Steve and Zack's Panic Attack: Week 7

Welcome back to Week 7 of Steve and Zack’s Panic Attack! Zack here with you this week and I am here to tell you: IT IS GETTING SCARY OUT HERE! It’s not just spooky season, it's panic season and we have a litany of new panic-worthy material to go over.

First off, I wanted to bring up some honorable mentions who may find their way onto this list in future weeks. Isaiah Likely struggled this week, but has overall been reliable this season, so we are giving him a pass. Kenyon Sadiq has been truly terrible over the last four weeks, but I never really expected anything from him as a rookie TE in this Jets’ offense, so he doesn't feel like someone worth panicking on. This week, Ashton Jeanty ran eight times for 15 yards, but he also had eight receptions for 61 yards and a TD. His receiving work has kept his fantasy value stable all year and I doubt that changes, so I refuse to worry about him.

Now, onto the main course: our true panic-worthy stars. These guys struggled in ways we simply did not want to think about this week. Enjoy Steve and Zack’s Panic Attack!

Patriots @ Bears

TreVeyon Henderson

• 3 car, 9 yds, 2 tgt, 2 rec, 14 yds
• It just feels bad watching him play. It’s like the kid you pick for your relay team because he's really fast, but every single track meet he forgets to bring his shoes and hasn't had practice holding onto the baton, so you let someone else take his place hoping he remembers his shoes next week. If that doesn't make sense to you, I apologize. TreVeyon is super explosive but unfortunately doesn't know how to read a hole and couldn't block a pass rusher if they were a crawling infant.  
• Panic Meter: 9/10. One more week of this and he is going to the Panic Room. Rhamondre StevenSZN is upon us, and Corey Kiner plays now too. Hendo is cooked for now. 

Steelers @ Saints (Paris Edition)

Juwan Johnson

• 3 tgt, 1 rec, 7 yds
• Since the Kelvin Banks (Saints starting LT) injury, Juwan Johnson has been asked to do a lot more blocking, while Noah Fant and Oscar Delp have had an increased role in the offense. Juwan will have some decent weeks, but his floor and ceiling are lower than before because of the Saints’ need for him to be a blocker, especially in certain 11 personnel packages. Over the last 3 weeks, Juwan has 7 PPR points. Not good. 
• Panic Meter: 8/10. Not going to tell anyone to start Juwan on their fantasy teams until we see him get the targets again. His declining route share is very concerning. Not a full panic yet, but I may have to open up another bed in the Panic Room next week.

Buccaneers @ Panthers

Everyone besides the Bucs RBs

• What a weird game. I literally don’t even know what to say. If you had a player in this game and he didn’t play RB for the Bucs, he sucked. Didn’t even feel worth it to bring up stats for every single player. Baker only attempted 11 passes, and the Panthers forgot how to play offense entirely. This game was the worst 43-13 game ever. Negative game script should have helped the Panthers. The Bucs won so early that they LITERALLY had 3 productive RBs with plenty of touches. Football is silly sometimes.  
• Panic Meter: 0/10. I don’t know why I even wrote this whole paragraph. This was just a weird game. Not worried at all about anything that happened.

Bengals @ Ravens

Derrick Henry

• 17 car, 45 yds, 2 tgt, 1 rec, 4 yds
• Derrick Henry has STRUGGLED in the three weeks of Tyler “Snoop” Huntley. Teams are stacking the box on the King over this span and his YPC has dropped noticeably. Henry has been hit behind the LOS on 50% of his carries in the last three weeks. 50%!!! Derrick Henry is still the King, and I believe wholeheartedly that once Lamar returns, all will go back to normal. 
• Panic Meter: 3/10. Lamar please come back. We all need you. Derrick needs you. 

