Week 14 Fantasy Football Defensive Matchup Exploitation: RB

Rashard Mendenhall fantasy football
Rashard Mendenhall fantasy football
Oct 17 2013 Phoenix AZ USA Arizona Cardinals running back Rashard Mendenhall 28 against the Seattle Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium Mark J Rebilas USA TODAY Sports

Run defenses have been very consistent this season and, for the most part, anyone that has run into the Cardinals, Jets, and Ravens has really struggled. Last week, LeSean McCoy was held to fewer than 80 rushing yards against the Cards. This week, Zac Stacy gets the unfortunate matchup.

Stacy has been very good but the Cards have stopped Shady, Maurice Jones-Drew, Ben Tate, Steven Jackson, Carolina’s backfield, Doug Martin, Reggie Bush, and New Orleans’ backfield this season, only allowing more than 80 rushing yards to two players – once to Marshawn Lynch and once to Frank Gore. I would stay away from Stacy, as well as Rashad Jennings against a Jets defense that doesn’t do much else except eviscerate the run. Adrian Peterson is always a must-start but he could end up limited by the Ravens tough defense.

The same goes for LeSean McCoy. It’s not a great matchup but he is going to get plenty of touches and has as high an upside as anyone in the league. On the other hand, I’d stay away from anyone in New Orleans’ backfield, Indy’s backfield, and Bobby Rainey.

Frank Gore was held to just 16 rushing yards and 14 receiving yards the last time he faced Seattle so he’s a dangerous start as well.

The Bucs have not been nearly as good against the run lately as they were early on so I would roll with either Bills running back (C.J. has finally come on of late). The Giants have been tough against the run but Danny Woodhead is a game changer and I’d keep him in the lineup if you usually start him.

Chris Ivory is a bit banged up and splitting more touches with Bilal Powell so it’s tough to start either of them, especially considering the Jets offense does nothing but go three-and-out.

Andre Brown is a must-start despite the unfavorable matchup, the Giants are using him a lot and he scored two touchdowns last week.

It’s tough to start anyone out of the Pats backfield but Shane Vereen is a solid PPR option regardless of matchup.

On the favorable side, Matt Forte, Knowshon Moreno, DeMarco Murray, LeVeon Bell (if he plays), Jamaal Charles, Eddie Lacy, and Chris Johnson all have beautiful matchups. Both Andre Ellington (if healthy) and Rashard Mendenhall could be startable against a Rams team that doesn’t stop the run often and whose offense sees very little time of possession. If Ray Rice is going to finally put up a good game, it’s going to be this week against the woeful Vikings defense. Ben Tate looks like a very strong start against the Jags despite being held to just one yard on seven carries in their last meeting when the Texans offense sputtered completely out of the gate.

With Daniel Thomas out, Lamar Miller isn’t a bad start against the Steelers and the Browns running backs could be sleepers against a Pats defense that gave up 224 yards and a touchdown to Knowshon (another 57 total yards to Montee Ball) and 102 yards and three touchdowns to Tate over the last two weeks.

Let’s take a look at all of the running back matchups for Week 14.

Browse Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

Highly Unfavorable, Unfavorable, Neutral, Slightly Favorable, Favorable

Rank
vs
RB

AVG
RB
FPS
Allowed

Defense

Week 14 Opponents

1

12.01 Cardinals Zac Stacy, Benny Cunningham

2

12.15 Jets Rashad Jennings, Darren McFadden, Marcel Reece

3

12.7 Ravens Adrian Peterson

4

13.62 Bengals Donald Brown, Trent Richardson

5

13.84 Panthers Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, Mark Ingram

6

14.85 Lions LeSean McCoy

7

14.98 Bills Bobby Rainey

8

15.02 Seahawks Frank Gore

9

15.03 Buccaneers C.J. Spiller, Fred Jackson

10

15.3 Giants Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead

11

15.66 Raiders Chris Ivory, Bilal Powell

12

15.87 Colts Giovani Bernard, BenJarvus Green-Ellis

13

16.64 Chargers Andre Brown

14

16.7 Browns Shane Vereen, LeGarrette Blount, Brandon Bolden, Stevan Ridley

15

17.03 Chiefs Alfred Morris

16

17.25 Saints Mike Tolbert, DeAngelo Williams (Q), Jonathan Stewart

17

17.44 Texans Maurice Jones-Drew

18

17.5 49ers Marshawn Lynch

19

17.62 Packers Steven Jackson, Jacquizz Rodgers

20

17.8 Eagles Reggie Bush, Joique Bell

21

18.4 Patriots Chris Ogbonnaya, Willis McGahee

22

18.82 Broncos Chris Johnson, Shonn Greene

23

18.88 Steelers Lamar Miller

24

20.03 Falcons Eddie Lacy

25

20.1 Jaguars Ben Tate, Dennis Johnson

26

21.55 Redskins Jamaal Charles

27

21.63 Dolphins LeVeon Bell (Q), Jonathan Dwyer

28

22.28 Bears DeMarco Murray

29

22.31 Titans Knowshon Moreno, Montee Ball

30

22.47 Vikings Ray Rice

31

22.69 Rams Andre Ellington (Q), Rashard Mendenhall

32

23.98 Cowboys Matt Forte

*Values based on Yahoo standard scoring.

Browse Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

author avatar
Igor Derysh
Igor Derysh is Editor-at-Large at XN Sports and has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sun-Sentinel, and FantasyPros. He has previously covered sports for COED Magazine, Fantasy Alarm, and Manwall.com.