Fantasy Football Week 8 Projections: RBs
October 24, 2011 by Uzo Ometu
Running back play has been the brightest spot in fantasy football since Week 2 of the fantasy football season. We are getting superb play from a litany of running backs this season, including Ray Rice, Arian Foster and Matt Forte, just to name a few. While those guys are living up to their expectations, there are those that are not. We dive into some of the 2011 season’s successes to this day, as well as its failures, in this week’s projections.
Here are your fantasy football Week 8 projections for the running back position:
Ray Rice, Baltimore Ravens vs. Arizona Cardinals
Ray Rice is pretty much a good bet each and every week of the fantasy football season, and he is never going to see a bad enough matchup that would warrant sitting him on your fantasy football bench. In Fantasy Football Week 8, I fully expect him to be facing what could be his easiest matchup of the season. The Cardinals are bad against the run, which should yield a pretty big day on the ground for the all-pro running back. However, the Cardinals are even worse against the pass, where Rice has racked up a ton of fantasy football points this season. Expect Rice to come out of this game with one of the his best marks of the season, because no matter how the Cardinals prepare for this dual-threat running back, they just don’t have the talent to stop him.
Arian Foster, Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
After a very slow start that saw Foster spend some time out of the lineup for the Texans, Foster has gotten back on track. He is coming off two huge games, including last week’s blowout of the Tennessee Titans. In Fantasy Football Week 8, Foster faces off against a rushing defense that’s a below average 19th in the NFL and doesn’t hasn’t had any success stopping the few major running backs it has faced (excluding Chris Johnson in Week 1). Thus, I like Foster to continue doing what he does in Week 8. The absence of Andre Johnson has made Foster’s running ability an indispensable part of the Texans offense, and whether or not Johnson comes back to the lineup, that should have no effect on Foster’s involvement or touches with the football.
Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts
I know that have essentially crapped on Chris Johnson’s play all season long, and deservedly so. You can’t hold out for all that money and come back and play like garbage as the highest paid running back in the NFL. Of course, it’s not all Johnson’s fault that he’s not having the season his talent would warrant, as the Titans rushing execution hasn’t been the greatest. Still, you have to do better than 3.0 yards per carry and a long of 25 yards when you’re Chris Johnson—I don’t care who’s blocking for him. All that said, I’m actually feeling good about Johnson in Week 8. The Indianapolis Colts are not good as a whole, have aging defensive ends and no linebackers to speak of. The Titans and Johnson should have no trouble running the rock against this light, old defensive front, as Johnson should have a field day.
Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots
The Patriots defense is not known for being tough. In fact, it was just a couple of weeks ago that their lack of toughness nearly cost them a game against the struggling Dallas Cowboys. Well, do not expect the Mike Tomlin-coached Steelers to come out and not try to punch the Patriots in the mouth. That should mean that Mendenhall will get his fair share of carries, and he should get them fairly early in the game. One just has to hope that the Steelers don’t get behind early, or the Ben Roethlisberger will likely take command of the offense. But if Troy Polamalu and the rest of the defensive boys can keep things tight, I don’t see what 20 attempts won’t yield a big day for Mendenhall against an otherwise soft Patriots defensive front.
