It looks like a pair of franchise-type players won’t be playing on Sunday. Rob Gronkowski didn’t fly with the Patriots to Chicago, while the Chargers have downgraded Melvin Gordon to questionable.
Gordon apparently injured his hamstring in practice because he showed up on Friday as a limited participant. Now they’ve not only downgraded him to questionable but also activated Detrez Newsome off their practice squad. It should become more apparent tomorrow morning, but it sure looks like the Chargers will be starting Austin Ekeler.
If, indeed, it’s Ekeler in the starting lineup, he should put monster numbers. He’s on the small side, but he might be a better one-game back than Gordon – more explosive. If Gordon is ruled out tomorrow morning, Ekeler in a rough sense will be the No. 3 back on my board, behind only Saquon Barkley and Todd Gurley.
Those needing to make a decision on Gordon or Ekeler are advised that the Chargers and Titans kick off three and half hours before the other games. That’s 9:30 a.m. eastern time.
As for Gronkowski, he was limited all week in practice by a back injury and was questionable on the injury report. That’s not unusual. The Patriots list lots of guys questionable, and they almost always play. But Gronkowski reportedly didn’t travel with the team. There’s still some chance he’ll play (he could be flying separately, perhaps) but it looks very unlikely he’ll play.
If Gronkowski sits, that will limit New England’s offense. He hasn’t been posting big numbers recently, but his presence helps to open things up for other players. The Patriots don’t have another tight end they can plug in to be much of a receiving threat. Jacob Hollister and Dwayne Allen will play more, but more likely the team’s other pass catchers will play bigger roles (and the team should pass for fewer yards and touchdowns overall). This makes Tom Brady look less appealing as a starter.
As mentioned earlier today, there is also the development with Mohamed Sanu seemingly getting the green light for Atlanta.
All of these developments affect not only the players but their teammates as well. I am putting in the revised numbers for all three of these teams – Chargers, Patriots, Falcons – and they will be loaded onto the website soon.
—Ian Allan