If it feels like there are more low-scoring games on the main slate the last few weeks, you are not imagining things. Through the first six weeks of the season, the average Vegas Over/Under of games on the main slate was at least 43.3 every single week. It has been below 42.0 each of the last three weeks, and Week 9 is the lowest of the season (41.0).
Not only do we have a slate without much scoring expected, we are missing over half of the top fantasy options at every single position. We have only 20% of the Top 10 fantasy quarterbacks on this slate and only 30% of the Top 10 running backs. This is going to lead to the few top weekly performers actually available being incredibly popular. The first key to success on this Week 9 main slate is deciding which of these limited number of top players are good chalk, and worth playing despite their popularity. The second key will be sorting through the middling options for the players with legitimate upside.