Week 13 Running Back Rankings: It’s going to be a Gore-y Weekend
Posted by Greg Brosh on Nov 29, 2011 in Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Rankings
Frank Gore has an extremely tasty matchup against the Rams this week.
See what I did there? Gore-y? Oh how I crack myself up. Anyway, Frank Gore has a huge matchup this week against a Rams Defense that has given up 22.7 fantasy points to running backs this season (4th worst). Peyton Hillis has bounced back in the rankings, but the matchup against the Ravens is a killer. Still no word on if Kevin Smith (ankle) will play. But if it looks good, he will move right back in before Sunday’s game against the Saints.
Below are my running back rankings for Week 13. As usual, if anyone has any questions on why a player is ranked where he is or if you need help deciding, feel free to post in the comments section below.
RANKING PLAYER TEAM OPPONENT COMMENTS
1 Arian Foster
Houston vs. Carolina The King will bounce back in a big way this week.
2 Chris Johnson Tennessee @ Indianapolis
3 Ray Rice Baltimore @ San Diego
4 Felix Jones Dallas @ Tampa Bay Nothing wrong with getting the start against the 5th worst rushing defense in the league.
5 Marshawn Lynch Seattle @ Chicago Continues to tear it up every week. Skittles should get Lynch on the phone fast.
6 Reggie Bush Miami @ Buffalo
7 Shonn Greene New York Jets @ Philadelphia Eagles may have beat Miami, but their defense couldn't stop Bush.
8 Adrian Peterson Minnesota vs. New Orleans Tentatively expected to play.
9 Michael Turner Atlanta vs. Jacksonville
10 LeSean McCoy Philadelphia vs. New York Jets Jets aren't that far behind Miami in terms of fantasy points given up to running backs.
11 Chris "Beanie" Wells Arizona vs. Cleveland Looked like crap, as expected, last week. But has a nice bounce-back matchup.
12 Roy Helu Washington @ New York Giants Can he make it four-straight 100-yard games?
13 Maurice Jones-Drew Jacksonville @ Atlanta
14 Kevin Smith Detroit @ Oakland
15 Ryan Grant Green Bay @ Kansas City Great matchup, but Grant's status depends on Starks.
16 Cedric Benson Cincinnati @ St. Louis
17 Michael Bush Oakland vs. Detroit Raiders seem to be fading. My biggest fear is Oakland abandoning the run.
18 Ahmad Bradshaw New York Giants vs. Washington Limited last week due to a team-imposed punishment.
19 Ryan Mathews San Diego vs. Baltimore
20 Willis McGahee Denver vs. New England
21 Rashard Mendenhall Pittsburgh @ San Francisco
22 Steven Jackson St. Louis vs. Cincinnati
23 Darren Sproles New Orleans @ Minnesota Much higher option in PPR leagues. Only averaging 35.6 yards on the ground.
24 LeGarrette Blount Tampa Bay vs. Dallas
25 BenJarvus Green-Ellis New England @ Denver Could explode or do nothing.
26 Marion Barber Chicago vs. Seattle Won't be a cake walk like Week 14.
27 Frank Gore San Francisco vs. Pittsburgh
28 Ben Tate Houston vs. Carolina Ordinarily I wouldn't recommend Tate. But with the matchup so strong, he could be worth a flier. Had 97 total yards last week.
29 C.J. Spiller Buffalo vs. Miami
30 Donald Brown Indianapolis vs. Tennessee
i just got a trade where i got forte and i picked up blount. So now i have forte, foster, rice, murray, and blount. Out of those 5 which three do i play? I always pick the wrong guys.
wow, those are tough choices.
since i have some time, i will break it down. below are the running backs ranked according to their opponents scoring against fantasy running backs.
blount (car-26.9)
forte (kc-21.0)
rice (cle-19.6)
murray (ari-18.0)
foster (atl-13.7)
Blount is a must start at one spot. The Panthers rank dead last against fantasy backs and Blount is on a roll with two-straight 100 yard games.
To me Rice is another no brainer simply because he doesn’t have the question marks Foster, Murray and Forte do.
