Patriots RB Stevan Ridley is officially out for Sunday's tilt with the Cincinnati Bengals. Ridley was not on the field for Friday's practice, according to ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss. The team's starting running back hasn't participated all week because of knee and thigh injuries.
This means LeGarrette Blount and Brandon Bolden (who is dealing with a knee injury of his own) will pick up most of the slack. Blount looks like he'll see the bigger bump, as he plays a similar role -- between the tackles grinder -- as Ridley. Combined, Ridley and Blount have averaged 20.3 carries this season, so don't be surprised if Blount sees 18-22 totes against a Bengals defense that is #23 in RB aFPA. Bolden has additional value in PPR formats, but we'd still lean Blount if given the choice in PPR. We'd be more bullish on Bolden if not for the knee injury, which he re-aggravated against the Falcons on Sunday night. He's still a decent RB3/flex start, especially in PPR.
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