Texans running back Alfred Blue remains one of the hottest names in Fantasy football following his Week 3 start against the Giants. He put up solid numbers -- 78 rushing yards on 13 carries -- despite the Texans spending most of the game playing from behind.
With Blue lingering at the top of the most-viewed list as of Tuesday morning, I decided to re-watch Sunday's game to see just how he did. Blue showed some good skills, but didn't get much help from the offensive line against a tough Giants defense.
One stretch in the third quarter showed the good and the bad for Blue in this game. On 1st and 10, he took a handoff left straight into a pair of waiting linebackers for a 2-yard gain, as the pulling right guard failed to get Blue the room he needed to run. The Texans smartly came back with the same play immediately after and Blue took advantage of the Giants overloading the right side of the offense with a blitz. He broke through one arm tackle and showed some nice shiftiness in the secondary before being pulled down on a 46-yard run.
The key on that run, however, was the Texans' blocking. For much of the game, the blocking simply wasn't there against a Giants' defense that ranks 9th in DVOA against the run this season after a fourth overall ranking a year ago. Blue picked up 66 of his 78 yards on just three carries -- for 9, 11 and 46 yards -- as the offensive line too often left him with little room for success. One of his most successful runs outside of those three big plays came when he spun out of the arms of a pair of tacklers at the line of scrimmage before picking up 4 yards on one first-quarter run -- one of just three broken tackles I counted in the game.
Blue was used almost exclusively on first and second down, as Jonathan Grimes was used as a pure third-down back. He received one goal-line carry in a late fourth drive, but was replaced by Jonathan Grimes for the next two designed pass plays. Blue did see extensive playing time in one third-quarter drive, the team's longest of the game. He split out wide often as the offense went into no-huddle mode, but was not targeted by Ryan Fitzpatrick at all -- his lone reception came on a fake punt pass from Shane Lechler, who isn't likely to line up under center any time soon.
Foster told reporters he is day-to-day Monday, but this is also a hamstring injury that limited Foster at times during training camp, so it could linger more than he expects. If you were one of the owners in the 43 percent of CBSSports.com leagues who added Blue last week, you will want to hang on to him as a handcuff option for Foster.
However, I did not see enough from Blue Sunday to make him a must-add option otherwise, especially with his lack of involvement in the passing game.
