Lacy and Starks both options during fantasy playoffs

Every week Committee Meetings breaks down some top storylines from the league's most head-scratching backfield committees in hopes of gaining some clarity for fantasy owners. If you're wondering about a backfield that's not discussed below, feel free to Tweet @MattFranchise for some additional advice.

Your top fantasy running backs for Week 15 are Isaiah Crowell (savor this moment), Todd Gurley (praise the fantasy gods), James Starks (it's cool, Lacy did well too), DeAngelo Williams (always consistent) and Lamar Miller (give this man the ball!). We got some bad news with Thomas Rawls' season ending injury and fantasy owners will want to keep an eye on T.J. Yeldon's sprained knee situation as Week 15 approaches. But other than that, it was a pretty great week for running backs in fantasy football. We saw five 100-yard rushers, five backs who scored twice and 20 running backs get into the end zone at least once. Now, lets get into some committee breakdowns.

Lacy and Starks shred Dallas defense

Eddie Lacy | James Starks // Packers
When given high-volume looks this year, Eddie Lacy has produced. In games with 17 or more carries this season, he's averaged 100.8 rush yards per game and 15.3 fantasy points per game. In a game that was seen as his redemption following some off-the-field issues the week prior, Lacy produced again with a heavy workload. Packers head coach Mike McCarthy was adamant all week about giving his back another shot and Lacy responded with a 20-point fantasy day. He notched season highs in both carries and rush yards. Lacy was the clear lead back here with 56 percent of offensive snaps compared to James Starks' 37 percent, but Starks had an even better day than Lacy did from a fantasy perspective.

Starks scored twice, once rushing and once receiving and averaged 6.5 yards per carry on his 11 totes. The Packers running backs exploited the Cowboys lackluster run defense for the team's best rushing performance in any game this season and totaled the most rush yards (230) in a game since 2004. Going forward, Lacy faces matchups I wouldn't quite call favorable against Oakland in Week 15 and Arizona in Week 16. Based on how he played in Week 14, you'd have to expect Green Bay to keep feeding Lacy the ball while Starks will still get his looks as a change-of-pace back and on passing downs. Both backs are decent flex plays for the remainder of the fantasy season, but since Lacy should be in line for more opportunities he has the upside over Starks.

Ivory bounces back

Chris Ivory | Bilal Powell | Stevan Ridley // Jets
I wrote last week in this space not to panic regarding Chris Ivory's usage in Week 13 when the Jets were playing catchup, which led to a bigger game for Bilal Powell. The Jets got back to their winning ways against an awful Titans team on Sunday and Ivory benefitted from his team being ahead for the entire contest. Ivory's 51 percent snap count should reassure you that he's a solid RB2 play the rest of the way, and will be especially valuable next week when the Jets take on a Cowboys defense that was just thrashed by the Packers running backs (see above). Keep Ivory in your lineup and trust that as long as he stays healthy he'll be the featured back in New York.

Bilal Powell did get some work on Sunday and has become a solid flex play over the last month especially in PPR formats. He only saw eight touches in total against the Titans but he was efficient with them gaining 82 yards and scored a receiving touchdown. In his last four games, Powell has collected 314 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns and has PPR fantasy totals in double digits in three of those four weeks. Both Powell and Ivory could have solid games in Week 16 against Dallas so if you're looking for a good PPR flex floor play Powell is well worth a look, just be aware that you're banking on his usage as a pass-catcher which can be a product of game flow.

Sproles continues to roll

DeMarco Murray | Darren Sproles | Ryan Mathews // Eagles
For the second week in a row, Darren Sproles led the Philadelphia backfield in snap count and was the efficient runner for the Eagles. Even with the return of Ryan Mathews, Sproles saw more playing time than both Mathews and DeMarco Murray and was the only Eagles back to score against the Buffalo Bills. To be honest though no member of this backfield did enough to warrant a fantasy start in Week 15 when the Arizona Cardinals come to town. Now that Mathews is back in the mix, he is sure to siphon opportunities from Murray who hasn't done anything worthy of a fantasy start in about a month now. And, despite reports on Sunday morning that Murray was "demoted" to the fourth-string running back, he still split touches evenly with Mathews against Buffalo, so he's not going anywhere either. This is probably one of the most frustrating, head scratching committees in the league right now, and for that reason, it's tough to make any calls on who the best start in fantasy will be for the rest of the season. My suggestion is to either find a different option, or if you must start any from this trio, just close your eyes and hope for the best.

Hightower steps up

Tim Hightower | C.J. Spiller // Chiefs
When fantasy owners found out the news about Mark Ingram's season-ending shoulder injury last Wednesday, the conversation began immediately about which Saints back would fill his role. After toting the rock 28 times on Sunday, the answer is pretty clear that it's Tim Hightower's job to lose. And while his 29 touches netted him fewer than 100 yards he did manage to score which boosted his fantasy total to RB1 territory for the week. His efficiency on the ground is a bit of a concern with just 3.0 yards per carry, but the Buccaneers run defense is a top-10 unit in the NFL this season. With C.J. Spiller as a mere afterthought in terms of snap count and ball distribution, Hightower should carry flex value at the least for the remainder of the fantasy season. He'll have another seemingly tough matchup against the Lions in Week 15, but Detroit was just gashed for 140 yards and two touchdowns against Todd Gurley.

Crowell has career day

Isaiah Crowell | Duke Johnson // Browns
The Browns ran all over the 49ers last week. More specifically, Isaiah Crowell ran all over the 49ers. That's not something you read every day. Crowell gained 145 of Cleveland's 230 rush yards against San Francisco and scored two touchdowns in what was a career day for the Browns back. His 27.4 fantasy points was enough to rank him as the top scoring running back in fantasy for Week 14. But don't let his yardage total deceive you into thinking he's a viable fantasy play for Week 15. Crowell gained 104 yards of his 145 (71.7 percent) on just two carries. Runs of 50 and 54 yards propped up his yards per carry average for the day to 7.3. But if you take away those two runs, Crowell gained just 41 yards on 18 carries the rest of the way which averaged out to 2.2 yards per rush which is what we're more used to seeing from the Cleveland plodder. Apparently, people didn't like that take on Twitter very much, but the point is that this game was an outlier and not the norm for Crowell who's been nothing but bad this season. With a matchup against Seattle and Kansas City in the next two weeks, you can safely cut bait with Crowell in your season long leagues. So can Duke Johnson, he's not winning you any fantasy playoff matchups this year.

Matt Franciscovich is an associate fantasy editor at NFL.com. He can't get Alabama Shakes' "Sound and Color" out of his head. Hit Matt up on Twitter **@MattFranchise** for music recommendations and fantasy advice.