Chase Brown

• 11 car, 39 yds, 5 tgt, 4 rec, 19 yds
• No more excuses. Chase Brown is just mediocre at this point. This doesn't feel like last year's first half of the season slump. The Bengals should have produced a positive game script here, but Chase Brown did nothing. Brown is utterly frustrating. He isn’t bad enough to warrant a full panic, but he isn’t good enough to help anyone’s fantasy teams on a weekly basis. I would totally put him in the Panic Room if I could, but the rules say a player must actually suck and not just be painfully average. 
• Panic Meter: 7/10. He just isn't all that great. Some weeks he splits his workload with Samaje Perine, and other weeks he just doesn’t do anything with the workload he is given. I honestly don’t know what to say about him because he is just putting up the most painful 10 PPR points per week average possible. 

Giants @ Texans 

Nico Collins

• 5 tgt, 2 rec, 6 yds
• Nico hasn't had more than 11 PPR points in the last three weeks. I am not convinced this Texans’ offense is doing enough to attempt to win football games. Nico should be better than this, but Stroud is unwilling to give him the targets to succeed. I get the separation scores for Nico Collins look less than ideal, but Nico is one of the better WRs in the league when covered. The Texans are just unwilling to make risky throws this year, and Nico is struggling for that reason. 
• Panic Meter: 5/10. I’m not panicking, but I’m also not not panicking. It’s a conundrum, because Nico is awesome and this isn't necessarily his fault, but if he doesn't turn it around soon I WILL start panicking. And I left my meds at Steve’s house so if I panic too much we are going to have a problem. deep breaths deep breaths

Colts @ Vikings 

Josh Downs

• 4 tgt, 2 rec, 18 yds
• Please trade him to the Chiefs, or Niners, or literally any other team that knows how to throw a football. I am going to need a paper bag to breathe in. Josh Downs is going to give me an aneurysm at this point. He is getting WIDE open incredibly often, but his QB is more blind than Hellen Keller and dumber than me when I set my fantasy lineups across my 20 leagues. Daniel Jones is at fault. Josh Downs: You are awesome. But please, someone save him from this hell hole that is the Indianapolis Colts franchise. 
• Panic Meter: 9/10.  If this continues next week, he is getting locked up in the Panic Room! I have had enough. The Colts passing offense is ANEMIC and none of this BS is the goddamn answer. Damn Daniel, just throw the gosh darn ball to Josh freaking Downs.

Justin Jefferson

• 7 tgt, 4 rec, 44 yds
• Hey, it's not funny anymore. Jettas is supposed to be one of the best WRs in the league, and yet it seems like he puts up mediocre numbers every week. To be fair, I don’t think it is entirely his fault. The Vikings’ defense is just so good that they really haven't had any negative game script or need to throw the ball very often. However, the Vikings will finally start playing some tougher opponents, so maybe the passing numbers will start to increase. 
• Panic Meter: 4/10. For now, I am willing to give Jettas another week or two to get back to being a dominant WR. But I am a little concerned at this point. Hopefully he will quell my worries next week. 

Dolphins @ Jets

Garrett Wilson

• 3 tgt, 2 rec, 26 yds
• Garrett Wilson was Mr. Invisible this week. To this point, he has been a target machine in every year of his career. This year, Geno and the Jets seem to want to spread the ball around. Omar Cooper stretching the field has helped the Jets get yards, but it takes away from G Willy (does anyone call him that? If not they should). In the last two weeks with Omar healthy, Garrett has had six and three targets. Not ideal for what is supposed to be an alpha WR.
• Panic Meter: 4/10. Garrett Wilson has still shown a very good ceiling this season, so I am not overly concerned yet. But this trend in games with Omar Cooper healthy is at least a little worrying. Let’s see if it continues, or if it was just a two week fluke. 

Browns @ Titans 

Denzel Boston

• 8 tgt, 3 rec, 27 yds
• Over the last two weeks Denzel Boston has had a combined 13 targets, four receptions, and 42 yards. For a guy who started off the season looking like a monster, he has slowed down considerably. Meanwhile, KC Concepcion and Harold Fannin have started to heat up. The Browns might just have a really great group of pass catchers, and not everyone gets to eat every week. 
• Panic Meter: 2/10. Not worrying too much yet. Boston is still a rookie, so even if he looked great at the start of the season, there is still a learning curve to the NFL. He will find his footing again. 

