NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The first thing I want to do this week is to give a shout-out to Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette. The former St. Augustine Purple Knight and LSU Tiger scored four touchdowns this week in the Bucs’ 38-31 win over Colts.
I’m pretty sure Fournette wears No. 7 to represent the folks back in the 7th Ward of New Orleans. That’s gold!
Also, I’d like to talk about backup running backs.
There are a couple of names that you are going to hear, such as Tony Pollard (Dallas Cowboys), Chuba Hubbard (Carolina Panthers) and Alexander Mattison (Minnesota Vikings). Running backs fall into different categories when they are back-ups.
They are either ‘flexes with benefits’ — and that means they can be played whether their starter is in the game or not, A perfect example of this dynamic is with Pollard and starting teammate Ezekiel Elliott.
Then there are just players that will take over once the workload shifts to them. Mattison comes to mind with Dalvin Cook possibly out.
Then there are the guys that are going to end up getting backfield work with other people once the guy goes out. This could be by committee, such as with the Panthers losing Christian McCaffrey and both Hubbard and Ameer Abdullah taking turns shouldering the weight.
Anyway, I really love Mattison because he is going to get the entire workload from Cook. I’m a little worried Hubbard is going to have to share the touches.
The last thing I want to mention is this coming Thursday night game between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. The last time I checked the spread was only 4.5 points in favor of the Cowboys, but they are currently ravaged with COVID.
Who knows what it will be later, so let’s jump on this line now.
Oliver Stevenson is a bartender at MRB located at 515 St Philip Street in New Orleans, and a two-time Gold Rush Fantasy Football League champion. MRB was voted best ‘Bar Food Establishment’ by Where Y’at Magazine in 2021 and “Ollie” is currently in training to qualify in field archery for The World Games 2022.
