NFL Week 9 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Chargers-Jets Monday Night Football

• The Los Angeles Chargers win the kicking battle: In a game that featured four field goals and 14 punts, the Chargers pulled out the victory thanks to a Derius Davis punt-return touchdown and two Austin Ekeler scores.

• Both teams make changes at wide receiver: The Los Angeles Chargers lost Joshua Palmer and gained Jalen Guyton earlier today, while the New York Jets made Randall Cobb a healthy inactive.

• Keenan Allen makes history: Allen became the 54th player in NFL history to reach 10,000 receiving yards. He was the best part of the Chargers offense in the victory.

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Los Angeles Chargers @ New York Jets

• Austin Ekeler: 14 carries, 47 yards, 2 touchdowns; 2 receptions, 23 receiving yards
• Keenan Allen: 8 receptions, 77 yards

Los Angeles adjusts without Joshua Palmer: The Chargers’ starting wide receiver landed on injured reserve due to his knee injury.

• After playing primarily in 11 personnel this season, first-round rookie Quentin Johnston became an every-down receiver. He played just 11% of snaps in 12 personnel over the first eight weeks but took the majority of 12-personnel snaps in this game, along with all the snaps in 11 personnel.
• He spent most of the game at right wide receiver, matching up against Sauce Gardner. The 2022 All-Pro cornerback also followed Johnston to the other side of the field for a few plays. Johnston was limited to 14 yards on two receptions.
• Jalen Guyton was activated off the physically unable to perform list earlier today to make his season debut. The 2019 undrafted rookie played 1,532 snaps in 2020 and 2021 with the Chargers before missing nearly all of 2022.
• He was almost always on the field when the Chargers were in 11 personnel and took a few snaps in 12 personnel. He didn’t catch either of his targets.
• We can expect similar usage over the next three games while Palmer is out. Ideally, Johnston can post bigger numbers against less formidable opponents at cornerback.

Xavier Gipson is the new Jets WR3: Randall Cobb was inactive for the second straight game, allowing Gipson to take over the job.

• Cobb was limited in practice and questionable ahead of last week's game, so when he was inactive for Week 8, it seemed to be injury-related.
• He was a full participant leading up to this game and wasn’t given an injury designation, but was again inactive, indicating that he’s currently out of the Jets wide receiver rotation.
• In Week 8, Malik Taylor out-snapped Gipson as the two split time in three-receiver sets.
• This week, it was clearly Gipson’s job. The undrafted rookie has been the Jets' primary returner and came into the game with one career reception. He caught two passes for 32 yards tonight.
• Allen Lazard has only one game with over 50 receiving yards this season, so it’s not out of the question that Gipson might take some snaps from Lazard in 12 personnel if he starts playing well.

Miscellaneous Notes

• While Michael Carter remains the primary passing-down back on third-and-long and in two-minute drills, Breece Hall took the clear majority of snaps on third downs with a distance between 3 and 6 yards to go. Carter had taken 77% of snaps in that situation over the first eight weeks, while Hall took five of seven snaps in that situation tonight outside of the two-minute drill on the final drive.
• Los Angeles made both Isaiah Spiller and Elijah Dotson inactive. This was the first game all season where the Chargers left only two running backs on the active roster.
• The Chargers released backup tight end Tre’ McKitty. He was not signed to the practice squad or anywhere else. They signed veteran Nick Vannett to replace him. Vannett was consistently on the field for three-receiver sets and also played a few two-receiver sets, including the first play of the game, earning him a “start.”

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.

• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.