FF geeks: Ryan Mathews or Jackie Battle this week versus NO?

heywally · 10-07-12, 07:59 AM

I'm not a fantasy football guy but I follow the Chargers and I guess I'd take Mathews over Battle against N.O. Norv was hinting that RB by committee could continue, which I think is a good idea given that Battle was has looked good as a power runner and Mathews, when he doesn't fumble or stub his toe, can move the ball. You'd expect the Chargers to try and good dose of the running game against N.O., to avoid a shoot-out with Brees but then again, that would be an opportunity for a supposedly bad N.O. defense to stop a predictable running game by stacking at the line, which is what I'd do if I was their defensive coordinator - stack the line, stop the run and pressure Rivers.

But strictly Mathews Vs. Battle I think you have to take Mathews -- injury potential aside -- this week as he is one more step away from the doghouse he was in.

slacker00 · 10-07-12, 09:02 AM

Originally posted by heywally

I'm not a fantasy football guy but I follow the Chargers and I guess I'd take Mathews over Battle against N.O. Norv was hinting that RB by committee could continue, which I think is a good idea given that Battle was has looked good as a power runner and Mathews, when he doesn't fumble or stub his toe, can move the ball. You'd expect the Chargers to try and good dose of the running game against N.O., to avoid a shoot-out with Brees but then again, that would be an opportunity for a supposedly bad N.O. defense to stop a predictable running game by stacking at the line, which is what I'd do if I was their defensive coordinator - stack the line, stop the run and pressure Rivers.

But strictly Mathews Vs. Battle I think you have to take Mathews -- injury potential aside -- this week as he is one more step away from the doghouse he was in.

Thanks for the feedback, very informative. I'm going with BOTH of the Charger RBs this week, in case you didn't select the white print to see. My other choices have too much downside and I think there's plenty of fantasy points for both of them this week and I don't have to guess which one is better, at least for this week. Last week I went with Mathews over Battle, who had 2 TDs and a much better FF week, that's why I'm wary this week. Hopefully the situation sorts itself out one way or the other, I don't want this decision to make every single week.

I understand what you are saying about stacking the line, which make sense, except I wouldn't want to force Rivers to beat me either, because he will. The Saints might be better off defending against Rivers' arm hoping for a Mathews fumble or Battle to show why he isn't a true #1 RB. Neither option is especially appealing for the Saints, we'll probably see a mixed approach, trying to keep Norv guessing in front of a noisy home crowd.

heywally · 10-07-12, 09:24 AM

New here, didn't know you could do that with selecting the 'white'; thanks.

In the past, teams that have been willing to put pressure on Rivers via blitzing or stacking the line have generally done very well with that approach and have not been burned with the big play very often. It's surprised me that teams don't do that more often as Norv likes to run a lot of deeper drop passing sets and Rivers does not do well outside of the pocket.

N.O. should 'know' that Norv will try and run the ball here, on the predictable running situations, especially in the 1st half - 1/10 and 2nd/short; whether N.O. can stop that is another story.

GL!

slacker00 · 10-08-12, 04:43 AM

heywally, you were right. Matthews was my best start for this week and Battle was my worst in a week that had a lot of bad starts (or bad luck) in my lineup: RGIII, Mike Wallace, Amendola. Even if I would have started Mendenhall for Battle, I would have lost my matchup, I would have also needed to start James Jones for Wallace/Amendola which never even entered my mind. One funny thing is that I think I had Mendenhall instead of Battle early in the week before I came up with this "start BOTH Charger RBs" strategy. Anyway, thanks again for the input, maybe next time I'll listen!

heywally · 10-08-12, 06:55 AM

Good going. This is one of the few games where I thought Norv didn't run as much as he should have; he seemed to be trying to get out of his mold of going ultra-conservative when he gets a lead of 10 or more but I think they ended up with their usual too many deep drops with Rivers and the Saints were smart enough to throw some pressure in there; Rivers can only operate from the pocket and for whatever reason, there are too many pass plays that take too long to develop. The Chargers receivers/QB chemistry is not what it used to be in spite of a few nice plays against N.O.

Mathews looks as sharp as he has since he came into the league and it looks like he's mostly out of Norv's doghouse now .... don't have a clue where the Chargers go from here on offense. Big game at home against the Broncos next week .....