Mike Sims-Walker’s non-late-night-rendezvous Week 9 helped both of my fantasy teams.

With five weeks left before the fantasy football playoffs begin, both of my teams are starting to pick up some momentum and wins to make their postseason push. The Outlaws of the Marsh are sitting on a 29-point lead and have Rashard Mendenhall and James Harrison left in the Monday night game to counter the opponent’s Heath Miller, Brian Dawkins, and D.J. Williams, so barring any craziness, it’s looking like a win and a 6-3 mark that will move the Outlaws into a tie for second. The Outlaws benefited from a good game by Philip Rivers, who rebounded from a so-so performance the week before to throw three touchdowns, and continued strong play from the backfield tandem of DeAngelo Williams (149 rushing yards, 2 TDs) and Ray Rice (135 total yards, TD). And Mike Sims-Walker (6 catches, 147 yards, TD) actually managed to put up points this week and didn’t get suspended for a late rendezvous or stink it up against a bad defense or anything! It also helped a lot that my opponent inexplicably left Larry Fitzgerald (123 yards, 2 TDs) on the bench in favor of Desean Jackson.

In my other league, the Thamesmen got darn lucky as they are in position for a win despite scoring only 70 points. They hold an eight-point lead with James Harrison going up against Elvis Dumervil tonight. Hold on, and the Thamesmen will go to 7-2 and might strengthen its grip on first place, depending on what the second-place team does. Not bad, considering I was without Adrian Peterson (bye) and had the Bears defense (bye bye from my roster following its 0.98-point performance two weeks after putting up negative points). Sims-Walker and Rice did some damage for me in this league as well. Throw in a couple TDs from Vincent Jackson, and I just might have enough to hold on.

Week 9 Highs and Lows

Turns out that all the Titans needed to be a winning team was a quarterback who can throw for 100-some yards without turning the ball over. Enter Vince Young.

• Who are you guys and what have you done with the Titans? Whether it was the bye week or the quarterback change, Tennessee has looked like a different team on offense the last two weeks. After averaging 14 points in their first six games, the Titans have scored 30 or more in each of the last two, both with Vince Young at quarterback. Young hasn’t exactly torn it up, totaling only 297 yards passing with 1 TD in the two games. But he hasn’t turned the ball over, unlike his predecessor, Kerry Collins, who gave the ball away 10 times in the first six games. The biggest beneficiary has been Chris Johnson, who has tallied season highs in carries each of the last two games and totaled 363 rushing yards and four TDs in that span.
• Seven quarterbacks went over 300 yards passing Sunday, but it was actually a rather inefficient day for QBs. Matt Hasselbeck needed 51 passes to get his 329 yards, Peyton Manning needed 50 to reach 318, and Matt Schaub needed 43 to get to 311. The day’s yardage leader, Jay Cutler, chucked it 47 times for 369 yards, and Alex Smith and Matt Cassel couldn’t even get to 300 despite throwing 45 and 39 passes, respectively. Then there was woeful Lions rookie Matthew Stafford, who threw it 42 times, averaged less than 5 yards per attempt, and tossed five interceptions. Calvin Johnson should get used to sitting near the end of my bench the rest of the season.

You just became a real NFL running back again, Laurence Maroney. How does it feel?

• Could it be? Has Laurence Maroney finally returned from the fantasy football version of Siberia? After being virtually useless the last season and a half, Maroney has shown — gasp! — consistency the last three weeks, averaging 82 yards rushing and finding the end zone in each game. More encouragingly, the Patriots finally seem willing to give him consistent touches, as he has 49 carries in the last three games after getting only 22 in the previous five. The next question, of course, is how long this will last before the Patriots decide to go back to their running back roulette. At this point, though, Maroney is probably worth a flyer if you need some depth at running back.
• And now, our weekly gripe about the Saints backfield-by-committee: Actually, I have good things to say about one of their guys this week. Pierre Thomas found the end zone for the second straight week and has scored six TDs in six games this season despite being stuck in a platoon. That’s not surprising, though, considering he showed pretty much the same nose for the end zone last season, when he had more than 16 carries in a game only once, yet scored 12 touchdowns. That knack for scoring is what makes him a solid play despite having to split carries. It was kind of encouraging that he had 13 carries Sunday while Mike Bell, the other main ball carrier in the platoon, had just five.
• Want more proof that the Panthers can’t win with Jake Delhomme at quarterback? Look at Sunday’s game against the Saints. First quarter, Delhomme throws two passes, Panthers go up 14-0. Second quarter, Delhomme throws three passes, Panthers get outscored 6-3. Third quarter, Delhomme throws seven passes, Panthers get outscored 14-3. Fourth quarter, Delhomme throws 18 passes, Panthers get blanked 10-0 and lose 30-20. See a trend?