Start 'Em

Peyton Hillis @ Ind
The Browns called 40 pass plays to 26 run plays in their season opening loss to Cincinnati. Hillis’ owners may have expected a bigger workload, but he dominated touches in the Browns backfield, receiving 17 carries to Montario Hardesty’s 5. PPR-leaguers took note of his 6 catches for 30 yards. The Colts always seem to have issues stopping the run; they allowed 167 yards and 2 TDs to Houston in Week 1. Hillis is a safe bet for at least 90 yards and a score.

Matt Forte: One way or another...

Matt Forte @ NO
Forte is one of the best receiving backs in the NFL, evidenced by his 5 catches and 90 receiving yards (including a 56 yard TD) against the Falcons. His carries may decline in the second half if Chicago is forced to play from behind, but Forte will receive more than his fair share of targets from Jay Cutler this week in New Orleans, leading to plenty of work either way. Forte seemed to be flying beneath the radar heading into fantasy drafts, but barring injury he should finish amongst the top fantasy RBs. Keep him in your lineup.

Cedric Benson @ Den
Benson is far from the most appealing RB option available but he received the vast majority (25 of 31) of rush attempts for the Bengals last week leading to 125 yards and a TD against the Browns. The Bengals offense won’t scare anyone, but Benson is a solid play this week against a suspect Denver run defense. The Broncos gave up 3 runs of 20 or more yards to Darren McFadden on Monday.

Cadillac Williams @ NYG
All signs point to Cadillac getting a spot start at MetLife Stadium on Monday night as starting RB Steven Jackson continues to deal with a strained quad suffered in last week’s contest. The Rams had no problem leaning on Williams (24 touches) in Week 1 and he should be in for a full load at the Meadowlands. Due to the anticipated workload, I view him as a solid flex option this week as he looks for the tenth 100-yard rushing game of his career.

Bench 'Em

Shonn Greene vs. Jax
Greene was a non-factor against the Cowboys (10 carries, 26 yards) and honestly did not look as good as counterpart LaDainian Tomlinson. The reality here is that in his two full NFL seasons (plus 1 game), Greene has two 100-yard games and two TDs. While he may have the talent, he has not received the touches to be starting at RB2 right now. His inability to catch passes out of the backfield hinders his value until he proves he can find the endzone on a regular basis. Furthermore, the Jags run defense was solid (though not truly tested) last week.

Chris Johnson vs. Bal
Johnson frustrated owners last week with a 9-carry, 24 yard effort. Titans Head Coach has indicated he will get Johnson ‘closer to 20 carries,’ but what will he do with those touches against the Ravens? Baltimore held Rashard Mendenhall to 45 yards on 12 carries as they played with a big lead for the majority of the game. CJ’s conditioning is not in question, but his workload this week could be determined by whether Tennessee can keep pace with the Ravens offense. Dating to last season, Johnson has gone three straight games without topping 58 rushing yards and has only two games over 100 yards in his last 7 contests. You probably have to keep him active, but he should be viewed as an RB2/flex this week.

LeGarrette Blount @ Min
Blount is also due for more work this week in Minnesota than the 5 carries he received in Week 1. The Bucs should be able to play to a closer game and try to execute their game plan as opposed to running a 2-minute offense. However, Head Coach Raheem Morris has stated that Blount is not ready to play on passing downs. So basically, defenses will be able to key on Blount when he is in the game and can play the pass when he is out…either way this is a bad development for fantasy owners who drafted Blount with ‘feature back’ in mind. His number of carries this season will be dictated by the score of the games.

Maurice Jones-Drew @ NYJ
MoJo was hot last week, racking up 97 yards and a TD on 24 carries. One thing that he did not do, though, was catch a pass – the first time since his rookie year (12/3/06) that he went without a reception in a regular season game. This is a product of the Jags trying to preserve MoJo for later in the season, as Deji Karim had 17 touches (3 receptions) of his own; Jones-Drew owners are urged to grab Karim off the waiver wire. This week we need to temper our expectations for MoJo as he faces a Jets defense that held the Cowboys to 64 yards rushing and a long run of 8 yards.

Wide Receivers