Stevan Ridley has a knee issue, just another concern for fantasy owners

Stevan Ridley did not practice on Wednesday due to a knee injury. His status for Sunday's game against the Bengals is now up in the air.

While this could be a Coach Bill trick, we have to take the Patriots at their word and assume Ridley is dealing with something. Plus, his sub-par play would also suggest that he would want to go out there and get reps with his team.

His numbers have been tough to swallow so far, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry -- a far cry from his 5.1 from his rookie season in 2011. Ridley has been losing tons of snaps to LeGarrette Blount and Brandon Bolden, and the trio basically had a three-way split against the Falcons in Week 4.

Fantasy impact: The Patriots have a bad matchup against Geno Atkins and the Bengals. The game is in Cincinnati and the Bengals rank 11th in rushing yards allowed per game. While we do think that Ridley will suit up, owners should absolutely grab Blount since he would be an RB2 sans Ridley.