Depth Chart Watch: Fallout From Week 10

Depth Chart Watch: Fallout From Week 10

This article is part of our Depth Chart Watch series.

It's truly amazing how fantasy football finds new and original ways to frustrate us, and Week 10's edition of the Steelers is a particularly egregious offender. I'll cover the Ben Roethlisberger situation below, but I just want you all to know that he got started against me even though he wasn't supposed to play, and he put up 31 fantasy points, sending me to a loss while my team of stars did nothing. Amazing. So ends this week's edition of Complaining About My Fantasy Team. Since I feel this is an underserved aspect of the fantasy world and I want to wallow in the pain of others as well as my own, I'll be accepting your tales of misfortune by email and will feature the most brutal stories in this space next week. I mean, heck, you guys don't need to hear me complain all the time – I bet you can complain almost as well as I can. Have at it.

Arizona WR: As expected, John Brown (hamstring) got back on the field Sunday night, but despite playing two-thirds of the snaps, he didn't catch a single pass on three targets. Michael Floyd, meanwhile, took off for his second straight 100-yard game and his fourth straight game with a touchdown (he scored two, actually), but left in the fourth quarter due to a hamstring issue of his own. Both John and Jaron Brown will be in line for extra looks if Floyd's injury lingers, but John's

It's truly amazing how fantasy football finds new and original ways to frustrate us, and Week 10's edition of the Steelers is a particularly egregious offender. I'll cover the Ben Roethlisberger situation below, but I just want you all to know that he got started against me even though he wasn't supposed to play, and he put up 31 fantasy points, sending me to a loss while my team of stars did nothing. Amazing. So ends this week's edition of Complaining About My Fantasy Team. Since I feel this is an underserved aspect of the fantasy world and I want to wallow in the pain of others as well as my own, I'll be accepting your tales of misfortune by email and will feature the most brutal stories in this space next week. I mean, heck, you guys don't need to hear me complain all the time – I bet you can complain almost as well as I can. Have at it.

Arizona WR: As expected, John Brown (hamstring) got back on the field Sunday night, but despite playing two-thirds of the snaps, he didn't catch a single pass on three targets. Michael Floyd, meanwhile, took off for his second straight 100-yard game and his fourth straight game with a touchdown (he scored two, actually), but left in the fourth quarter due to a hamstring issue of his own. Both John and Jaron Brown will be in line for extra looks if Floyd's injury lingers, but John's targets should rebound regardless, and Larry Fitzgerald remains unchallenged atop the chart.

Atlanta WR: We'll find out in practice this week if the bye offered enough time for Leonard Hankerson (hamstring) to get healthy.

Baltimore WR: In their first post-Steve Smith game, the Ravens used Kamar Aiken quite a lot, as he totaled more targets (14) than any other two Baltimore players put together, but as part of what you'll see was a common theme this week, he produced a disappointing total of 73 yards on seven catches. Chris Givens caught a touchdown among his four catches (seven targets), but totaled just 31 yards. Joe Flacco threw a pair of scores to his tight ends, which should become more common going forward, but they're in a timeshare themselves.

Buffalo RB: Despite suffering a shoulder injury in Week 9, LeSean McCoy was back out there even with the short turnaround to Thursday's game, and he ran all over the Jets' outstanding front seven en route to 159 total yards. Meanwhile, Karlos Williams stayed useful by catching a 26-yard receiving score.

Carolina WR: We already knew the Panthers have no wideouts you can rely on, but Week 10 proved it beyond a doubt, with Ted Ginn tying Greg Olsen for the team lead in targets with eight, but Ginn led the wide receivers with just 45 yards on four catches. Devin Funchess was targeted only twice, but he did catch both for 41 yards. Efficient!

Chicago RB: Jeremy Langford has made me look like a chump for downplaying him for the last two weeks, including Sunday's 182-total-yard, two-touchdown explosion. With 109 of those yards coming on seven receptions, he's been Forte-esque, wouldn't you say? The top dog did get some practice in last week and could return soon, but Langford's definitely shown us some things. Ka'Deem Carey actually ran a bit more efficiently in this one, posting a 4.0 YPC on 14 rushes to Langford's 3.7 on 20 carries, but he lost a fumble.

