Debate Team: Ryan Mathews or Rashad Jennings in Week 3?
Follow theScore's fantasy feed on Twitter (@theScoreFantasy) for the latest news, features and more.
Each week, two of theScore's fantasy expert discuss an intriguing fantasy topic in debate form. This week: which running back would you rather start in a standard scoring league? Ryan Mathews of the Eagles, or Rashad Jennings of the Giants?
Josh Wegman: If I had both of these players on my fantasy team, I'm definitely starting Jennings and keeping Mathews on my bench. Each player has carried the ball 31 times this season, with Mathews accumulating 109 yards compared to Jennings' 102. Mathews has been much better in fantasy though, finding the end zone three times compared to Jennings' zero.
Despite Mathews' red-zone prowess, expect Jennings to have a much bigger week. He will face a weak Washington Redskins front seven. Only one player from the group, ILB Will Compton, has posted an above-average Pro Football Focus player grade. They are allowing 122.6 rushing yards per game, the seventh-most in the NFL.
Mathews, on the other hand, will have to face the Steelers, who have allowed just 91.2 rushing yards per game - fifth-fewest in the NFL.
Esten McLaren: The Steelers' rush defense looks good on paper, but has been aided by favorable matchups to open the season. They first played a Redskins rushing game no one expected much from this season and dictated the pace completely. In Week 2, the game script was torn up early, as the Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals battled heavy rain.
Bengals pass-catching RB Giovani Bernard recorded nine receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown last week. While Darren Sproles handles the majority of the passing game duties for Philadelphia, Mathews is perfectly capable in his own right. He has averaged 7.5 yards per reception for his career.
Neither Mathews nor Jennings has been efficient this year, averaging well below four yards per attempt. Even with inefficiency, I'll favor Mathews, who ranks second in the NFL with 11 red-zone rushing attempts. Mathews has also seen one red-zone target. He made the catch, but failed to score.
Wegman: Speaking of being aided by favorable matchups, how about the Eagles? So far they have faced the Browns and the Bears. Both teams are or were expected to have top-5 draft picks next spring. Not only do both teams have terrible run defenses, but they are so bad in general the Eagles were able to get a big lead and run out the clock with Mathews.
Game flow isn't expected to be on Mathews' side in Week 3. Even though Philadelphia has home-field advantage in the battle of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh is still favored by 3 1/2 points, according to sportsline.com.
The Eagles are thin at corner right now. Leodis McKelvin is not expected to play. Nolan Carroll, Ron Brooks and Jalen Mills have an average PFF grade of 50.8 so far this season, and have yet to face an offense anywhere close to the caliber of Pittsburgh's. Expect the Steelers to exploit these week CBs and get a big lead, forcing the Eagles to play from behind and abandon the run.
McLaren: The Eagles matchups have been favorable, especially the game script against the Bears. Yet, a minor injury kept Mathews sidelined for much of the Week 2 game, with Sproles handling the bulk of the clock-dwindling duties. Mathews did sub in close to the goal line, where he scored his two touchdowns.
Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger completed a higher percentage of his passes on the road last season, but he threw just five touchdowns to nine interceptions, while amassing 16 scores and seven picks at home. Eagles QB Carson Wentz has his team looking vastly different from the one expected to finish bottom five.
Redskins QB Kirk Cousins' 2015 breakout game came in New York in Week 3. After throwing for just 393 yards through the first two weeks, he completed 30 of 49 passes against the Giants, going for 316 yards and a touchdown. In two games against the Giants he totaled 618 yards and two touchdowns. The Giants didn't score a single offensive touchdown in Week 2.
Wegman: Sly move by you Mr. McLaren, leaving out the fact Cousins also threw two interceptions that game. It wass hardly a good performance, especially when you factor in most of those yards came in garbage time. New CBs Eli Apple and Janoris Jenkins make it a much tougher secondary to pass against. DE Jason Pierre-Paul was also absent in the Week 3 game.
The Giants are 4 1/2 point favorites this week. Washington has struggled on both sides of the ball so far this season, so you can expect New York to win this game. The Giants offense hasn't been clicking yet like we saw last season, but the defense has been phenomenal, allowing just 32 points so far.
If I had to choose which RB I'd prefer for a full season, it would be Mathews, but Jennings is the easy choice this week, despite not being used as prominently in the red zone this year. New York's offense has underachieved and is bound to break out. On the other hand, Philly has overachieved and is about to get a rude awakening from a legitimate NFL defense.
McLaren: We were told to expect the Giants to win their first two games of the season, and while they did, they sure made us sweat them both out. They may not be as good as many thought. As a popular public team, the betting lines tend to be skewed in their favor more often than not.
The Giants have three elite weapons in the passing game, in WRs Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz and Sterling Shepard. The Eagles' the lone reliable threat is WR Jordan Matthews. This is part of the reason Ryan Mathews ranks so highly among the red-zone touch leaders in the league. Meanwhile, Jennings hasn't received a single red-zone carry.
With game flow in any NFL matchup so unpredictable, I'll take the defined goal-line role of Mathews over desperately hoping Jennings is able to break off a long scoring play.