Fantasy football: Earn playoff spot with sneaky running back calls

After 13 grueling weeks, your fantasy football season comes down to this one final game.

Win and you’re in.

Lose and go home.

And not only are you dealing with matchups and injuries, you also have to navigate around some ill-timed bye weeks.

But facing adversity is what we do every day, and if you want to be the champion, it’s just one more hurdle to overcome.

So how do you replace a guy like Christian McCaffrey, who likely helped carry your fantasy team this far?

Finding help at the running back position is problematic, especially at this point of the season.

Problematic, but not impossible.

As coaches look to spare their stars the extra wear-and-tear and have them ready for the real-life playoffs, we’ve seen some running back value emerge.

Blake Corum is a perfect example, as Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur informed the media that he wanted Kyren Williams fresh for a Super Bowl run.

Corum’s snap count has hovered around 35 percent in recent weeks, and he’s gone from averaging about six carries per game over the first seven weeks to almost 10 per game over his past five.

And that number should continue to ascend.

Players like Corum or the Jaguars’ Bhayshul Tuten have been seeing a steady increase recently.

What’s even more alarming for fantasy managers of Williams or Travis Etienne is that both are yielding increased work to their counterparts near the goal line.

Chances are slim, but if either is available, they could be the answer to your running back issues.

If you play in a deep, competitive league, you probably have to look deeper.

The Bengals-Bills game features two of the league’s worst run defenses — allowing the second- and third-most rushing yards per game, respectively.

They’re also allowing the second- and third-highest yards per carry.

Though Chase Brown and James Cook will dominate the touches, Samaje Perine and Ty Johnson are low-key valuable in fantasy.

No one is expecting huge numbers, but Perine has been seeing goal-line work for the Bengals, and Johnson has evolved into a solid, pass-catching back who spells Cook at times during the 2-minute drill.

This game has a 53.5-point game total, and though everyone is expecting a shootout between Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, both teams establishing a strong ground presence is very much within the realm of possibilities.

Dan Fouts’ “last game of the season, can’t hold anything back” quote from “The Waterboy” has a resounding truth to it when it comes to the fantasy playoffs.

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Betting on the NFL?

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Week 14 is going to cause a massive swing of emotions.

Grasp at any straw you can to fill your roster needs and find yourself on the happy side of things this season.

Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy football news and advice.