What It Means:

Gordon leads the Broncos in fumbles (3) and lost fumbles (3) after losing the ball twice in last week's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, including an errant flip on a flea-flicker. "Obviously, turning the ball over is never good," Fangio said of Gordon's play. "I'm not sure exactly what happened on the flea-flicker as far as where the breakdown was there, whether it was a bad pitch back or not. We can't turn the ball over, obviously." Gordon was also out-rushed by Phillip Lindsay 68-79 in the loss despite having eight more carries and Lindsay missing all of the second half with a concussion. If you remove a 43-yard touchdown run in the garbage time of the Broncos' win over the New York Jets in Week 4, Gordon has averaged 3.7 yards on his other 81 carries. He has gone for no gain or negative yardage on 25.6 percent of his carries overall. Lindsay could potentially leapfrog Gordon as the Broncos' 1A back if he's available for Week 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. On the flip side, Gordon will be set up for a workhorse role if Lindsay is ruled out.

Gordon ranks 46th out of 68 running backs with at least 20 carries this season in Rushing Net Expected Points per carry. Lindsay checks in at 21st. The Chargers have the 9th rush defense in numberFire's advanced team rankings.