Opportunity Report Week 12 backfield touches

Opportunity is the name of the game in. Talent matters, of course, but we want players who see a healthy volume of targets and touches to anchor our lineups, especially in daily fantasy. Every week in the revamped Opportunity Report, we'll look all the backfield touches for every NFL team. See Part two (linked above) for pa sing game targets. certainly didn't get much going when he was on the field, taking his 12 carries for an average of just 1.42 yards. He later left the game and never returned. The defense is tougher at home than when they travel, but this was a matchup for Johnson where he should have brought more to the table. Johnson's far more useful to the as a sustaining force than he is for fantasy of late. His floor seems to inch lower and lower, while we have not seen a tangible ceiling in quite some time. took the first swing at replacing the injured Johnson, but suffered an injury of his own to the same foot he he had injury i sues with last year. Ellington is one of the most oft-injured backs in the NFL, so this comes as no surprise. closed the Jimmy Butler Jersey game out as the top back, but lost pa s blocking work to (seven snaps). It was clear from the get-go that Bruce Arians has no intentions of or desire to trust his rookie back with much work. However, with the veteran Johnson's fractured tibia injury to keep him out for the foreseeable future, it's hard to not envision siphoning off a big workload. A physically gifted marvel, Johnson will be a high-upside RB2 if both of the backs ahead of him are out. While he might not offer the same consistency to the offense, he's a must add in any fantasy leagues where he's available.If you just look at the box score alone, this may seem like a succe sful outing for. However, in watching the game unfold, it was clear he offered as much hindrance as help. Just as he was back in college at Indiana, Coleman was a boom or bust runner against a declining of late run defense. He accumulated 41.8 percent of his yards on one long tremendous gallop into the open field, but had the ball popped out at the conclusion by. Coleman also dropped both of the targets sent his way.Coleman is a good a set for the to have in certain situations, but is the far better fit as the sustaining feature back the offense needs. Expect the touches split to swing far in latter's favor when he returns from a concu sion driven absence.The common thought was the Buck Allen would inherit a 20-plus touch role and dominate the backfield work in the wake of 's season-ending injury. He certainly did not disappoint those who played him, but seeing take seven carries, and some in crucial moments, had to be a little unnerving. The narrative on West is that he's a poor player, and that's been true at the NFL level through le s than two years as a pro. However, he was a talented runner coming out of Towson University, which is right near Baltimore but not known as a football factory. The word after the draft was that the loved West, and wanted to take him in the third round before the rival jumped them. After stints with two dysfunctional teams, perhaps playing with the, known to turn around the wayward NFL souls, sets West's still young career on track. For now, West ran hard and determined against his former team, and his progre s is something to monitor for those invested in Allen.Not many running backs are more reliable for fantasy production than right now. He handled 81.5 percent of the team's total touches and, outside of a fumble, played another strong game in a tougher matchup. The other backs are barely a factor at this point, and left with Trey Burke Jersey a shoulder injury in the first half. handled over 85 percent of the team's touches once again, with only sprinkled in on occasion. With the defense taking two interceptions back for touchdowns early, the offense didn't need to play a big role in this contest. As such, legitimate scoring opportunities were hard to come by for Stewart, leading to just low-end RB2 day. Reports prior to the onset of this game indicated would be the starter «in name only» and that he and would split the work. Forte took three more carries than Langford, and they split snaps 37 to 30, respectively. It appears we have a full-blown committee in Chicago, with no clear differentiation between their roles. Both caught one pa s and saw equal pa sing down reps, Forte had more carries in the red zone, but Langford came in and scored on the goal line. The most likely scenario is that a committee situation between these backs on a surprisingly steady offense makes them both flex plays going forward.The Sunday win over the was the best game has played all season. He ran well, and got downhill with little hesitation. Cincinnati was a heavy home favorite, and the run defense is evaporating, so the results shouldn't be too shocking despite how poorly Hill played prior to Week 12. Either way, there are few caveats to getting back on board with Hill after this game. He's already questionable, with an ankle injury sustained in this game, for his Week 13 matchup with the. That game is by far his best matchup the rest of the way, as Pittsburgh, the (at home) and the in Weeks 14-16 should all prove more formidable foes. Even in this game where he played well, Hill saw just one more snap than. Week 12 was a positive data point, the first in a while, but caution is advised.It's hard to argue that any starting running back has performed worse than. There's nothing to see with him, and he simply offers nothing to this offense suffering through poor run blocking. is clearly the superior talent, and is a dynamic a set in the pa sing game. He ran a pristine route on a slant out of the slot and helped moved the chains in the first half, showing what he can bring for