There were surprising results around the NFL in Week 10, and with them came some shocking individual performances.
On a day when most games were decided by single possessions, the Tennessee Titans looked dominant in their 47-25 win over the Green Bay Packers. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers all went down, creating plenty of question marks in the NFC.
From a fantasy perspective, quite a few stars broke out with big showings to either help teams or set them up for the future. Here is a recap of the action from around the league.
Notable Fantasy Stars
Marcus Mariota, QB, Tennessee Titans
The past few months have gone from Marcus Mariota being on a hot streak to realizing this might be how good the young quarterback can be.
DeMarco Murray stole the show early with a 75-yard touchdown run and then a touchdown pass—a rare touchdown vulture against a quarterback. However, the Titans didn’t slow down from there, as Mariota threw three touchdown passes in the first half and continued with big plays in the second half.
Peter King of the Monday Morning Quarterback praised the second-year player:
Mariota finished the day with 295 passing yards and four touchdowns. Murray was also impressive for the Titans, racking up 123 rushing yards and a score to go with his passing touchdown against a good Packers defense.
While he was considered a sleeper coming into the season, Mariota is a legitimate fantasy star and QB1 going forward this year.
Ryan Mathews, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Ryan Mathews hasn’t been a player you can trust in fantasy lineups this season. He had nine carries in the last two games combined and was only relevant due to his short touchdown runs.
He was a full-time player on Sunday, however, finishing with 108 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 19 rushing attempts. He also added 30 receiving yards on two catches.
While Darren Sproles had become more of an all-around player in recent weeks, he returned to his old role as a receiver out of the backfield. He only had two rushing attempts but had eight catches on 10 targets.
Mathews took advantage of the opportunity and ended up with his best showing of the season, likely angering any fantasy owners who had him on their benches.
It’s hard to predict what the Eagles coaching staff will do going forward, but Mathews can be a useful fantasy player for the rest of the season if he can replicate this workload.
Jordy Nelson, WR, Green Bay Packers
It wasn’t a great day for the Packers, but Jordy Nelson still helped out fantasy owners with one of his best games of the season.
As usual, Aaron Rodgers looked Nelson’s way at the goal line:
The receiver has now scored at least one touchdown in seven of nine games this year, the type of consistency most fantasy owners only dream about. Of course, he was also useful outside of the red zone, grabbing 12 catches for 126 yards.
It helps that the Packers were trailing much of the game after going down 21-0 in the first quarter, causing them to aggressively throw the ball all day. Still, Nelson was a big beneficiary and remains one of the top receivers in the NFL.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers D/ST
A fantasy defense is usually only as good as its opponent that week. Luckily for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they had a favorable matchup against Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears.
While Cutler is known for his inconsistency, he looked as bad as ever against the Buccaneers defense, turning the ball over and making poor decisions throughout the day.
This was arguably the worst pass, leading to an easy interception and touchdown for Chris Conte:
Chicago turned the ball over four times, allowed four sacks and gave up a safety. The Buccaneers had allowed 73 points in the previous two games combined, but they were effective Sunday against a quarterback who struggled mightily.
This game likely won’t get people to jump on the Tampa Bay bandwagon, but anyone facing the Bears might be ideal.
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