As we look back on my projections for the top 20 running backs for 2012 fantasy football, I would like to say I feel I nailed it. Unfortch, unlike that one famous carpenter that was around prior to AD, I’m not good with a hammer and injuries always seem to rattle this position to it’s core when you go to review. There were plenty of surprises, some pleasant and some not so, but the people who drafted players like Maurice Jones-Drew or Ryan Mathews may never play this wonderful and wacky game again. In the end, the top 20 at this position were most likely the least injured players more so than they were the best players at times during the year which is to say, it wasn’t always sexy to own some of these backs. For the meat and potatoes of this conversation, since we don’t have a player rater yet, we’re going to rely on yahoo PPR rankings for our review. So with the groundwork set, let’s take a look back at the top 20 running backs for 2012 fantasy football…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Ahmad Bradshaw
With the 2012 Fantasy Football season drawing to a close, Doc decided to look back through his patients and make the first annual All-IR Team. In order to be eligible, a player had to be put on the season-ending IR and not the designated-to-return version that debuted this season.
Please, blog, may I have some more?At this time of year, everyone’s hurt. And the like the saying runs, “If you’re not hurt, you’re not playing.” You can imagine all the haggling with the insurance companies that the Doc has to do with these injury reports.
Let’s take a look at who’s all banged up and how they will impact you in your quest for fantasy victory.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The first couple of games we saw Nick Foles, he truly did play like a rookie. The game seemed too fast for him. He was throwing passes way too late and had to deal with the same struggles Vick dealt with concerning a porous offensive line. It really wasn’t the best set up for Nick to step into after Michael went down with a concussion and blurred vision a few weeks ago. But last week was encouraging as he was able to stay in the pocket a little bit and gain some confidence. Though I’m sure Bryce Brown and his antics were a huge part of it, that shouldn’t deter from a solid 251 yard 1 TD performance against a Dallas secondary that really isn’t that bad. Well this week was against a Buccaneers team that hasn’t been able to stop a passing attack all year. The set up could not have been better and Foles took full advantage to the tune of 381 passing yards to go with 24 rushing and 3 total touchdowns, one of which came on the ground, turning not one but two WRs – Jason Avant and Jeremy Maclin - into fantasy relevant players on the day and barely missed doing the same for Riley Cooper on the game-winning drive. Keep in mind this is a team that’s in shambles from the top down. Plenty of firings, plenty of injuries and plenty of angry Eagles fans to boot but with Michael Vick all but gone after the 2012 season from Philidelphia, I think it’s a good time to think about what Foles could do for 2013 and beyond. Hey, not all of us are in the fantasy playoffs people. Some of us have to look forward while we cry into our winter beards. If you wanna skip the next paragraph because you’re in the playoffs and don’t care, I won’t stop you but I warn you there might be a pop quiz later. So before we get on with Sunday highlights, let’s highlight Foles for 2013 fantasy football…
First off, let’s make some comparisons. Coming into the year, Foles had been compared to Chad Henne and even John Skelton. Personally, I think he looks more like Jon Heder and Ron Perlman’s lovechild…hrm, these comparisons aren’t off to a very good start. The Henne comparison is reasonable: a strong-armed pocket quarterback who, though not extremely mobile, isn’t Philip Rivers either. The two biggest knocks against Foles coming into the draft were the injury issues and that his big stats came from a ‘gimmicky’ offense with the Wildcats. In reality, all this is moot as even in training camp there were rumors that Foles should’ve received the starting job and given how stubborn Andy Reid has been in making the right moves over ‘sticking with his guys’, I think we’re seeing why now. Moving forward, my main concerns with Nick would be two things. One, how quickly will he make adjustments. It took him about 2 1/2 games to get his footing to perform over these last two games. These last three games – one against a stingy Cincinnati secondary and another against a Redskins secondary that is easy to beat but man-handled him the first time the two teams played – will tell a story of how we can view Foles looking forward. The second concern is the uncertainty of the Eagles themselves. Will Reid be back? If he isn’t, who takes over and how does that change the offense next year? Change isn’t always the best thing when you’re talking about a QB and playing within a system, even if the system has failed the last two years. Though it’s ridiculously early to make these calls, I’m gonna say I see a QB who gets to throw it often given how terrible the Eagles defense has been the last two years. As Tony Romo owners can confess to, it’s nice to own a QB who plays from behind most of the time. Foles can give his owners about 3700 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, 15 INT with plenty of room for upside/downside in the TD:INT ratio for the 2013 season. In re-draft leagues, I’d target him as a backup QB as long as the hype vultures don’t start circling in the off-season. In dynasty and keeper leagues, I’d be interested but not jumping out of my seat. I can tell I just got you all crazy excited for next year. You’re welcome. And now on with the news from the 2012 fantasy football season as it’s still rolling for some of us…
Alfred Morris – I said he’d end the day with 120 rushing yards and a touchdown. I didn’t realize he’d fumble it. Sorry about that, my Spidey senses went on the fritz, obviously. I guess this is as good a place as any to talk about it: Robert Griffin, III got hurt and it did not look good at all. Knees aren’t supposed to turn that way. I’m no doctor, but I once reattached a limb to a man’s body. Granted, I used superglue and it was a doll’s leg and said man was passed out at a party, but I was wearing a stethoscope while I did it. Oh and I’d be extremely surprised if RG3 is playing next week. It’s tough, but I did say to sell him way earlier this season for the very reason of health. I’m sure he carried many people into the playoffs this year but now might be taking those same teams out on a stretcher with him. And while we’re on the subject of Redskins, let’s just get this out of the way: Pierre Garcon cares not who throws to him, he shall catch a touchdown as he went for 5/87 with his final one coming from Kirk Cousins who is everyone’s distant relative, apparently.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Howdy folks. Its jaywrong and I’m feeling jayright. Why? Who knows? Could it be all the turkey slaughter that happened in my bowels? I’d bet so my readership. I’d bet so. DISCOUNT DOUBLE CHECK! Anyhow, let’s get right down to the business, because I’m going to have the ‘itis until Christmas.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Doc doesn’t know what gives him a bigger headache between being a sub-.500 team in the Razzball Writers’ League or all of the quarterback concussions suffered last week. This time it’s the concussions that felled Michael Vick, Jay Cutler and Alex Smith.