Chicago WR: Still no Eddie Royal (knee), but Marquess Wilson totaled one catch on three targets for one yard in his absence. Alshon Jeffery was near-silent as well (only four targets, good for three catches and 23 yards) in a game the Bears ran away with, which meant they just pounded away with the ground game in the second half.

Cincinnati RB: Who's going to carry more in Monday night's game, Giovani Bernard or Jeremy Hill? Flip a coin; it's as good as any advice anyone can give you. There should, in theory, be good work for both of them, though.

Cleveland QB: After what seemed like an endless run-up, Johnny Manziel ended up starting Sunday's game over the hurting Josh McCown (ribs). He delivered some combination of promising and flawed work, an action also known as "playing for the Browns." Johnny Football threw for a career-high 372 yards, but also threw a pick, fumbled, and suffered six sacks.

Cleveland RB: Isaiah Crowell found a new level of awful Sunday, carrying six times for a loss of five yards. I mean, wow, that's bad. Not to say that Duke Johnson killed it against Pittsburgh, as he only had four carries for 10 yards and was quiet in the receiving game, catching four for 18.

Cleveland WR: Travis Benjamin had his bounce-back game Sunday, reminding us all that his early success was no fluke – this guy can burn, and he sees serious looks in this offense. The fourth-year man caught seven of 11 targets for 113 yards, his third time over 100 this year.

Dallas QB: You guys, Tony Romo's expected back next week! Are you sure you don't want to keep Matt Cassel in there? No? Alright.

Dallas RB: The Cowboys and Bucs' Week 10 duel was a defensive battle, and Darren McFadden got, uh, defensed. He managed only 58 yards and scored no touchdowns, putting him in a tie with every other Cowboy in that category Sunday. Christine Michael remained a non-factor despite Run-DMC's 1.9 YPC in this one.

Denver QB: Peyton Manning: yanked. On the day that the 39-year-old passed Brett Favre's all-time passing yardage record, he also went 5-for-20 for 35 yards with four interceptions, a brutally awful day that coach Gary Kubiak seems inclined to blame on Manning's rib and foot injuries. Not that Brock Osweiler was awesome in relief, but the Broncos have got to give Manning a rest and roll the backup for a while as the one-time star, whose footwork has been so important to his success, aggravated his plantar fasciitis Sunday. His TD:INT this year is 9:17. Yikes.

Denver RB: C.J. Anderson touched the ball all of two times Sunday, rushing for a total of nine yards, while Ronnie Hillman dominated the touches, carrying 11 times for 42 yards and a score. There's just no consistency to the touches here, making this one of the tear-your-hair-out-est (or is that most tear-your-hair-out-like?) backfield situations. I want to cut Anderson from the team where I own him out of sheer spite, but Hillman's also rather prone to getting hurt. It's a tough situation for owners.

Denver WR: Sunday was a tough day to be a receiver in the Broncos' offense, but it was extra tough for Emmanuel Sanders, who's been banged up as it is and added a head injury Sunday. However, he did pass his concussion tests and is unlikely to miss time. Meanwhile, Demaryius Thomas continued his disappointingly quiet season thanks to Manning's ineffectiveness.

Detroit RB: Sometimes, your starting running back touches the ball 16 times and gains 35 yards, and you beat Aaron Rodgers and the Packers anyway. That's what the Lions did, no thanks to Joique Bell. This remains a situation to avoid like the plague of plagues.

Green Bay RB: Eddie Lacy sat Week 10 out with his convenient groin injury, and James Starks rolled up 96 total yards in his place, but wasn't exactly outperforming anyone – he averaged only 2.8 YPC and made his greatest impact in the passing game, especially as the Packers drove from behind late in the contest.

