Joseph Addai will be facing the 24th, 32nd and 19th-best running defenses over the next three weeks.
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) -
For most fantasy football leagues, Monday night's game is the final one of the 2008 regular season. For some, the season ends, but for many others, the most important part of the schedule begins on Thursday night with the first round of the "fantasy playoffs."
Accordingly, we have begun our playoff analysis by investigating each running back's schedule. The chart below will take into consideration games from Week 14 - Week 16. We have evaluated each team's schedule difficulty based on the opponent's total yards allowed via the rush.
The chart below shows the 32 teams schedules from most difficult to easiest.
What it says is that Marion Barber III has the most difficult schedule in the league. He plays Pittsburgh, New York Giants and Baltimore, the first, fifth and third-best running defenses. Compare that to Joseph Addai who plays Cincinnati, Detroit and Jacksonville, the 24th, 32nd and 19th-best running defenses. Obviously, you would much rather start Addai than Barber in this extreme case.
It's also a little simplistic, because if you don't win in Week 14, then the fact that your running back has an easy schedule in Week 15 and Week 16 is irrelevant (see Jacksonville). But you can certainly reference this page each week to evaluate that week's opponent.
