than having significant standalone value.
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Wide Receiver
DeAndre Hopkins: Hopkins turned in a hyper-efficient game on Sunday. He only caught 4-of-6 targets, but those turned into 128 yards and three touchdowns.
It was the second time in his career that Hopkins caught three touchdown passes.
His 22.2% target share was his second-lowest rate in a game this season, but his 22.2 air yards per target were a season-high to make up ground.
This was not Hopkins turning the clock back. He just had eight catches for 140 yards two games ago.
It was just that in between those two games, he caught 1-of-5 targets for 20 yards.
There is still a strong asset here that can earn targets. We are just looking at a volatile one due to his offensive environment.
Perhaps Levis can provide stability, but until we flesh out a larger sample of Levis offering as much upside as last week, I am still operating under the assumption Hopkins is similar to what we are getting out of Amari Cooper.
Hopkins is going to sport a viable team target share weekly and have spike weeks but also some down moments influenced by his offense and quarterback.
At least Levis appears willing to give Hopkins chances downfield.
That makes him a volatile WR2, but we can also take shots on the upside angle here given this matchup.
The Steelers have had their hands full with wideouts all season, allowing 8.6 yards per target (24th) and 14.4 yards per catch (28th) to receivers.
Lead wideouts have given them the most trouble, surrendering 22.9 points per game to WR1 targets, 31st in the league.
