Sorry Chris Johnson owners, you’re going to have to start someone else this week. Just think of it like one of the first three weeks of the season again, only this time you know you shouldn’t start him.
If you were paying any attention to the Bears/Texans game last Sunday night, you should know The Texans are not easy to run on. This makes an already struggling Rashad Jennings completely unstartable. Yes, I know MJD is still out, but the man plays for The Jacksonville Jaguars. Do you really want to count on them getting close enough to the goal line for Jennings to punch one in? You know he won’t get the yards.
Also, since I’ve already mentioned The Bears, I should probably mention that the road doesn’t get much easier for Matt Forte this week. Sure, Steven Jackson broke the century mark in an overtime tie with the 49ers last week, but with Jay Cutler out, The 49ers will likely focus the majority of their defense on the run. Like Brandon Marshall, he’s a difficult man to bench, but you’re taking a risk with any Bears in your starting lineup this week.
The good news for Bears fans is that their defense is also quite good. Arian Foster did manage to squeak by 100 yards in Chicago on Sunday night, but he is also arguably the best running back in the league. Frank Gore is quite talented himself, but you should lower your expectations for him this week. Somewhere between 6-8 fantasy points sounds about right for him on Monday night.
One player who might see a positive bump in carries this week is BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Green-Ellis has been relatively quiet recently, averaging around 59 yards a game with only 1 TD in his last 4 games, but that should change this week when he travels to Kansas City. The Chiefs may have given Pittsburgh a scare on Monday night, but they’re still not a great football team and with The Bengals’ potent offense, they could be looking to run out the clock as fast as possible by the start of the 2nd half.
The Falcons are also relatively weak against the run. They cover wide receivers fairly well, but LaRod Stephens-Howling could have a surprisingly solid day on the ground. Beanie Wells is still out this week so LaRod will be looking to prove as much as he can, in what might be his last opportunity to do so.
Finally, one of the absolute run defenses this year so far has been The Buffalo Bills and that should give Reggie Bush a chance to redeem himself. Keep an eye on the situation in Miami this week and make sure Joe Philbin doesn’t announce anything unusual as far as his backfield goes before Thursday’s game, but you know Bush has to be working on his fumbling issues this week and he’ll want to give it 110%. Besides, with the time he spent on the bench last week, at least he’s probably well rested.
