Fantasy football: Josh Gordon is must-play vs Cincinnati Bengals
By Jason Marcum
The Cleveland Browns will need a big game from wide receiver Josh Gordon this week against the Cincinnati Bengals if they want to inch closer to an AFC North crown, and that means he could be a big-time scorer this week for fantasy football teams. Bt history suggests that Gordon tends to struggle vs Cincinnati.
According to Pro Football Reference, Gordon hasn’t exactly been an effective receiver against the Bengals:
The key thing in those three game however was that the Bengals had Pro Bowl cornerback Leon Hall, who was lost for the year after suffering a torn Achilles Tendon in Week 7 vs the Detroit Lions. Now that they don’t have Hall, Gordon is poised for a big day after a disappointing gave vs the Baltimore Ravens last week.
Speaking of which, here is a look at Gordon’s last five games this year:
| G# | Date | Age | Tm | Opp | Result | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Att | Yds | Y/A | TD | TD | Pts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2013-09-22 | 22-162 | CLE | @ | MIN | W 31-27 | 10 | 146 | 14.60 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 22.00 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 2013-09-29 | 22-169 | CLE | CIN | W 17-6 | 4 | 71 | 17.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 5 | 2013-10-03 | 22-173 | CLE | BUF | W 37-24 | 4 | 86 | 21.50 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||||
| 6 | 2013-10-13 | 22-183 | CLE | DET | L 17-31 | 7 | 126 | 18.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 7 | 2013-10-20 | 22-190 | CLE | @ | GNB | L 13-31 | 2 | 21 | 10.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 8 | 2013-10-27 | 22-197 | CLE | @ | KAN | L 17-23 | 5 | 132 | 26.40 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |||
| 9 | 2013-11-03 | 22-204 | CLE | BAL | W 24-18 | 3 | 44 | 14.67 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
It’s a small sample size, but as you can see, Gordon likes to have big games after disappointing performances. He should have a big day Sunday in the Browns’ biggest game of the season. Treat Gordon as a high-end WR 2 this week.