Broncos @ Cardinals 

Jaylen Waddle 

• 7 tgt, 4 rec, 48 yds
• I seriously can’t keep making excuses for this guy. At some point he needs to be fantasy reliable again. Jaylen Waddle has had fewer than 10 PPR points in five of his seven games this season. Simply unacceptable. I don’t even want to write more about this stupid penguin. 
• Panic Meter: 10/10. Jaylen Waddle, I hereby submit this certificate of panic for you. WELCOME TO THE PANIC ROOM! 

Michael Wilson 

• 8 tgt, 4 rec, 55 yds, 2 car, 11 yds
• In three games without Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson has averaged 7.3 targets, four receptions, 39 yards, and zero TDs. He has basically morphed into Marvin Harrison Jr. That is concerning for a guy who had been something of a target hog dating back to Week 11 of last year. The Cardinals offense seems to have gone back to completely relying on Trey McBride garbage time stat padding. 
• Panic Meter: 6/10. Unless he turns this trend around soon, he might find himself joining MHJ in the Panic Room. There is always hope for a WR on a team playing with a consistently negative game script, however, so I won’t fully panic on him yet. 

Chiefs @ Seahawks

Chiefs Offense

• Ouch. The Seahawks have not allowed a 100 yard rusher in 36 games. The last time someone ran for 100 yards against the Seahawks was literally two years ago to the day, October 27th, 2024. Sam Darnold was a Viking then. Daniel Jones was a couple weeks from being cut by the Giants and signed by the Vikings (can never forget that). Nevertheless, Kenneth Walker succumbed to the fate of many before him, and sucked against the Seahawks’ stifling shield of a defense. And just for fun, Patrick Mahomes couldn't do anything the whole game to make up for it, rendering the Chiefs’ offense zero-dimensional. 
• Panic Meter: 2/10. Ok. I am not that concerned. But seriously, that Seahawks’ defense is terrifying for fantasy. The Chiefs will almost surely bounce back next week against the Broncos.

The Panic Room

Brian Thomas Jr. — STILL INCARCERATED. Bye Week. We will revisit his status after next week. (Let’s hope for a trade.)

Omarion Hampton — STILL INCARCERATED. Bye Week. We will revisit his status after next week.

Marvin Harrison Jr. — PAROLE DENIED. Marv had 1 reception for a TD in the Texans loss to the Giants. Not good enough. But maybe sometime soon he can find his footing again. For now he will remain locked in his Panic Room cell. But for the touchdown maybe we will give him a mattress topper so he can at least be comfier here. 

Justin Herbert — STILL INCARCERATED. Bye Week. We will revisit his status after next week.

Cam Ward — NEW ARRIVAL. He kinda just walked in and admitted himself. This isn't a rehab facility. I'm not sure he knows where he is. Cam Ward has basically sucked every single week this year, so good on him to turn himself in. I have hope for Cam to turn it around, but for now he is welcome to stay in the Panic Room until further notice. 

Jaylen Waddle — NEW ARRIVAL. You would think it’s easy to catch a penguin, but this one was very slippery for the last seven weeks. However, our Agents of Panic were finally able to trap him. Waddle has been one of the most baffling, frustrating fantasy WRs over the first seven weeks of the season. The Broncos traded a 1st rd pick to acquire him and have basically failed to generate a passing attack that isn't centered purely around dumpoffs and checkdowns. Bo Nix has struggled, Sean Payton had to take back play-calling duties, and alas, Jaylen Waddle has made his way into the Panic Room. I seriously hope he finds a way to overcome this, but it doesn't look good for him.  

Final Thoughts

I will keep this outro short. If people don't start getting out of the Panic Room, we are going to run out of beds. Justin Herbert I am looking at you! 

As always, thank you for reading and being part of what we're building here at AngleRanks.

Until next week, remember: Sometimes the problem isn't the player. It's the guy holding the clipboard.