More concerning was the injury that felled Ben Roethlisberger on Monday night against the Kansas City.
Please, blog, may I have some more?So with this being the last buy column for the season, I felt the best way to approach the final go would be to state some generalities. Though I’ll still list some buys and sells below, I wanted to state the simple and obvious: make a trade that helps you over the last 6 weeks, not what helped the other owner for the last 10. By that I mean, sometimes selling high means selling low. You’re looking at the best a guy can offer you over the last 6 fantasy football games of the season. You should be looking at playoff matchups and not the next week at hand, unless of course you’re still scrambling for a playoff spot at this time like I am seemingly everywhere. Name value doesn’t hold as much weight as what a guy can do for you over this six week adventure. So go ahead and flip your star in name for the guy who’s been quietly outproducing him most of the season. It’s also the time of year to take risks if you need to. Look, you know by the records and points scored for the season whether or not your team is a contender or a pretender right now. One man’s 6-4 record should really be 4-6 and vice versa. We’re aware of it so we have to act before the last chance to make a move passes us by. Like I said, the time is nigh…buy, buy, buy. And with that, let’s look at some possible buys and sells for our final swing-thru for 2012 fantasy football:
Buy
Mark Ingram – The length of a season can do strange things to an otherwise unwaivering man. I said at the beginning of the year I wanted no part of Mark and for about 9 weeks I was right. Well, now I see a running back whose received 25 touches over the last two weeks with 16 of them coming last week vs the Falcons and doing good work with them. He has looked nothing like the RB that we’ve seen for a season and a half and more like what the Saints thought they drafted. He’s been aggressive when given the ball and running with a purpose. Can’t ask for much more than that. As much as I’d love to tell you to pick up Chris Ivory instead, he’s clearly not getting the touches Ingram is getting. After his 56 yard run last week, Ivory only got 6 more touches the rest of the way. Ingram as a flex is looking like a good call for ROS if you’re in need.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The election is finally over. As someone that doesn’t want to pay my cable company for DVR (they charge an additional $15! I’ll just play on my phone for two minutes, thank you very much.), I couldn’t be happier that there are no more political ads. They just don’t make sense to me. You’re going to spend $300 million dollars? Let’s get some production value! Not just a slide show with a stark narrated voice.
Please, blog, may I have some more?There have been a lot of stud early-round picks this year that have disappointed, leading a lot of fantasy teams to .500 or sub.-500 records that could still have a shot at the playoffs if those big-name studs bank on their high-price value in the second half. A guy I’ve been notoriously down on all year, Matthew Stafford, finally showed fantasy owners something against a tough Seahawks D, but it might have been too late as he was started in just over 50% of fantasy leagues.
Please, blog, may I have some more?If I told you Darren McFadden had 324 yards rushing through week 7, you’d probably assume two things. One, you’d assume Oakland had it’s bye week already and you’d be right. Two, you’d assume that DMC has been hurt and missed a few games and that is where you’d be wrong. It’s sad but true, Darren is averaging 3.1 yards per carry and is on pace for only 864 yards on the ground. His only saving grace has been for PPR leagues in which he’s on pace for 445 receiving yards and over 65 receptions, though most of that is weighted into a 13 catch performance that happened game one of the season. When you look at the fact he just dropped a measly 53 yards vs the Jaguars on 19 carries, you start to understand why his owners might feel like Raising Hell. Well in the end, if they’ve had it with DMC you should be asking if you can have him. His remaining schedule is ridiculously fantasy friendly for running backs. The ‘best’ rushing defense Oakland has to face from here on out is Denver who are still giving up the 13th most rushing yards per game. When you factor in Carson Palmer finding a rhythm with Denarius Moore and Darrius Heyward-Bey, it’s likely DMC will start finding the running game easier over time. I’d see if I can sneak him away for a bona-fide RB2 like Michael Turner with the hopes of getting an RB1 in disguise. In other fantasy football news…
Buy
Calvin Johnson - I already hinted at the idea that Calvin was a buy yesterday and here I am again, repeating myself. Now as much as I love the sound of my typed voice, I don’t like saying the same thing twice unless it’s really funny – to me - or really important. Calvin’s reception and yardage pace are on par with last year. The only thing he’s missing are the touchdowns and it’s what is pushing him down into WR2 territory in terms of yahoo rankings for the year to date. I mean, he’s ranked below Randall Cobb right now. You don’t need an expert to tell you that’s enough to line him up as a buy low.
Please, blog, may I have some more?