Top 5 RB Performances of Week 5

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster and Dallas Cowboys star RB DeMarco Murray are two of the NFL’s finest, and both workhorses were at their bests on Sunday when they went head-to-head. The Cowboys prevailed in overtime in a game that saw both Foster and Murray end up as the weekly leaders in rushing yards, with Foster tallying up a whopping 157 of them. Those two were locks for this week’s top five list, but who else made the cut?

New England Patriots RB Shane Vereen

Sunday night’s game between the New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals was all about the Patriots turn-around, and most of it was, of course, focused on Tom Brady, who looked more like the Brady we are accustomed to watching. But the Patriots rushing attack shouldn’t be lost in the praise, as Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen showed off their immense talent, with Ridley powering the way as the workhorse and Vereen shining in a more limited role. He turned just nine carries into a whopping 90 yards, and that’s all the more impressive when you consider that his longest run was 19 yards. That’s certainly a nice chunk of yardage, but it also shows that not all of those 90 yards came on just one rush. One of the league’s elite pass-catching backs, Vereen also caught all three passes thrown at him for 18 yards.

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Houston Texans RB Arian Foster

Arian Foster is clearly recovered from the balky hamstring that limited his effectiveness on the ground last week (it also caused him to miss the previous week’s game), as he ran for over 150 yards against a Cowboys defense that simply had no way to stop him. There’s no doubt that Foster is the bread-and-butter of the Texans offense, as Bill O’Brien simply dials up runs to his star back and lets him do the work for the O. Foster averaged  a wicked 6.8 yards per attempt with two touchdowns, showing off his trademark consistency.

Dallas Cowboys RB DeMarco Murray

Still the league’s leader in rushing yards, DeMarco Murray continues to receive a huge workload, as new offensive coordinator Scott Linehan clearly understands how talented Murray is. With 31 carries against the Texans, Murray received a Foster-like total of rushes, turning them into a solid 136 yards. He has yet to rush for less than 100 yards in a game this season, but he did break his streak of games with a touchdown rush. He, of course, more than made up for that in the passing game, showing off his all-purpose ability in Linehan’s offense with six catches for 56 yards on eight targets.

Green Bay Packers RB Eddie Lacy

Backfield-mate Aaron Rodgers snuck into the top five list for quarterbacks in Week 5, and Eddie Lacy finally cracked the list for running backs after a disappointing start to the season. The main culprit wasn’t actually the offensive line, because while they had issues, the fact of the matter is that they were facing elite run defenses like the Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, and Detroit Lions. Against a Minnesota Vikings team that looked like they forgot how to play football on TNF, Lacy churned out 105 yards and two touchdowns on just 13 carries in what was truly a scintillating performance from the Alabama product. Lacy continues to force missed tackles at a high rate, and he received plenty of help from budding center Corey Linsley.

San Diego Chargers RB Branden Oliver

The Darren Sproles comparisons are rolling in for the Chargers new No. 43, and I’ve even heard a Natrone Means comparison thrown around. Branden Oliver caught all four passes thrown at him for 68 yards and a touchdown, and it’s clear that he’s forged himself a nice spot in the Chargers pass-catching pecking order. On the ground, Oliver was even more impressive, averaging six yards per carry on a 19-114 line with one touchdown. The two overall touchdowns matched Antonio Gates‘s haul through the air, as the Chargers cruised to victory over a New York Jets team that is clearly grasping for any sort of answers at this point.