Green Bay WR: Aaron Rodgers locked in on Davante Adams in Sunday's game – 21 targets! Twenty-one! One score and one, as Abraham Lincoln might say! You'd think that with Rodgers slinging it, a target total like that would lead to about a thousand yards, but actually, it led to 10 catches (yay, PPR!) for 79 yards. But hey, if your league offers points for the amount of time Aaron Rodgers spends looking at his receivers… okay, no league does that. Randall Cobb had a disappointing 10-target day of his own, grabbing five for 53. The never-before-seen Jared Abbrederis (Wisconsin in the house!) saw seven targets, catching four for 57 yards, but left with a rib injury.

Minnesota QB: Teddy Bridgewater got back out there in Week 10 after getting concussed the week before, and though he had a quiet game in a contest dominated by Adrian Peterson, he made it through and played pretty mistake-free, which was all he needed to do to take home a win against Oakland.

New England RB: Well, as I feared, Dion Lewis is done for the year, but that's old news by this point. The question becomes how the Pats replace him, and the answer Sunday was, well, they didn't. James White assumed the RB role in some passing situations, but was targeted just once. It was the LeGarrette Blount show, as he took 21 of the 25 backfield touches in this one, rushing 19 times for a fairly modest 66 yards and a score against the Giants.

New England WR: Tom Brady lost his second-best weapon Sunday, as Julian Edelman suffered a foot injury that's going to require surgery, more than likely finishing him for the regular season. Danny Amendola got loaded up with 11 targets accordingly, and he caught 10 of them, but for a modest 79 yards. Expect more Amendola and more Brandon LaFell as the Patriots try to make up for that enormous loss.

New Orleans RB: If the box score of the Saints-Redskins game disturbs you for any reason besides Drew Brees getting blown out of the water by Kirk Cousins, it's probably because two New Orleans backs carried more times than Mark Ingram. In fact, Ingram needed only five carries to accumulate a team-leading 77 rushing yards, but was knocked from the game with an injury for a bit. He was able to return, but C.J. Spiller (eight carries, 24 yards) and the recently re-signed Tim Hightower (11 for 46) still got some extra work in. No worries, though. Ingram's good to go, especially with the bye week coming up.

New Orleans WR: Willie Snead practically vanished Sunday, getting targeted only one time in the blowout loss to Washington, but Brandin Cooks stayed busy (98 yards, two scores) by accounting for essentially all of Drew Brees' finer moments. Snead came in with knee soreness and saw his smallest workload of the season after having 10 targets sent his way the week before, and no one really picked up the slack.

New York Giants WR: Sometime while we weren't really looking, Dwayne Harris quietly supplanted Rueben Randle as the Giants' No. 2 receiver behind Odell Beckham. Well, alright, it might not be like that going forward, but that certainly was the way in Week 10, as Eli Manning targeted Randle only four times (he caught three for 51 yards), while Harris caught six of nine balls for 82 and a score.

New York Giants TE: Larry Donnell's missed two straight games now, and undrafted rookie Will Tye filled in competently (if not excitingly) for him Sunday, catching five of seven targets for 56 yards.

Oakland RB: Latavius Murray (concussion) got back Sunday, rushing 12 times for 48 yards and adding 29 through the air. Woo. He's turned in four near-identical duds to go with five fantasy-relevant efforts.

Oakland WR: Michael Crabtree warned us all to slow our rolls by slowing his own Sunday, as he only saw five targets, catching four for 55 yards while tight end Mychal Rivera out-targeted him (seven). Amari Cooper led the way, as he often does, but it wasn't a gangbusters performance as he had five catches for 79 yards on nine targets.

Philadelphia QB: Sam Bradford picked up an AC joint sprain in his non-throwing shoulder and a concussion, too, in Sunday's depressing loss to Miami. With Mark Sanchez back at the helm of Chip Kelly's offense, well, not much happened except the Eagles blowing a 16-3 lead. Sanchez will probably be your Week 11 starter, with Bradford's prognosis unclear at this point.

Philadelphia RB: DeMarco Murray left Ryan Mathews in the dust this time, rolling up 119 total yards almost evenly split between rushing and receiving. Mathews stayed useful with a one-yard touchdown, but gained only 18 yards on his eight carries and ended up leaving with a concussion.

