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.
Week 10 features a few players I didn't expect to reappear in this column, and one player who I never expected to fall under the "stud" criteria.
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Week 10 Duds
Antonio Brown (WR, PIT) (#1 WR)
What Happened: Despite a dream matchup against the Colts weak secondary, Brown managed just three receptions for 47 yards.
How Did It Happen: Brown was targeted a season-low seven times and had a rare drop on one of those targets. Roethlisberger missed him on another. It just wasn't meant to be for Brown on Sunday.
Panic Meter: Low. No reason to be coy here: we both know that you aren't going to bench Antonio Brown. He has a rebound matchup against the Titans on Thursday Night Football. Tennessee gave up 115 yards and a score to AJ Green last week while also allowing Brandon LaFell to grab 95 yards and a touchdown. Even with JuJu Smith-Schuster establishing a permanent role on this offense, the Steelers have enough room for both of them. Brown will be fine.
Leonard Fournette (RB, JAX) (#6 RB)
What Happened: Fournette ran 17 times for 33 yards in his first game since Week 6.
How Did It Happen: Like Brown, this should have been a dream matchup for Fournette, but he was unable to produce. The LA defense gobbled him up early in the game and Jacksonville leaned on the pass later in the game. The Chargers defense has been at stopping the run in recent weeks and it showed on Sunday. The Chargers haven't allowed a 7o yard rusher since Week 4. They took advantage of a rusty Fournette.
Panic Meter: Low. This was the worst game of Fournette's short career and only the second game of the season where he didn't find the end zone. There are reasons to be concerned here: Fournette is an inexperienced player on a bad offense with a tough schedule for the rest of the way. I'm just not ready to give up on a guy who put up 311 yards and two touchdowns in his previous two games. If he can't produce against Cleveland this week, I'll be having a different discussion about Fournette in this column. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Don't panic about Fournette just yet.
LeSean McCoy (RB, BUF) (#4 RB)
What Happened: McCoy ran 8 times for 49 yards and caught three passes for 11 yards in a blowout loss to the Saints. He also had a fumble.
How Did It Happen: The Saints controlled every aspect of this game, scoring 47 unanswered points before a garbage time touchdown by Buffalo. McCoy only had one carry in the second half and only played in 50% of the Bills offensive snaps, 16% lower than his previous season low of 66%.
Panic Meter: Low. McCoy's 76 total rushing yards over the past two weeks is his lowest two week total since... well, Weeks 2 and 3 of this season. McCoy's dominant stretch between Weeks 7 and 8 reminded everyone why he was typically the third running back off the board this preseason. But outside of that this season, McCoy hasn't produced like the elite RB1 we hoped for him to be.
McCoy is a respectable ninth in rushing yards per game this season. He ranks 10th among running backs in points per game in PPR formats. Compared to the rest of the league, McCoy has been a back-end RB1 this season.
Now here's the thing: that is fine. Sure, McCoy isn't carrying anyone to a championship this year, but he won't prevent you from getting there if you drafted well around him. I expect McCoy to up his yardage over the next few weeks and maybe even sneak in a touchdown here and there. I don't expect him to go full David Johnson and carry your team to the promised land. McCoy just isn't in a situation to do that kind of thing. But he will be just fine moving forward.
Cameron Brate (TE, TB) (#6 TE)
What Happened: Brate caught just one of his targets for 10 yards
How Did It Happen: Brate appeared in just 46% of offensive snaps this week. When he was on the field, he had Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing him the football. What did we expect here?
Panic Meter: High. I'll just copy and paste what I wrote about Doug Martin last week, except I'll replace Martin with Brate. It still works!
"The Buccaneers are in shambles. Dirk Cotter has lost the locker room, Jameis Winston has been shut down indefinitely, and now Brate is stuck playing with Ryan Fitzpatrick in an offense where nobody gives a damn anymore."
Now heres the thing: Brate is not Doug Martin. He hasn't had nearly the success that Martin has had in his career. He also is losing his job to OJ Howard. I mean no disrespect to our rankers here at RotoBaller, but I have to ask: why was Brate ranked as the sixth overall tight end for Week 10?
Brate has a grand total of 19 yards over the past two weeks. He hasn't scored since Week 5. The Bucs drafted a first round pick who plays the same position. Now that they're out of contention, OJ Howard will likely get the bulk of the TE work. Brate appeared in a season low 46% of snaps this week. The guy is not a stud. He has nowhere to go but down. I'm not touching Brate with a 10 foot pole for the rest of the year.