Foster and Forte will suffer a bit because of their starting quarterback. Murray lost FB Tony Fiammetta for this week due to illness.
Is this a PPR league? For me that would bump Forte in the third spot. If not, I would roll the dice on either Forte or Foster and keep Murray on the bench.
Is there anyway you can trade any of these guys to upgrade somewhere else? You have 5 guys who can all be RB1s.
In a PPR league would you start Darren Sproles over Ryan Mathews?
Also in a separate deep 16 team league, would you start Eric Decker or Tobey Gerhart at the flex position?
PPR?
Point Per Reception?
yes. it’s easier to analyze your players if we know whether it’s a ppr league or not.
Sorry, I had indicated in the first post the league was PPR, but neglected to indicate one way or the other about the second league.
In the PPR league:
Darren Sproles or Ryan Mathews?
In the Non-PPR league:
Eric Decker or Tobey Gerhart at flex?
Thank you!
i’d go mathews in the first one.
it’s really close with the second one, but i would go decker. gerhart looked really slow against the falcons.
I’m hesitating on Turner over BGE. Know Bellichick could rotate in other RB’s but every time I depend on Turner to get 15+ touches he barely seems to, even when doing well like the first half last week vs. the Vikes, it’s like Smith is going down with forcing this airing it out offense in Atlanta to work whether he wins with it or not. You don’t think against Houston Turner’s going to barely top 60yds if that happens vs. BGE who, even on 10-15, should easily surpass that amount against the horrid run Def of the Colts? Can you elaborate and ease my Turner queasiness?
i ranked turner more on talent and the houston offense. with leinart now out, the texans will go even more to a ground game, which i think should keep the score low. i want to think that turner will easily get more carries than last week.
but honestly, bge has such a great matchup, i wouldn’t blame you for going his way either. anyway you can put in both?
I have Demarco Murray so I assumed he was a lock for RB1.
yeah i think he should be with his matchup. my vote still goes to turner, but i easily wouldn’t blame you for going with green-ellis, given the matchup.
PPR league – 16 teams so there really isn’t any valuable RBs left:
I have McCoy, Woodhead, Felix Jones, Mark Ingram, Hardesty, McKnight…McCoy is the obvious start, who should be my RB2?
We also have a W/R flex and i have Marshall, White and Burleson starting but have the option to put in Greg Little
I need a win to solidify a playoff birth so what are your recommendations?
Thanks!
i made a rookie mistake and added daniel thomas where mark ingram should be. for me it comes down to woodhead and the matchup against ingram and his chance of scoring. i lean a little bit towards ingram, only because i can see green-ellis being big this week. woodhead could have a decent flex day, but that’s a lot to chance.
i’d keep little on the bench if for only the ravens matchup isn’t all that spectacular. they only allow 19 points to fantasy receivers this year.
So I am 10-2 on the season and lost Fred Jackson. I am wondering who to start this week non-ppr. Here are my choices, I will exclude Arian Foster for obvious reasons, I need one-
J. Stewart
Cedric Benson (He has been a beast for me since Jackson went out)
Peyton Hillis
Or I can Pick up-
J. Starks
J. Addai
Thank you!
i’d leave starks and addai on the wire for now. i whiffed on addai/brown over the weekend because the coaches decided to F me and keep addai out, even though he is healthy. starks tweaked his ankle, but the team kept it under wraps until recently.
tampa bay’s rushing defense is shit and they just made chris johnson look like a stud again. and tb gives up the second most fantasy points to running backs, behind only carolina, with 25.3.
benson only racked up 57 yards in the first meeting with pitt. i don’t trust him here. and hillis has an equally tough outing against the ravens.
I was leaning towards Stewart, but second guessing myself because Benson racked up 2 tds against the Ravens. I have clinched a playoff spot and a ton of cash is on the line. Sucks to lose Jackson! Thanks for the advice.
NodOut
I have Shady McCoy who is normally an every week play, not sure this week tough matchup and a Questionable toe, should I stay with him or plug in one of two options DeAngleo Williams (nice matchup) or CJ Spiller who has become the last RB standing in Buffalo.
