Frank Gore, Carlos Hyde's Instant Fantasy Reaction After Week 7

An avalanche of touchdowns by Peyton Manning has a way of ruining the fantasy value of the steadiest opposing running backs, and that includes the San Francisco 49ers' duo of Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde.

The visiting team fell behind by two touchdowns in a Sunday Night Football encounter with the Denver Broncos and abandoned the run entirely in an effort to keep pace.

As a result, Gore and the rookie Hyde were not even close to significant usage:

	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	Fantasy Pts.
F. Gore	9	20	2.2	0	2
C. Hyde	3	15	5.0	0	1

Such is the gamble owners take knowing that this sort of scenario works out one of two ways:

• The backs get a hefty load and produce well as the team looks to keep the opposing offense off the field.
• The backs doom owners on their own as they are taken out of the plans once the team falls behind.

Owners of either back traveled through door No. 2 Sunday night.

The output for Gore, who is owned in 100 percent of leagues but continues to provide diminishing returns, marks the second time in as many weeks he has failed to reach double digits. Through seven games, he has done so just three times.

Outside of the game implications, Gore's performance in other areas may have hurt his usage rates Sunday, too, as Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee points out:

After an opening-week outburst for 11 points in his pro debut, Hyde now has six games with seven points or less, and two weeks in a row he has scored just a single point for his 63.3 percent of owners.

There does not appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel for either back, either. Week 8 is a bye, and the four weeks after are a hodgepodge of favorable encounters against defenses that rank horribly against backs (New Orleans, New York Giants) and must-avoid matchups against teams that rank well against the position (St. Louis, Washington).

Barring Gore losing his job outright, there is little reason to do anything more than stash Hyde at the moment. In what is quickly becoming something akin to a committee when the 49ers actually elect to run the football, Gore is nothing more than a risky RB2 moving forward.

Owners knew the risk for each player going into the season. What most could not have predicted is that the 49ers have run Gore fewer than 20 times in all but one game this year.

All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info and ownership stats. Statistics courtesy of ESPN. Philadelphia, Tampa Bay on bye.