Darren McFadden had one of his best games as a pro this past Sunday and the most notable thing was that he did not suffer an injury as was the case in his other big games.
Here is a quote from our September 12th edition of Fantasy Football Fix:
“Darren McFadden finished the day with the same amount of total yards as #1 overall pick in fantasy football leagues Chris Johnson. McFadden finished with 95 yards rushing and 55 yards receiving and handled the feature back role extremely well.”
Here is a comment from Eric Karabell of ESPN Insider:
“McFadden produced no more than 11 fantasy points in any game last season, so his Week 1 20-point effort was quite the surprise. I’m only kind of buying in, though, because clearly the Raiders want to use Michael Bush when he’s healthy again. Still, at least we know McFadden is capable of not only approaching 100 rushing yards, but he caught six passes for 55 yards as well.”
And here are two quotes from Football Outsiders Bill Barnwell:
“McFadden was playing catch-up with the Raiders for most of the day, but here’s where comparing players to other players in the same situation comes in handy. McFadden was better in this game than other backs usually are in games where they’re a few scores down; he averaged better than 5 yards a carry on first down and also picked up two new sets of downs as a receiver. He also caught a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, while only two of his 24 touches went for negative yardage. It got lost in the shellacking his defense took, but it was a promising day for a player who’s spent his first two seasons lost in the Oakland wilderness.”
“McFadden quietly had a great game against the Titans last week, albeit in the middle of a blowout. The Rams’ run defense was awful last year and allowed the combination of Tim Hightower and LaRod Stephens-Howling five yards per carry. Even if Michael Bush is back, McFadden is a great flex play this week.”
Darren McFadden is currently the #7 overall rated player in the Yahoo game and the #4 RB; he is also the #4 RB in the ESPN game and tied for 9th overall.
This may only be one week, but this is where we all expected McFadden to be on a weekly basis coming into the league. Granted timeshare and injuries made that impossible, but there are no more excuses and McFadden performed admirably.
With a legit QB with legit weapons and the feature job to himself Darren McFadden seems like he is ready to shake the bust label and prove he is as good as we once thought he was.