Thanks.
i’d still stay with mccoy. he’s an rb1 every week, even though he looked like crap at times against the patriots.
his ppr value helps to if that is this type of league.
Thanks…it is a PPR league, I am afraid tonight will be a repeat of the Patriots game for McCoy. IMO having VY at QB instead of Vick is what is hurting McCoy, sure hope I am wrong though.
mccoy still got 16 points last week, which isn’t too bad. but his ppr value helps a lot.
Non-PPR league, not sure whether to start Sproles or Pierre Thomas. What do you think? Thinking/hoping Sproles will break one for a TD this week against a weaker Lions D but Thomas has been getting more TDs overall. Other 2 RBs I’m starting are Helu and Michael Bush and I’m benching Steven Jackson.
i like sproles more. i know thomas has decent game here and there, but the saints like using sproles a lot. especially in passing situations. so you can still get points for those receiving yards.
Thanks, Greg. Would you also start Sproles as flex player over Percy Harvin this week?
hmm that’s a tough one. i kind of lean toward harvin in this situation because denver’s secondary is just as bad as atlanta’s
points against fantasy receivers:
atlants – 23.2
denver – 23.1
i might lean a little bit more towards harvin in this situation. he really looked good last week.
I am in a just win game in a non ppr league. I need to start 2 RBs 2 WRs and 1 flex.
S. Jackson
R. Helu
D. Murray
D. Williams
T. Gerhart
C.Johnson
D. Bryant
M. Colston
A. J. Green
M. Crabtree
Jackson is in for a heap of trouble against the 49ers. Bench him.
deangelo williams has a good matchup, but still shares with stewart. not a fan of gerhart period. he looked slow last week against atlanta.
i have to go murray and helu this week.
johnson and bryant for me, without question. it comes down to crabtree and williams. i side a little bit more with crabtree because of the matchup.
Hey Guys,
I blew it last week and didn’t start Beanie Wells. I am in a battle for the last playoff spot and I’m going up against the #1 head to head this week (he’s won 7 in a row). I really need to pull the “W” off this weekend. I am having so much trouble week to week picking out my Running Backs and Wide Receivers. I here’s who I have:
Ray Rice
Beanie Wells
Jonathan Stewart
Ryan Matthews
Any input/advice will be greatly appreciated!!!!
going up against cleveland, rice is an absolute must for your first spot. he could even put up enough stats for 2 running backs, hopefully.
wells is going against dallas, which is 6th highest against fantasy running backs.
love stewarts matchup, but he shares.
i gotta go mathews against a banged up jaguars defense that lost del rio. he looked great last week. and i know he is an injury risk waiting to happen, but i would take the chance.
Hey guys,
Got 1 RB spot to fill. Benson, Kevin Smith or, Jonathan Stewart. I would start Benson but Pitt concerns me. Stewart would be great but he splits carries. This is a ppr league btw. I also have Kevin Smith, but it’s a night game and hes questionable. Morris is taken btw. Not sure if I should risk it if it’s a game time decision.
What u guys think?
unless i hear something of the contrary with smith, i think your best bet is to go with stewart. i know he shares with williams, but the matchup against the bucs is sweet. he still had 11 points against the colts.
if i was going to use smith, i would need to know by sunday morning that he is DEFINITELY going to play.
Its my 1st week of playoffs and my back is up against a wall with Peterson out and Bradshaw questionable. Standard league with 2 each wr and rb and 1 flex. Options below please share your advise.
RB
Bradshaw (if playing), Starks, Wells, and Sproles
WR
Nelson, Bowe, and Lloyd
If Bradshaw plays i believe i’m starting him Wells, and Sproles with Nelson and Lloyd.
If he doesn’t play i’m thinking of playing the three WRs with Wells and Sproles
If Bradshaw does start, I worry about effective he will actually be. Starks is also dealing with an ankle tweak. And despite likely playing, he scares me to.
I think you almost have to go with Wells and Sproles. As for receivers, I would go Nelson and Lloyd.
And because of Starks and Bradshaw, I would use Bowe in the flex.