NFL Player News

Vikings wideout Cordarrelle Patterson was limited Thursday due to a hip injury.

Despite the issue, Patterson said he feels fine. He left Thursday's game due to a hip injury, and was limited to just two catches. Though his practice status has been less than optimal, Patterson has indicated that he'll play Week 6. 

The Vikings want to get wideout Cordarrelle Patterson more involved in the offense, according to 1500 ESPN.

Patterson scored on a rushing touchdown Week 1, but has been shut out in the team's last four contests. He admitted that he needs to get better in order to receive more work. I'm not at where I need to be," Patterson said. "There's always a bump in the road for everyone...I'm trying to work harder."

Offensive coordinator Norv Turner said the team was "anxious" to get the ball in Patterson's hands more often, and said they would continue to try and make it happen. He added that Patterson needs to take advantages of situations were he's covered by one defender.

Patterson hasn't complained about his workload yet, but said he might have to if things continue. "In junior college, I was a drama queen," Patterson said. "I demanded the ball and it paid off for me. If things keep going like this, I may have to be that drama queen one time." 

Both Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen had big games Week 5 against the Bengals, who rank 27th against the run. They may not be so lucky Week 6 at Buffalo. The Bills rank second against the run, allowing 71.0 yards per game and 3.0 yards per carry, and have yet to surrender a touchdown to a running back this season.

Because the Bills are more vulnerable to the pass than the run, Jamey Eisenberg actually prefers Vereen to Ridley this week, though for my money, Vereen hasn't been productive enough as a pass-catcher this year for me to make that distinction. Ridley got three times as many carries as Vereen in Week 5 and was on the field for about 15 more plays, so if you're going to start one, Ridley is still the way to go.

I'm just not sure either is so advisable with this matchup. As Chris Towers pointed out earlier in the week, the way the Patriots use their two backs can vary drastically based on the way the game is going. If Ridley isn't a sure thing with a favorable matchup, surely he isn't for this one.

That doesn't mean he's an outright sit for me. Enough high-profile running backs have been lost to injuries the last couple weeks that he may still be your best bet. I just wouldn't go out of my way to start him based on last week's performance.

Since returning from a knee injury in Week 4, Buccaneers running back Doug Martin has yet to rush for even 50 yards in a game, and the two teams he's faced aren't as tough against the run as his Week 6 opponent. The Ravens rank eighth against the run, allowing 91.4 yards per game, and have given up the seventh-fewest Fantasy points per game to running backs.

The Buccaneers gave Martin a vote of confidence earlier this week, with temporary offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo telling ESPN that the running back's struggles begin with the coaching staff. But as well as Bobby Rainey performed in Martin's absence, a change isn't outside the realm of possibility.

So it's a not so great matchup and a not so great situation for what may well be a not so great running back. I wouldn't start Martin in Fantasy unless I had to.

With Bernard Pierce back in the mix Week 5 at Indianapolis, the Ravens split 15 carries almost equally between him, Justin Forsett and Lorenzo Taliaferro so that their leading ball carrier had only six carries.

And it just so happened to be Forsett.

But that's not even the main way he stood out. He was the only one of three to factor in the passing game, and by factor, I mean he led the team with seven catches. Predictably, then, he spent the most time on the field of the three, playing 72 percent of the Ravens' snaps to Taliaferro's 15 percent and Pierce's 10 percent.

So even though it didn't show up in the carries, Forsett was clearly the preferred back in Week 5, making him the one to start Week 6 at Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers have allowed the 10th-most Fantasy points per game to running backs this season in part because running backs have hurt them through the air. The Saints' Pierre Thomas had eight catches for 77 yards and a touchdown against them last week.

Jamey Eisenberg and Dave Richard both rank Forsett among their top 24 running backs this week, making him a start in standard 12-team leagues.

Chargers running back Donald Brown appears unlikely to play Sunday in Oakland after missing practice again Thursday. He has yet to complete concussion protocol, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Brown has proven ineffective in extended opportunities this season. He has 126 yards on 59 carries for a meager 2.1 average. He averaged 5.3 YPC last year for Indianapolis. But he does have 12 receptions in 2014.

Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson said he has not asked offensive coordinator Norv Turner for more touches on offense, according to The Star Tribune. Patterson has just 15 catches for 189 yards and four carries for 95 yards and one touchdown through five games.

"That's nothing I need to do," Patterson said. "I'm not a drama queen or anything. I don't want to go to the offensive coordinator and try to demand the ball. One day, maybe if I get a couple more Pro Bowls, maybe I can do thing like that; but the time is not right now. It's only my second year, and he's a new offensive coordinator for this team."

After blowing up for 182 total yards in Week 5 against a Jets defense that entered the day ranked No. 1 against the run, Chargers running back Branden Oliver is a good bet for an encore Week 6 at Oakland.

Donald Brown is still recovering from a concussion and wasn't so effective filling in for Ryan Mathews before it. Mathews himself is expected to miss at least two more games with a sprained right knee.

That leaves the Chargers with Oliver and ... very little else, not that they'd want to stray from him after the way he performed in Week 5. And if he did that against one of the toughest run defenses, imagine what he'll do against the Raiders, who rank 31st against the run, allowing 158.3 yards per game.

He may have been on the waiver wire in your league last week, but he deserves to be in your starting lineup this week.

With Toby Gerhart failing to live up to expectations, averaging just 2.6 yards per carry through five games, the Jaguars are planning to mix it up at running back Week 6 at Tennessee.

That can only be good news for rookie Storm Johnson, who impressed with 27 yards on four carries in his first career game Week 5 against Pittsburgh. Coach Gus Bradley was enthusiastic about him at Monday's press conference, and it's not like he has any clear choices otherwise.

If Johnson gets the majority of the carries in Week 6, he could end up being that player everybody targets on the waiver wire in the days to follow. The Titans have been terrible against the run this year, allowing 136.8 yards per game, seventh-most in the NFL.

You might want to go ahead and beat the rush to the waiver wire now, just in case the best-case scenario comes to pass. That doesn't mean you should start Johnson this week, but just because of how little the Jaguars have, he does have some lottery-ticket potential in Fantasy.

Cardinals running back Andre Ellington was limited in practice Wednesday, per the team's official website.

Ellington has been bothered by a foot injury all season, but has managed to play through the pain. He's coming off a Week 5 loss where he scored twice and registered 144 yards of total offense. He's rushed for 238 yards and a score on 62 carries, averaging 3.8 yards per game this season.

At this point, Ellington does not appear to be in any danger of sitting out Week 6 against Washington.