There were more good running back performances this week than last, but don’t worry there’s still plenty of those games that make you quit your league and quit your friends. For good.
Fantasy Football: Maurice Jones-Drew injury heads running back news for Week 7
Big games from unlikely sources, bad games from likely sources, and the always sad-to-read injury report.
Sam Greenwood
Here are the performances and injuries you need to be aware of.
The Good
Chris Johnson against the Bills (IS IT CJ2K OR IS IT THE BILLS?)
Sometimes a rock meets a hard place, and sometimes a rock meets parchment paper. Buffalo is just about the worst run defense in the NFL and Johnson is... well, he’s Chris Johnson. But maybe that’s going back to a good thing now that Johnson had 195 yards against the worst run defense in the league. Johnson scored his first two touchdowns of the season as well, and now has 451 yards in his last four games.
Sell high?
Adrian Peterson against the Cardinals (THEM ARE SOME HEALTHY NUMBERS)
Peterson has proven that he can still go all day and rushed for 153 yards against Arizona on Sunday. He is the one and only and has had a follow-up season to an ACL injury unlike most any other running back in league history with 652 yards in seven games with three touchdowns.
AP should be fine to go as an RB1 against Tampa Bay next week.
LaRod Stephens-Howling against the Vikings (THIS WAS PROBABLY YOUR BEST CHANCE TO USE HYPHEN)
Against a difficult run defense, as nothing more than a change-of-pace or "scat back," Stephens-Howling had 104 yards and a touchdown against Minnesota. There's an opening in Arizona with the injuries to Beanie Wells and Ryan Williams, but it's doubtful any Cardinal will rush for much against the 49ers in Week 8.
Arian Foster against the Ravens (HE DIDN'T GET 100 YARDS? WHAT A STINKER!)
Honorable Mention: Doug Martin, Frank Gore, Jonathan Dwyer, Alfred Morris
The Bad
Trent Richardson against the Colts (MORE LIKE TRENT "BENCHARDSON" AMIRITE?)
Yeah, I am right. Richardson was on the injury report going into the game with sore ribs and after a poor first half performance, Pat Shurmer decided to rest his rookie star. T-Rich finished with just 8 yards on eight carries. His status will have to be monitored.
Darren McFadden against the Jaguars (THIS SEASON... ISN'T GOING SO WELL)
Did McFadden take Chris Johnson’s place recently? Who said we needed another elite back to take Johnson’s place? That seems like a weird system. McFadden has under 3 YPC in five of six games this season after he had 53 yards on 19 carries against Jacksonville.
Ray Rice against the Texans (BLOWOUTS AREN'T GOOD FOR RUNNING BACKS)
When you’re on the losing side that is. Rice had just 64 total yards and no touchdowns against Houston. Baltimore is on a Bye.
Stevan Ridley against the Jets (LIFE IS EASIER WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT BILL BELICHICK HATES YOU)
The Patriots when to Shane Vereen to start the game and then finally shifted to Ridley, who finished with only 65 yards on 17 carries with a missed opportunity at the goal line. This gives Ridley just 99 yards in his last two games. It's almost impossible to predict what's next but the Rams provide a good run matchup for New England. Which gives "Player X" as good a chance to score as Ridley or anyone else.
And I literally mean someone named “Player X” that’s signed off the street this week.
Honorable Mention: Felix Jones, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Ahmad Bradshaw, Jonathan Stewart
The Injured
Maurice Jones-Drew was the big news of the day after leaving the Jags game against Oakland with a left foot injury. MJD was on crutches but news on the severity of the injury will continue to come out this week and must be monitored. Rashad Jennings is an admirable fill-in. Jennings had 102 total yards and a touchdown, while Jamie Harper scored two short touchdowns.
Jennings is the pickup but perhaps MJD returns soon enough.
Trent Richardson? We’ll see.
The earlier mentioned Ben Tate.
Shonn Greene left in the fourth quarter against the Patriots with an apparent head injury, but returned. Anything around that head area will still be monitored and questioned going forward, but it seems unlikely that he'd miss time if he went back in shortly thereafter.
