Advanced Touches - Week 13

While wide receivers were carrying their owners to the fantasy playoffs in Week 13, the early round plodders at running back were staging a palace coup of their own. Some weeks it doesn’t pay to be a contrarian. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Shonn Greene all reached the century mark. DeMarco Murray and Marshawn Lynch both cleared 80 yards with a touchdown. Steven Jackson and Matt Forte blew up in the passing game.

And Adrian Peterson . . .

Suffice it to say that Purple Jesus has eviscerated my complaints about his lack of Vision Yards and impotency in the passing game. Peterson has shown flashes of this in the past, but he’s never consistently demonstrated both the patience and vision to truly take advantage of his legendary physical skills. Those days are over. AP has suddenly morphed into a latter day Bo Jackson.

Even after ripping off three straight 100-yard games, the Law Firm is still only averaging 3.9 yards per carry. The Green-Ellis renaissance has coincided with the emergence of the Cincinnati Bengals as a serious threat in the AFC. Right tackle Andrew Smith has posted gaudy PFF grades of 1.8 or higher in five of his last six games. A.J. Green is PFF’s fourth-ranked receiver. Andy Dalton’s play has been surging to the point where he looks like a bona fide franchise quarterback. Green-Ellis should continue to benefit down the stretch.

Knowshon Moreno is either reviving his flagging career or calling Willis McGahee’s impressive numbers into question. By posting solid numbers in both the Elusive and Breakaway columns, he moves above the starter in both categories for the year.

Even with the Cleveland passing game looking more competent, Trent Richardson isn’t finding any holes. He hasn’t let that stop him. His 3.3 yards after contact earned a 72 Elusive Rating for the week. He also ran 20 pass routes and is up to 44 receptions on the season. It’s too bad Richardson plays in a division with three elite defenses, because his profile suggests a future No. 1 overall fantasy pick.

Jamaal Charles led all backs with 31 touches in Week 13, including four receptions that should help appease his PPR owners. He lost goal line touches against the Panthers.

Showing off the preternatural burst that had him ranked as the No. 1 runner coming out of high school, Bryce Brown now leads in PFF’s Elusive Rating if you set the carry barrier at 75 attempts.

Fred Jackson won’t go away easily in his battle with C.J. Spiller. Only Peterson, Spiller, and Doug Martin rank ahead of him in Elusive Rating among players with at least 100 carries.

Alfred Morris has a big future ahead of him, but he and Stevan Ridley will languish in RB2 territory until some of their routes turn into receptions. They combined to run 23 routes without a single target. Morris now ranks fourth in rushing yardage but fantasy formats aren’t set up to fully reward his play.