RADIO
Welcome to Disaster Recovery, where each week I'll examine why your studs played like duds. This isn't a place to find out why you should have benched a player for somebody on your bench. Disaster Recovery is to examine the guys who you didn't think twice about benching, and deciding if you should be panicking at all about their value moving forward.
The players covered in this column will usually have to be in the RotoBaller top-10 at their respective positions, but it may vary depending on the status of the players each week.
This week features two first round receivers and two quarterbacks in drastically different situations. There's a lot to take in!
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Week 7 Duds
A.J. Green (WR, CIN) (#4 WR)
What Happened: Green had three receptions on six targets for 41 yards in a loss to the Steelers.
How Did It Happen: Green had a monster first quarter, putting up 41 yards on three receptions. I think you can figure out what happened after that.
Panic Meter: Low. A.J. Green had been a beast in the three games prior to this, including a 189 yard game just a week ago. This was the first game since Week 2 that Green failed to find the end zone. The Bengals had a brutal second half offensively and Andy Dalton wasn't able to get anything going. Green will be fine. He's still a high-end WR1 moving forward.
Marcus Mariota (QB, TEN) (#6 QB)
What Happened: Mariota had his worst game of the season, throwing for just 203 yards and failing to find the end zone for the first time all year.
How Did It Happen: The Browns defense played a hell of a game. They completely shut down Derrick Henry, contained DeMarco Murray, and didn't let the Titans passing game make anything happen. The Titans had only one play go for more than 20 yards. Mariota was also still noticeably limited by his hamstring injury. He had one rush for eight yards on the day. It was more than last week, but still his second lowest on the year.
Panic Meter: Low. The Titans are heading into their bye week and will likely give Mariota all the rest he needs to recover from his injury. Mariota was great before the injury and still managed to put up 306 yards and a touchdown last week. Assuming he makes a full recovery and gets the rest he deserves, he should settle back into the middle-tier QB1 he was before the injury. Having his legs back will do wonders.
Melvin Gordon (RB, LAC) (#9 RB)
What Happened: Gordon rushed 18 times for just 38 yards and had one reception for six yards.
How Did It Happen: The Chargers faced off against the Denver Broncos, an elite defense, so Gordon's numbers aren't a total surprise. The bigger surprise was backup running back Austin Ekeler, who matched Gordon's rushing total on just seven carries and caught all four of his receptions for six yards and a touchdown. Gordon hasn't had somebody cut into his workload like that all year.
Panic Meter: Medium. As I mentioned above, it was a tough matchup for Gordon and he should be fine. But the emergence of Ekeler in the Chargers backfield may have a huge impact on Gordon's value moving forward. Gordon has four games with at least five receptions and has scored four receiving touchdowns on the year. If Ekeler continues to have a role it will most likely be as the Charger's passing back. Gordon owners have been relying on his role in the passing game. He's only averaging 3.4 yards per carry on the season and his receiving totals often make up for poor performances on the ground. Without that factor in his game, Gordon would be more of a RB2 than a RB1. We can't fully panic until we see how the Chargers use Ekeler in the coming weeks, but Gordon owners need to have some concern about the situation.
Cam Newton (QB, CAR) (#9 QB)
What Happened: Newton put up yet another dud performance, throwing for 211 yards and two interceptions, while saving his day from complete disaster with 50 yards on the ground.
How Did It Happen: The Panthers defense held the Bears offense to 68 rushing yards, just four completed passes, and gave up three points. The offense responded by letting Bears safety Eddie Jackson score two 75 yard touchdowns, one on a Newton fumble and one on a Newton interception. Cam had every opportunity to win this game and failed.
Panic Meter: Medium. How often do we see boom-or-bust quarterbacks in fantasy? Newton opened the season with three brutal fantasy performances followed by three great fantasy performances. Some of the bad games came against bad defenses, and some of the good games came against good defenses. It's hard to tell which Newton were going to get on any given night. Unless you own an elite QB1 along with Newton, it's hard to bench him based on his talent alone. He's a boom-or-bust play at the moment, as strange as that sounds.
Jordy Nelson (TE, KC) (#3 TE)
What Happened: Nelson had one reception for 13 yards in his first game without Aaron Rodgers.
How Did It Happen: In his first career start, Brett Hundley struggled to make anything happen in the passing game. With only 87 total passing yards, the odds of Nelson finding success were low. The Packers relied heavily on Aaron Jones in the running game.
Panic Meter: High. A lot of Nelson's success came from his ridiculous touchdown totals playing with Aaron Rodgers. Nelson scored in all four full games he played with Aaron Rodgers, including back to back two touchdown games earlier in the year. Nelson hasn't even passed the 80 yard mark in a game this season. If he couldn't do it with Rodgers, how confident are we he'll be able to put up solid yardage numbers with a quarterback who couldn't even pass the 100 yard mark in passing yards?
I own T.Y. Hilton in fantasy. I've struggled to come to grips for weeks now that he isn't going to be able to put up any type of consistent numbers playing with Jacoby Brissett. Sure, he'll break out for 177 yards out of nowhere due to his talent, and for that reason it's hard to leave him on your bench in any game. But he'll ruin your team more often than not.
Honestly? I'll take Jacoby Brissett over Brett Hundley. Hundley is in a better position to succeed, but this opening game isn't very encouraging. Nelson isn't going to be nearly as effective as he was earlier in the season playing with Hundley. But just like with Hilton, the threat of a multi-touchdown game is always looming with a player of his caliber. It's hard to bench somebody so talented even in this situation. If you choose to roll the dice with Nelson, know that he's no longer even near the WR1 conversation anymore.
Luckily for me, I've got Nelson and Hilton in the same league. Pour one out for my championship dream when you get a chance.
