How about Jeremy Hill? He had 24 carries for 154 yards and two touchdowns in Giovani Bernard's absence and showed off with a 60-yard scoring run for good measure. If you were lucky enough to snag him off the waiver wire and pop him into your lineup when you heard the news that Bernard would be out, well, good for you savvy fantasy owner, it paid off beautifully.
A few other running backs that performed as we expected them to in Week 9 include Marshawn Lynch who seemed fresh off of a Skittles overdose from a successful Halloween and bounced back with two touchdowns and 143 total yards after three disappointing weeks, Jamaal Charles who got into the end zone for the third straight game and totaled 88 yards and Alfred Morris who's been running hot of late and posted two scores and over 100 scrimmage yards.
And now for all of the frustrating goodness of this week's Committee Meetings.
Vikings:
One of the worst things in fantasy is when you completely give up on a guy to the point of dropping him to the waiver wire and he then proceeds to slap you in the face with a huge day. "Hi, I'm Matt Asiata and this it's Week 9 ... SLAP!" Yeah, thanks a lot dude. Can you tell I'm bitter?
Since his Week 4 explosion of 100 yards and three touchdowns he hasn't done anything except lose fumbles and plod along to fantasy irrelevance. And then the Redskins came into town and Minnesota decided it was just about time for another random scoring outburst from one of their running backs so they were like, "Hey do we have a plodding no-good runner with epically tatted arms? Oh yeah that one guy who only scores three touchdowns at a time, get him in the game." Seriously, 10 carries for 26 yards and three touchdowns!? The Vikings might be the most frustrating team in fantasy. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Cordarrelle Patterson.
Over the last few weeks it sure seemed like the Vikings were phasing Asiata out of their offensive game plan for the more dynamic Jerick McKinnon. But in Week 9 both backs were used on an almost even split of offensive plays. And although McKinnon has been touted as the more talented runner in Minnesota he has failed to get into the end zone on 110 offensive touches this season. He has been a lot more consistent than Asiata which is really what you're looking for with these committee guys and he should still be owned across the board. Good luck predicting the next three-touchdown game for Asiata though.
Browns:
It was a another unimpressive day for Ben Tate who simply hasn't done much of anything on the ground for three games in a row now and finished Week 9 with just three crummy yards on 10 carries. Over the last three games Tate is averaging an abysmal 1.6 yards per carry and has totaled a combined 65 rushing yards on 41 attempts. He played on less than half of Cleveland's offensive snaps against the Buccaneers on Sunday, giving way to rookie Terrance West who got the nod on 55 percent of the Browns plays.
West clearly out-performed Tate (which isn't saying much) and finished with 15 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown reception proving as the better fantasy play. Reports earlier in the week from coach Mike Pettine implied that Cleveland wants to get their talented rookie more involved and that was very apparent in Week 9. West might have been left for dead in fantasy after receiving a healthy inactive tag in Week 6, but that designation seems like it's done nothing but motivate him. He needs to be owned in all leagues and might even become the Browns lead back sooner than later. He seems to be improving both in pass protection and as a runner as his rookie season wears on and he should continue to see increased opportunities as long as he performs well. As for Isaiah Crowell, he was relegated exclusively to special teams duty but is still worth a stash in deeper leagues.
Jets:
I'm not really sure if it can get much worse for the Jets, but if you're a fantasy owner who started Chris Ivory against the Chiefs Sunday then maybe you should stop this reading right now because it's about to get worse for you. After a two game stretch where Ivory totaled three touchdowns and over 16.00 fantasy points in each he was limited to just 22 yards on eight carries in Week 9. It was more a matter of game flow here as the Jets went down early and never had a chance to get their ground game going.
Now, if you're a fantasy owner who started Chris Johnson, first of all you might want to make an appointment to get your head checked out because what were you thinking? But secondly Johnson actually totaled a season-high 69 rush yards on 11 carries and added 32 receiving yards on two catches which was good enough for 10.10 fantasy points in standard scoring formats.
The Jets take on the Steelers in Week 10 so you can't really feel good about either of Gang Green's running backs there. But if you're in a crunch because of the bye weeks Ivory is still the guy to slot into your lineup and hope for the best. Justin Forsett managed 10.50 fantasy points in Week 9 against Pittsburgh so it's not out of the question for Ivory to bounce back since there's really nowhere to go but up at this point.
Eagles:
So LeSean McCoy owners have to be happy about Shady's production in Week 9 and for his last four games for that matter as he's been putting up consistently higher yardage totals than he was to start the season. On Sunday against the Texans he totaled 117 rushing yards on 23 attempts and now has over 20 carries in four straight games. Unfortunately he hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 2. Still, you should take his 12.30 fantasy points and call it good.
Darren Sproles returned to action after missing some time with a knee injury. He looked like his old quick, shifty self with more receptions than rush attempts. Although if you started him you were probably looking for more than 6.30 fantasy points and he continues to be more valuable in PPR scoring formats and leagues that reward points for return yards on punts. The Eagles have a few juicy matchups in the coming weeks so Sproles could be an interesting flex option down the stretch.
Now for the #ThatHelpsNoOne moment for the Eagles. Backup running back Chris Polk was the only Philadelphia back to score a touchdown in Week 9 and finished with eight carries for 50 yards and the score. To be honest, Polk looked pretty monstrous on his carries plowing through some Texans defenders. It's worth wondering if Polk will become the Eagles short-yardage goal-line back going forward.
Matt Franciscovich is an associate fantasy editor at NFL.com. Follow him on Twitter _**@mfranciscovich**_. He's making it a point to use the word "crummy" more in everyday conversation and in his writing. Deal with it.
