Week 11 Rushing Matchups

Go here for this week's Passing Matchups. 

Top 5 Rushing Matchups

San Francisco vs Seattle

Christian McCaffrey wasted no time returning from his Achilles injury, as he was on the field for 88% of the snaps in Week 10. McCaffrey had 19 touches last week, which was slightly below his 21-touch average in 2023, but with the emergence of Jordan Mason, there was a slight decrease in volume. McCaffrey has the benefit of running behind one of the league's best offensive lines led by future Hall of Fame Trent Williams, who remains one of the best left tackles in the NFL even at 36 years old. Rookie third-round right-guard Dominick Puti has been one of the better rookies this season. Despite losing their top two running backs for most of the season, the 49ers still are fifth in rushing yards this season, led by Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo.

Seattle's run defense is a complete mess. The Seahawks have allowed the second-most fantasy points to opposing running backs, 123 rushing yards per game to the position, which is also second on the year. Since Week 5, Seattle has allowed 138 yards per game to opposing running backs and a staggering 5.5 yards per carry, which has led the NFL this season. The team has tried to make changes, particularly in the linebacker position. Seattle traded Jerome Baker for Ernest Jones IV earlier this season and cut leading tackler Tyrel Dodson this past week. Dodson was the team's defensive play-caller for all nine of the team's games this season, which will certainly create a void in this defense. A significant amount of pressure will be put on Ernest Jones IV, who has been with the team for just two weeks, while fourth-round rookie Tyrice Knight will likely fill in as the second linebacker for Seattle. Knight has not played significant snaps since Week 4, as he's largely been relegated to the bench. The big issue for Seattle continues to be Johnathan Hankins, who just keeps playing worse each week. Hankins was brought in to be the big-bodied, run-stopping defensive tackle. Due to Hankins' poor play, the team has been forced to one of the lightest defensive lines in the NFL as the only player in the rotation over 300 pounds is Jarran Reed at just 307 pounds. This puts a lot of pressure on the linebacker unit that has had so many issues this season.

LA Rams at New England

After a 10-game touchdown streak dating back to last season, Kyren Williams has now gone two games without a touchdown. Williams has a firm grasp on the running game in Los Angeles, as no other player has over 100 rushing yards. However, despite averaging 19.6 carries per game, Williams has largely been inefficient, averaging just 3.8 yards per carry this season compared to 5.0 last year. Williams is not to blame here, as the offensive line has experienced a significant downgrade in Los Angeles, particularly at right tackle, as Rob Havenstein has been dealing with an ankle injury all season. Havenstein missed Week 10 and seems unlikely to play this week. With Havenstein out, the team will need to rely on Joe Noteboom, a veteran but better suited as an emergency replacement and not someone you want to rely on for an extended period. The Rams also need to get better production out of center Jonah Jackson and guard Steve Avila, who were starters heading into the season but were placed on IR and returned last week with both players struggling in their first game back. It will be critical for the Rams to get a high level of play from their two returning starters to compensate for the loss of Havenstein, the captain of this offensive line.

Since Week 4, the Patriots have allowed a league-leading 138 rushing yards per game to opposing running backs. While they did look better last week, allowing just 59 yards to D'Andre Swift, this defense has allowed four running backs to top 100 yards since Week 4 and seven running backs to top 80 yards in the six games since Week 4. The Patriots just have not been the same team since Jabrill Peppers was put on the Commissioner's Exempt list. This has put significant pressure on an already thin defense as undrafted rookie safety Dell Pettus has been forced into significant snaps. At linebacker, the team had intended to rely on veterans Raekwon McMillan and Ja'Whaun Bentley, but both were massively disappointing. McMillan was released in Week 10 after being one of the worst run-stoppers in the NFL this season, while Bentley was put on IR back in Week 2. Christian Elliss has been their best run-stopper, but he missed Week 10 with an abdominal injury and is questionable this week. If he were to miss, undrafted rookie Curtis Jacobs could be forced into a large role after Sione Takitaki suffered a hamstring injury in Week 10. 

Cleveland at New Orleans

Coming off of a bye, the Browns are finally starting to get healthy along the offensive line. This unit was ravaged by injuries early on this season, and all starters should be active this week. However, just as they're finally getting healthy, it came out this week that the team benched Jed Wills after he made a business decision not to play against the Ravens in Week 8. Wills is in a contract year after the former first-round pick has had a tumultuous tenure in Cleveland and appears on his way out as the team will start Dawand Jones, who is 6-8 and 375 pounds, at left tackle for now. At running back, Nick Chubb has struggled in his three games since returning from his knee injury, averaging just 2.7 yards per carry. The good news for Chubb is that the bye should give him some time to continue to get healthy after the last two extremely difficult matchups against the Chargers and Ravens. Chubb is the only running back to top 50 yards against Baltimore this season, so the upside in a favorable matchup certainly needs to be considered coming off of a bye this week.

New Orleans' rushing defense has fallen apart after being one of the better run-stopping units in 2023. The biggest issue for the Saints has been the interior of the defensive line, which has been the worst unit in a long time. The team continues to play 2023 first-round pick Bryan Bresee, who simply can't defend the run, and the reason they continue to play him is that their other options are equally as bad as Khalen Saunders and Nathan Shephard have been amongst the worst run-stoppers this season. The Saints' defense, because of cap issues, is not deep and has gotten old quickly. Linebacker Demario Davis, who had been amongst the best run-stoppers over the last seven seasons, five of which ended up in All-Pro status, has finally started to show his age as he turns 36 in January. New Orleans is allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs and the most since Week 5, as they're allowing 133 rushing yards and 1.7 rushing touchdowns. Four running backs have topped 100 yards on the year against this defense, and Nick Chubb could have a breakout opportunity this week.