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"Ask the Docs" Mailbag Replies

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NFL Week 13: "Ask the Docs" Replies

Friday, December 4

The Christmas decorations are up, and it is time to answer some questions. There were some great questions this week and we can almost hear the urgency in your emails. The Thursday games are past us, but there are still some tough decisions to make. Without further adieu, let's get to the mailbag.

"I've got Darren McFadden... H-E-L-P! Should I drop him?"
--Mike, Memphis, TN

Docs: Hi Mike - TRUST US - we-feel-your-pain (we own McFadden in several leagues). McFadden has got to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest disappointment this year. It is well beyond the point of trying to understand the situation as any Raiders' fan will be more than happy to tell you (feel free to cruise on over to some of their message boards - that's not a happy crew over there!) Yes, the injury to McFadden didn't help anything and left him MIA during the middle stretch of the year. Yes, JaMarcus Russell was even worse than already low expectations and provided absolutely no help to his running backs. There isn't enough space here to start talking about Russell, but at a minimum - at a minimum - he should have played at least as well as rookie Mark Sanchez for the Jets, giving McFadden just enough room to have opportunity to produce not unlike Thomas Jones. The problem being Russell was not at least as good as Sanchez. He was incapable of converting even the easiest of tosses to convert on 3rd down and keep the offense on the field, and he had 14 (yes 14) turnovers in his first 8 starts of the season. It's hard to do much of anything with that as the offense isn't hardly on the field long enough to get any plays executed, much less develop any sort of rhythm before trotting back off the field. The Raiders finally got their heads out of their derriere long enough to figure out JaMarcus Russell should be rotting on the pine, but this wasn't until week 11 (W-E-E-K   E-L-E-V-E-N!) In week 11, they finally made the switch to Gradkowski. Not that Gradkowski is some sort of savior, but anything at this point would be welcome relief as it doesn't to get much worse than Russell!

As for McFadden, you've got a very high NFL draft pick with amazing talent and speed, yet there seems to be a reluctance to give him a ton of touches each week, despite almost weekly assurances and statements from the Raiders that they plan to give McFadden at least 20 touches. There are also new flashes of hope by lining him up at Wide Receiver for several plays and airing out a few bombs his way. But why the Raiders are just now doing this in week 12 and not in say week 3 when there is still time to work out the kinks with hope left in the season is beyond us (glad we are not Raiders fans). And while we are at it... just why the Raiders don't use McFadden more in the Wildcat is another perplexing issue we can't understand, particularly given their struggles at QB, the success of running the Wildcat in the NFL demonstrated in Miami, and the fact McFadden started this Wildcat craze torching the SEC when running it during his college days. And finally, just why the Raiders had so much faith in Russell yet continue to be unwilling to exhibit that same level of faith/opportunity in McFadden is beyond comprehension (again, glad we are not Raiders fans). After all, both Russell and McFadden were very high draft picks, so you can't rationalize that angle. There is some speculation that McFadden has an injury that the Raiders are not disclosing. That is possible, but then again, it is also not possible. Having said all that and in response to your question, at this point unfortunately you still can't drop McFadden. It is frustrating, and we wish we could say that you could do it and rid yourself of this anguish. But the problem is the Raiders are trying new things every week, and for long as McFadden is healthy and they keep trying new things, McFadden has too much talent to drop. The last thing you need is to drop McFadden after riding it out this long just to have him pop two huge games at the end of the season. So in short, it is late enough in the season that you just have to ride it out. The Raiders haven't settled into anything, which gives rise to the hope that they will stumble upon some scenario by which they figure out a way to use McFadden's talent. They showed some of that last week against the Cowboys, and now with Russell out of the picture, it is clear McFadden now headlines their discussions regarding what to do and how to do it to see what he can do (if that makes any sense).

We were so high on McFadden entering the year, and now in week 12 we couldn't have been any more wrong. Yuck. It makes us sick, and we apologize. Again, we practice what we preach, and we own McFadden in just about every one of our leagues. I think we probably said it best with our Facebook post on October 7th: "McFadden could have some value before the end of the season, but right now he is like that really hot piece of cheese pizza sitting on your plate ... It looks like a good idea. It smells great too, but the second you take a big bite you end up needing a skin transplant for the roof of your mouth."

"Hey Docs, absolute must-win game this week, a loss eliminates me from playoff contention. I need to start either Steve Smith (Car) or Kenny Britt, who should I go with?"
--Don, Rochester, NY

Docs: Don, whew - this is a tough one. Britt has the hot hand and has made major strides to developing great chemistry with his QB, while Smith is the proven performer that had a terrible game last week. With a must-win on the line, we go with Smith. He has a better match-up and more times than not should out produce Britt this week. Plus, the live with yourself factor is in full play. If you missed the playoffs because you started Britt and left Smith on your pine, it would lead to a long and painful off-season. However, if you missed the playoffs because you started Smith over Britt, that scenario is a little more palatable. But hey, who is talking about missing the playoffs?! Wishing you and your team the best of luck this weekend and here's hoping you get the chance to cause trouble in your playoff brackets!

"Help! - can't decide. Need to play 3 RB's from this group. Adrian Peterson, Cedric Benson, Pierre Thomas, Jamaal Charles, and Jonathan Stewart. Thanks!"
--Bob, Tampa, FL

Docs: Hi Bob, we've got a new feature this year on FootballDocs that we know some folks are unaware. That new feature is free weekly rankings, which provide further assistance to those difficult fantasy football start sit line-up decisions beyond what is provided in our free Fantasy Football Start Sit column each week. There are several variables considered when compiling our fantasy football weekly rankings, but the primary variables include match-up, player ability, game plan, and role in the offense for the current, upcoming week in the NFL / fantasy football season. Since all of these variables are evaluated solely on a week to week basis, this list will change considerably each week to help you decide who to start. As such, our fantasy football weekly rankings indicate short-term player value based on the current, upcoming weekly match-ups alone, and it is not to be confused with a traditional Fantasy Football Player Rankings list, which considers aggregate performance over an entire season. Consequently, this list should not be used to help evaluate significant trades or assess long-term player value. It is only intended to help with fantasy football start sit line-up decisions for the current week of the NFL / fantasy football season.

At any rate, for your question, just check out our Week 13 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings. On that list you will see we recommend going with Peterson (given start each week), Thomas, and Stewart, although you will note it is a very close call between Thomas, Stewart, Charles, and Benson! As late as it is in the season and as critical as the fantasy games are, we would not recommend Benson out of this crew given his injury status. He appears ready to go and Bernard Scott appears out, but the rise of Larry Johnson coupled to the unknown of how well Benson will run or the likelihood he could get knocked out of the game and re-injure his hip brings just enough risk to the table to bump him slightly below the rest of the backs mentioned.

Thanks to everyone who sent a question this week! It is always fun reading them, and we wish you all the very best of luck this weekend.