Fantasy Football Rankings for Championship Game Round: Running Backs
Running backs have not flourished this postseason. In fact, running backs have collectively reached the 100-yard rushing mark only three times in eight postseason games over the past two weeks.
Houston's Arian Foster did it twice and Pittsburgh's Isaac Redman did it once, but both play for teams that have been eliminated from the postseason.
Here are our running back rankings for the championship-game round of the playoffs:
1. Ray Rice, Ravens (at NE): No running back had more yards from scrimmage than Rice (2,068) during the regular season. Rice set a career high in rushing yards (1,364) and receiving yards (704) as well as touchdowns (15). Although Rice had a mediocre game last week, it was the seventh time in eight weeks that Rice had 20-plus carries.
2. Frank Gore, 49ers (vs NYG): Last week, Gore had 13 carries for 89 rushing yards plus 38 receiving yards on seven receptions. The last time Gore faced the Giants, he and I both finished with zero rushing yards although Gore had six carries. Although I expect more from Gore (not me) this time around, the Giants have not allowed a running back to gain more than 58 rushing yards in their past five games.
3. Ahmad Bradshaw, Giants (at SF): Bradshaw, who scored four touchdowns in the final three regular-season games, has had 63 rushing yards and no touchdowns in back-to-back games. The 49ers, who ranked first in run defense this year, allowed only 37 rushing yards to the Saints last week.
4. Brandon Jacobs, Giants (at SF): Jacobs didn't run the ball as well last week as he did during the divisional round, but he did score a touchdown late to salvage a respectable fantasy performance (eight points). Jacobs' spot here has as much to do with BenJarvus Green-Ellis as it does with Jacobs himself.
5. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Patriots (vs BAL): The last time Green-Ellis rushed for 30-plus yards was on November 27th against Philadelphia (44 yards). In fact, tight end Aaron Hernandez has more rushing yards (104) over the past four games than Green-Ellis (77). The Law Firm's value comes from the potential to score a touchdown (11 rushing touchdowns in the regular season).
6. Kendall Hunter, 49ers (vs NYG): Hunter should get somewhere around 6-10 touches and finish with 30 to 50 yards from scrimmage.
7. Stevan Ridley, Patriots (vs BAL): Ridley has run the ball more effectively than any other Patriots running back in the past four games. Although he only had four carries for 21 yards last week, Ridley had 39 carries for 210 yards (5.38 yards per carry) in the team's final three regular-season games.
8. Ricky Williams, Ravens (at NE): With only four teams still alive in the postseason, you shouldn't expect too much from the eighth-ranked running back. Williams has averaged a bit more than seven carries per game and 36 yards from scrimmage through last week.
Other Positions: Quarterbacks - Wide Receivers - Tight Ends
Related: Super Bowl Matchup Poll - Historical Championship Game Results: AFC - NFC
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