Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

—Written by Cory Steger
—Edited by: Allie Fontana

Bruno Boys senior staff writer Cory Steger takes a look at five players who delivered fantasy results substantially below their projected rankings and point totals in The Fantasy 5: Week 10 Flops.  To be considered a candidate for the “Flops” list, a player has to fall short of his weekly point projection total by seven or more fantasy points. Sorry to say that the number of flops extends beyond the five players that we singled out above all others this week. Check out our Fantasy Flops Week 10 Roundup for more players who failed to come through for their teams and fantasy owners.

Now let’s take a look at our top Fantasy 5 Flops for Week 10:

1. Cam Newton (Carolina Panthers)
Bruno Boys Week 10 Projection—Rank: No. 2; Points: 22
Week 10 Actual: Rank: No. 16; Points: 11

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton continues to impress as a rookie.  He’s kept his turnovers down (one less interception than Vick) and managed to be a consistent fantasy producer even on his off days. But fair is fair after all, and even the game’s most reliable fantasy stars can underperform on any given Sunday. Newton did just that in Carolina’s Week 10 loss to the Tennessee Titans.  He was 23-for-40 for 212 yards with no touchdowns, one interception and one fumble. His 11 fantasy points were the lowest of the season. With any rookie quarterback you’ve got to be willing to take the bad with the good. So far it’s mostly been very good for Newton. That said, he has another tough matchup coming up in Week 11 against the Detroit Lions.

2. Michael Vick (Philadelphia Eagles)
Bruno Boys Week 10 Projection—Rank: No. 3; Points: 22
Week 10 Actual: Rank: No. 19; Points: 8

When you think of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, big plays, touchdowns, rushing yards, and moves that break defenders’ ankles come to mind. You don’t think of a player that struggles at home against a mediocre Arizona Cardinals defense. Yet that’s exactly what happened on Sunday when Vick and the Eagles fell to 3-6 after ceding yet another fourth quarter lead to an opponent. Vick went 16-for-34 for 128 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. His 79 rushing yards saved him from posting a big, fat fantasy goose egg.  Week 10 marked the second week in a row where Vick produced less than 10 fantasy points. He’s now thrown 11 passing touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season, and even more surprising, Vick has zero rushing scores through nine games. His fantasy owners expect more. Unfortunately, they’ll have to wait until Week 12 or so for Vick to redeem himself. It came out on Monday that he fractured a couple of ribs during the game and is expected to be on the sidelines for Week 11’s dustup with NFC East rival New York Giants.

3. Jason Witten (Dallas Cowboys)
Bruno Boys Week 10 Projection—Rank: No. 2; Points: 14
Week 10 Actual: Rank: No. 15; Points: 3

The Dallas Cowboys scored 44 points in their lopsided victory over the Buffalo Bills in Week 10. Quarterback Tony Romo completed 88.5 percent of his passes and had three touchdowns. Despite all that action and fantasy goodness for Dallas’ offensive stars, tight end Jason Witten came up small with three fantasy points. With Miles Austin out of action, Witten seemed like a lock to see additional targets and solid production. Instead it was Dez Bryant, Laurent Robinson and DeMarco Murray doing most of the damage in the passing game. Witten had four touchdowns in five games prior to Sunday’s game. So while we’re not about to write off Witten, we relate to his fantasy owners’ disappointment when he comes away with a measly 37 yards on the day. 

4. Steve Smith (Carolina Panthers)
Bruno Boys Week 10 Projection—Rank: No. 4; Points: 16
Week 10 Actual: Rank: No. 49; Points: 4

Cam Newton’s arrival in Carolina single-handedly helped to resurrect Steve Smith’s career this season and in the process rescued him from fantasy oblivion. While Smith has been averaging over 100 receiving yards per game, he had an uncharacteristically bad game on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. It’s not surprising that Smith came up short given a banged up Newton’s struggles to get the offense going.  In addition, the Titans focused on containing Smith by limiting his ability to tack on the after-the-catch yards that make him so valuable. Tennessee cornerback Cortland Finnegan was a tackling machine on Sunday and Smith finished the day with five catches for 33 yards. It was the second time this season that Smith was held to under 40 receiving yards, the other coming in Week 3 against the Jacksonville Jaguars when Smith caught two balls for 15 yards. Considering how much fantasy goodness Smith has given his owners this season, we’ll give him a pass. And like Newton, we expect Smith to bounce back, just maybe not this week against the Detroit Lions.

5. Darren Sproles (New Orleans Saints)
Bruno Boys Week 10 Projection—Rank: No. 14; Points: 13
Week 10 Actual: Rank: No. 63; Points: 0

Of all the players who flopped in Week 10, few were more surprising fantasy failures than the versatile and up-to-this-point reliable Darren Sproles of the New Orleans Saints. While he has yet to record a 100-yard rushing game and scored just two rushing touchdowns through nine game,  Sproles has been among the most consistent fantasy performers of the 2011 season. He’s delivered six games with 11 or more fantasy points, including a 21 fantasy point showing against the hapless Indianapolis Colts in Week 7. In fact, until Sproles’ big, fat zero on Sunday, his least impressive outing was a five point effort versus Tampa Bay in Week 6. One reason why Sproles underwhelmed on the ground in Week 10 (two carries for one yard) was because New Orleans ran the ball only 16 times against the Atlanta Falcons solid run defense. Sproles and his backfield teammates Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram combined for 40 yards rushing on the day. What was more surprising than the absence of rushing yards was that Sproles wasn’t a factor in the Saints pass attack, especially when you consider that quarterback Drew Brees threw for 322 yards. Fantasy owners shouldn’t be concerned that Sproles is on Sean Payton’s bad side. You have to figure that in an offense as crowded as the Saints, the diminutive back would find himself on the outside looking in at some point this season.

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Fantasy Flops Week 10 Roundup: Atlanta Falcons D/ST; Baltimore Ravens D/ST; LeGarrette Blount, RB (Tampa Bay Buccaneers);  Anquan Boldin, WR (Baltimore Ravens); Fred Davis, TE (Washington Redskins); Dwayne Bowe, WR (Kansas City Chiefs); Buffalo Bills D/ST; Jay Cutler, QB (Chicago Bears); Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB (Buffalo Bills); Matt Forte, RB (Chicago Bears); Josh Freeman, QB (Tampa Bay Buccaneers); Frank Gore, RB (San Francisco 49ers); DeSean Jackson, WR (Philadelphia Eagles); Fred Jackson, RB (Buffalo Bills); Vincent Jackson, WR (San Diego Chargers); Calvin Johnson, WR (Detroit Lions), Jeremy Maclin, WR (Philadelphia Eagles); Ryan Mathews, RB (San Diego Chargers); Willis McGahee, RB (Denver Broncos); Matt Moore, QB (Miami Dolphins); New York Jets D/ST; Greg Olsen, TE(Carolina Panthers); Adrian Peterson, RB (Minnesota Vikings); Christian Ponder, QB (Minnesota Vikings); Ray Rice, RB (Baltimore Ravens); Matthew Stafford, QB (Detroit Lions);  Mike Tolbert, RB (San Diego Chargers); Wes Welker, WR (New England Patriots), Chris Wells, RB (Arizona Cardinals)