Denver Broncos - Fantasy News

Who to Start: C.J. Anderson or Frank Gore?

by Mike Rose

12/13/17

NFL

Denver Broncos

C.J. Anderson

A matchup between two pretty lousy AFC teams will occur in Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday Night Football when the 3-10 Indianapolis Colts welcome the 4-9 Denver Broncos into town for the first time since they hooked up in September of last season.

In that affair in Denver, both C.J. Anderson and Frank Gore scored touchdowns for their teams as Anderson ran for one while Gore caught one through the air. This time around for these abysmal teams, the running backs figure to be one of the only potential bright spots on the field for their respective clubs.

Fantasy Matchup: C.J. Anderson (7.0 PFP) vs. Frank Gore (9.0 PFP)

After seeing 24 touches in his team’s 23-0 win over the New York Jets on Sunday, it’s clear — if it wasn’t before — that Anderson is Denver’s No. 1 back. He has averaged 8.88 Dober Fantasy Points on the season. But since he is putting up fewer points per game than Gore, he enters this matchup as a two-point underdog. The ‘dog status also makes sense because Gore did damage to Buffalo’s defense to the tune of 15.5 Dober Fantasy Points in Week 14.

On the season, Anderson has rushed for exactly 700 yards and three touchdowns with only one fumble. He’s averaged 53.9 yards on 13.9 attempts per game, and he has only gone over the 100-yard mark once — and that was back in Week 2. The 3.9 yards per carry average leaves a lot to be desired.

Coming off a week in which he managed only 2.1 yards per attempt, Anderson has a chance to increase that immensely as he’ll be facing a Colts defense that ranks No. 24 in fantasy against running backs and has been susceptible to rushers on the year.

Anderson has registered two touchdowns on the season. Both of the scores, however, have been at home. He’s failed to get the rock into the end zone in enemy territory for the No. 19 ranked rushing attack. He may be able to change that as the Colts rank No. 23 in overall rush defense. As a unit, the Colts are No. 31 in points allowed while giving up 25.3 fantasy points per game to running backs, so look for Anderson to take advantage of the poor defense he’ll be attempting to run over and through.

Meanwhile, it is more than likely we won’t see a repeat performance of what we saw in Week 14 when Gore torched the Bills defense for 130 yards and didn’t let the snow affect him. On Thursday night he’ll be facing a Broncos defense that ranks No. 4 against the rush, allowing just under 90 yards per game to opposing backs. In fact, the Broncos are the No. 1 defense in the NFL, allowing a league-best 280.5 total yards per game. So if you’re looking to start Gore or anyone from the Colts on your Dober Play Card, it’s probably not a good idea this week.

With the way the Broncos defense has been playing, I’d stay away from Gore and anyone on Indy. I’d go with Anderson for your Dober Play Card despite him being the slight underdog.

Week 15 Fantasy Projection: C.J. Anderson (+2) vs. Frank Gore