Philadelphia TE: The Eagles' offense was The Tight End Show in Week 10, with Brent Celek's four grabs for 134 yards leading the way while Zach Ertz led the team in targets with 10, catching seven of them for 68 yards. Celek only had 65 yards all year coming in, so don't get too excited – he's still on the small end of the looks here. This was a relatively typical game for Ertz. Though it was his first time in 2015 hitting double-digit targets, he's seen consistent looks and cleared 60 yards three times in the last five games.

Pittsburgh QB: Ben Roethlisberger (foot) was all set to sit out Sunday, then Landry Jones got carted off with an ankle injury, and all of a sudden Big Ben was in the game. Did he look injured? He did not. The guy entered in relief and threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns – come on, man. You can't be that generous to the fantasy owners who were too uninvolved to remove you from their lineups.

Pittsburgh RB: You wouldn't think the Browns would be the first team to contain DeAngelo Williams, but that's how that went Sunday when he turned 17 rushes into a quiet 54 yards. No worries; he'll bounce back.

San Francisco RB: The Niners are likely to turn back to Shaun Draughn in Week 11 if Carlos Hyde (foot) can't go, which seems rather likely.

Seattle RB: Reporters weren't sounding optimistic about Marshawn Lynch's chances of suiting up Sunday night against Arizona thanks to an abdominal injury, but he did indeed dash the hopes of Thomas Rawls owners by playing. However, a surprisingly high-scoring affair resulted in the Seahawks turning to the pass much more often, leaving Marshawn with just eight carries and one reception, though he did punch in a short touchdown to go with his 50 total yards.

St. Louis WR: The newly signed Wes Welker took the field for the Rams on Sunday, but had a quiet day despite finishing second on the team in targets, catching three of six balls for 32 yards. Brian Quick saw the most targets (seven), but caught only one of them, a 37-yarder. This remains an eminently avoidable mess, especially considering they couldn't get anything going against a Bears pass defense that's nothing special.

Tampa Bay RB: Doug Martin got back to a full workload Sunday, and he delivered a credible 103-total-yard effort despite the obstacles in his path. Charles Sims saw a modest five carries, and although he was targeted five times, he caught just two for 13 yards.

Tampa Bay WR: Another week, another game without Vincent Jackson (knee), so of course Mike Evans drew another massive target total (13), turning it into eight catches for 126 yards. He easily had the best fantasy day among Bucs and Cowboys in this one. Don't even concern yourself with Tampa's depth guys.

Tennessee RB: Reporters keep forecasting this David Cobb return, and it keeps not happening. Of course, Sunday's game against Carolina presented a tough situation. Dexter McCluster ended up leading the team in rushing yards with 25, all of which came on his first-quarter touchdown run. Otherwise, he lost a fumble and wasn't especially productive in the receiving game despite catching four balls. After a few solid games in a row, Antonio Andrews hit a brick wall, gaining eight yards on 11 carries.

Washington RB: Last week's Matt Jones disaster is this week's Matt Jones breakout. Facing the Saints' generous D certainly helps with that. Jones was outdone on the ground by Alfred Morris (15 carries for 104 yards to a still-strong 11 for 56), but he led the team in receiving with 131 yards thanks to a 78-yarder that he took to the house in the second quarter. Fantasy owners needed a reminder of what Jones is capable of accomplishing, but it's hard to bank on a repeat performance next week in Carolina.

Washington WR: Despite Kirk Cousins' four touchdown passes, DeSean Jackson didn't really get in on the action Sunday – he did catch a 42-yarder, but his only other catch was a two-yard pass on which both he and the corner covering him got banged up on a knee-to-helmet situation. He's apparently good to go moving forward, though. My man Jamison Crowder tied Jackson for the most targets in this one (five), reeling in four for 60 yards and a score.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Fiorentino
Managing hockey editor, talent wrangler, football columnist, FSWA's 2015 fantasy hockey writer of the year. Twitter: @akfiorentino
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