1. Chris Carson Dominates Seattle Backfield
The Seattle Seahawks' backfield has been a minefield for most of the season. But Chris Carson has reasserted himself as the only back to own in Seattle.
In the past two games, Carson has received 17 and 18 touches, respectively. On Sunday, in a 30-27 win over the Carolina Panthers, Carson had a 60% market share of the running back touches.
Carson is a bruiser and the running back the Seahawks are leaning on in the most crucial part of the season.
2. Phillip Lindsay, Denver's Red Zone Back
Coming off the bye and with a healthy Royce Freeman at his side, Phillip Lindsay looked headed for the dreaded timeshare again. And it turned out, he’s smack dab in a time share, but he’s the one to own and it’s not even close.
Lindsay handled a 58% running back market share, and on his touches netted 110 yards and 1 touchdown on 1 red zone carry. Freeman received 6 touches and eeked out 17 scoreless yards without a single touch inside the 20.
Freeman will occasionally sneak in the touchdown, but Lindsay is getting red zone looks, between the tackles looks and everywhere in between. Lindsay’s 7.4 per rush average to Freeman’s 2.8 is nice box score pop, but the difference between the two is night and day.
Currently, Freeman has 14 red zone rushes and 5 touchdowns. Lindsay, by contrast has 18 red zone rushes with 8 touchdowns. Both have proven productive, but Freeman is a fringe play while Lindsay is a running back two with an even higher ceiling.