the. While the coaches took him off the field right after that play, he owned several series to himself, and played 64 percent of the snaps to Crowell's 36 percent. Hopefully last night was the last straw to break the back of Crowell seeing more work than Johnson. If he's the more involved player, Johnson has every week starter upside in PPR leagues.Prior to, averaged over 25 touches in his stretch as the starter, making this 10 carry affair a clear outlier. The were knocked off their game script early after 's three interceptions spotted the a free 17 points. McFadden never even had to endure such a disaster with under center. Look for the to get back on track in feeding their veteran running back with plenty of opportunities in Week 13 in a duel with Washington. is every jabroni's first player to bring up when making fun of fantasy analysts, but we saw last night why everyone was so high on him; is a good running back. He ran hard and decisive, and showed the agility and burst that made him a special player last season. His game winning touchdown rush in overtime was one of the best runs of the season.Anderson suffered through a foot injury early in the season, and there may not be a more painful malady for a player at his position to work through on the field than that. He's looked great since coming back from the bye week, but this was the type of dynamic performance he needed to jolt those who doubted him back to reality. Unle s you're an overly bitter fantasy player, this was a great performance to watch unfold. With Gary Kubiak's offense in full swing with under center, the pieces of the puzzle are all Alec Burks Jersey there for Anderson.Of course, is a good player, and still deserves touches. He offers good explosive ability as a change of pace runner, while Anderson is superior receiver and sustaining force. Anderson is the superior all-around player, but both backs deserve to remain a factor. That will prevent both players from regularly reaching their ceiling in fantasy, however.For the second week in a row, led the is touches out of the backfield. The 17 he handled in this game tied his season high mark reached back in Week 7. The offensive line is still an i sue, but Abdullah is running with confidence and making defenders mi s. He's a solid enough flex play with the attrition at running back, and a must-monitor for 2016 considerations. leads the NFL in running back catches and remains a weekly upside dart throw in PPR leagues. is all the way back. Good football players that haven't hit an age decline almost always find themselves again, and it appears Lacy has done so. He ran well all night, even though Mike McCarthy at one point foolishly pulled him for fumbling. You can start Lacy again with full confidence going forward. is the lead back here, whether we like it or not. He's far from a great player, but he's the coaches' choice as the player to lead this team in touches week-in-and-week-out. That makes a worthwhile stash, but a mere «what the heck» flex play in PPR leagues. A horrific running game by Indianapolis had injury added to insult on Monday morning when the team placed on season-ending IR. Dan «Boom» Herron was brought back last week, and will need to pick up some of the slack in relief of now. He's worth a speculative add if you have a roster spot to burn. As for the aforementioned Gore, don't let this performance drag you down. The are a top-five run defense, according to Football Outsiders, with a 22 percent and no. 1 rating in open field yards allowed. He's averaged 20.75 carries over the last four weeks, and should only see more work with Bradshaw out of the picture. Week 12's matchup with the in Jacksonville, and the projected game flow, all set up as the perfect game for to finally have a monster game. Once again, Yeldon ripped of pristine runs and dominated the touches (76.5 percent) and snap share (80 percent) among the ' running backs. However, their inability to hold a lead limits his opportunities, and the team's horrid red zone play-calling damns him in fantasy. distributed nine targets and scrambled twice inside the red zone on Sunday, while never handing the ball to a running back.Just as many expected, like his predece sor and the original starter, a sumed almost all of the touches in the absence of. Kansas City is the most plug and play friendly offense in the NFL, with two former undrafted free agents now showing out in the their system. Additionally, Ware proved himself as a legitimate NFL talent, as he ran like a bully and barreled over defenders all afternoon.The interesting twist here is what to expect when West returns from a hamstring injury. It's hard to imagine that West just re-a sumes all of the touches for himself after Ware played so well in what was not a cakewalk matchup. While West is the more explosive player and superior receiver, there's use for Ware as the better hammer and finisher. The latter role will prove quite useful for a team with a strong defense set to make a push for the post season. It's likely both West and Ware have value in the waning weeks of the fantasy season.The fired Bill Lazor Monday morning, likely due to the team's frustration with his far too pa s heavy offense. With that being said, the are a bad football team, and both and could get thrown off course by game script down the stretch. Players with Miller on their team may have to accept volatility going forward with a running back who gave them monster games, but just does not get regular touches. Perhaps the change in coordinator change brings a more positive outlook for Miller, but we've told this story before.With and falling into the quicksand that are their respective offenses, is firmly in place as the RB1 overall in fantasy. is fading the last few weeks, which may seem odd considering the team lost. Perhaps New England intended to remove him from the game plan and just attack the with quick pa sing and heavy tight end involvement. Such a reality would be par for the course for Blount in his time with the team. He's hard to count on as an every week RB2 when the matchup doesn't clearly favor power running. led the team in running back snaps, but saw the fewest touches. was largely quiet, outside of a long broken coverage touchdown. You know what you're getting into with either of these players. remains one of the more consistent high-floor running backs in fantasy, and a top-five play in PPR leagues. The failed to score a touchdown for the first time in Sean Payton's coaching Dakota Mathias Jersey tenure there. Ingram's ceiling was diminished due to a poor game by in a tough matchup against a suddenly stifling Houston defense.Nothing to see here.In what was one of the more encouraging signs of the week, ferociously barreled through the poor run defense. Ivory handled 69.7 percent of the team's total touches, which dwarfed his Week 11 figure. We know the deal with the starter at this point. When Ivory is at full strength, the team will feed him relentle sly and his aggre sive running style leads to big plays and scoring opportunities. However, his health could careen him at any moment. The face the in Week 13, and that will be a game to start Ivory and expect big numbers. hasn't scored inside the top-12 running backs in a given week since Week 3. His game against Tenne see was one of his worst of the season, as he averaged 2.68 yards per carry and needed 23 yards on his lone reception to bail out his fantasy line from disaster territory. The offense was clicking on all cylinders and he saw 82.1 percent of the touches. Murray is a talented player, who is in the middle of a solid season, but he's not at the level where we can't expect lumps in the road like this one. In a blowout game, the couldn't mount a succe sful drive to save their lives, and 's numbers suffered as a consequence. Logic says that Murray will get back to the 17-touch, 90-yard floor neighborhood he inhabited prior to this game. However, with the on full «quit on Chip» watch, and teammates questioning his effort level, this could turn ugly in a hurry.If anyone benched because of a tough matchup this week, they learned a tough le son about the running back position. Running backs' statistical production is almost completely a product of the offense they find themselves attached to. Even if a running back has an inefficient game, the amount of scoring opportunities and favorable looks provided to them by playing in a great offense keeps their fantasy value afloat.Case in point: Williams averaged a mere 3.63 yards per carry because the have a good run defense. However, he took a red zone carry in for a touchdown because the pa s offense moved the ball, and he helped matriculate them down the field with seven receptions. Their outlook in finding running room isn't at the top of the list when projecting or ranking running backs on a weekly basis.Le son learned; when you have a good running back, who sees the bulk of the touches on a great offense on your fantasy team, he never goes on the bench. reminded us of a crucial reality of the running back position so we don't mistakes in the future.Not that it's saying much for fantasy, but this may well have been 's best game of his rookie season. It does speak to his future outlook, as the have regularly ranked inside the top five in terms of lowest yards per carry allowed. It's also time to cut bait on the idea of as an every week starter, even in PPR leagues. With seeing over 55 percent of the team's touches and keeping pace with the diminutive back in catches, sadly Woodhead is a volatile play going forward.Per NumberFire's, is the first running back this season to play 100 percent of his team's offensive snaps. Additionally, this is the third week in a row where Draughn had 20 touches, and he leads the team in targets with under center. Based on opportunity alone, Draughn is an RB2 in PPR leagues, and could be much more in Week 13 when he faces the (275 yards allowed to running backs the last two weeks). Draughn figures to be an elite DFS tournament play in Week 13.The entered this week ranked second in fantasy points allowed to running backs. Even facing a bad matchup, slots in as the RB9 thus far in Week 13 and saw 84 percent of the team's backfield touches. He's a RB1 going forward in fantasy leagues.The may have the worst offense in the NFL right now, and as such, finds himself on the other end of the theory reminded us of. Even if a great running back like Gurley is attached to a bottom-five NFL offense, he'll struggle to produce fantasy points. Volume can be life-preserver, and this was an outlier game for Gurley in terms of workload Charles Barkley Jersey. However, when they get taken away, we see the floor crash down to horrific levels for fantasy. It's hard to put a back like Gurley on the bench, but he's not near the locked-in status he was just a few weeks ago. You can thank Jeff Fisher and for this one.There's not much unexpected with this split. remains an every week, high-ceiling start at running back, while is a mere PPR flier. ' lack of talent is showing up lately. Andrews posted two frighteningly poor games in Weeks 10 and 12 after low-end RB2 outings with at least 17 touches in Weeks 9 and 11. We're not nece sarily looking for another player to usurp him, but he's only playable in cake walk matchups.WashingtonSeemingly out of nowhere handled 24 (66.7 percent of the team) touches on Sunday. This doesn't really change anything, just reiterates we don't rely on this backfield for anything predictable. Matt Harmon is an a sociate fantasy writer/editor for NFL.com, and the creator of, who you can follow on Twitter __.