Team news

Who rises in the running back rotation now that Elijah Mitchell will miss a substantial amount of time? Never underestimate Shanahan’s fondness for veteran Tevin Coleman, who is on the practice squad but had a pivotal role in the Week 5 win in Carolina.

Meanwhile, Shanahan continues to sing the praises of third-round pick Tyrion Davis-Price even though Price has been a healthy scratch since Week 7. Jordan Mason has been in uniform instead of Davis-Price because Mason is the better special-teamer and has become a stalwart on the kickoff and punt units.

Related players: Christian McCaffrey

The story said McCaffrey played about 65% of the snaps but is also dealing with some knee irritation. Ideally, the 49ers would like to keep McCaffrey around that mark, so the RB who is next up could certainly have some fantasy value with Mitchell sidelined again. In deeper leagues or dynasty leagues, Coleman could still be on your wire and may be worth a stash until this situation sorts itself out.

Even though the Colts, at 4-7-1, realistically have nothing left to play for, they are sticking with veteran Matt Ryan.

“Matt’s going to continue being the guy,” HC Jeff Saturday said after Monday night’s loss to the Steelers.

Related players: Sam Ehlinger

The story went on to break down the team's struggles at QB: Between the two quarterbacks, the Colts have 11 touchdown passes in 12 games. Ryan, 37, has a passer rating of 86.3. The only season he had a worse rating was his second season (2009) when he had an 80.9. He has 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. In two starts, Ehlinger had no touchdowns and an interception.

Since the Chargers game, it’s been mostly a slog for Ken Walker and Seattle’s running game.

Walker has just 203 yards on 68 carries in the four games since the win over the Chargers — 2.9 per attempt.

That includes 43 yards on 24 carries in losses the last two games against the Bucs in Munich and Sunday against the Raiders at Lumen Field, all of which has brought his yards-per-carry down to 4.5.

“He’s trying,” Carroll said Monday. “He’s really going for it. He’s going to find more consistency for us. And there are times when he is looking to bust something when we could maybe hit it up in there. But we have to let him use his instincts because they are phenomenal. He’s going to scorch just like he did on the first touchdown play (a 12-yard TD Sunday), which was a phenomenal play. We just need to be more consistent. Probably more runs will help him. We had 20-something (23 as a team); we would like to get more. We need to balance the run and the pass better than we did over the last two weeks.”

Certainly, the Seahawks have to figure out something, While the run defense may be the bigger issue plaguing them right now, the inability to run on offense and sustain long drives hasn’t helped.

Seattle was 4 of 18 on third downs the past two games with the Bucs and Raiders running a combined 38 more plays than the Seahawks.

And a lot of that was due to an inability to run it well on first down, resulting in an inordinate amount of third-and-longs. Seattle converted on all three of its third downs of 4 yards or shorter Sunday, but failed on all six of 5 yards or longer.

Nine of Walker’s 14 rushes came on first-and-10, and five resulted in a gain of three or less, with a total of 19 (though one of his first-and-10 runs was his 14-yard TD in the third quarter).

And the tasks don’t necessarily get easier as Seattle heads into the final six games of the season.

Four of Seattle’s final six opponents rank seventh or better in the NFL in yards allowed per carry — the 49ers (first, 3.3), Rams, whom Seattle plays twice (fourth, 3.9) and Jets (seventh, 4.1). The Chiefs also rank 14th at 4.3, essentially tied with the Raiders (12th at 4.3).

The only team left on Seattle’s schedule not to rank in the top half of the NFL in fewest yards allowed per rush is Carolina, which is 21st at 4.6. The Panthers, though, two weeks ago held a Ravens team that ranks third in the NFL in yards per carry at 5.3 to just 115 on 30 attempts.

Seattle may catch a break against LA with star tackle Aaron Donald dealing with a high ankle sprain and possibly out for Sunday’s game at SoFi Stadium.

Still, a Rams defense led by former Seahawk Bobby Wagner figures to present a stiff challenge against the run, having just held the Chiefs to no run of longer than 9 yards in 26 attempts from its running backs.

But while Walker may have had little room to run against the Raiders, to what Carroll felt was Walker’s immense credit, Walker shouldered his share of the blame.

“I just feel like we haven’t been executing well,” Walker said. “The running backs, myself included, we just haven’t executed well in the run game.”

And to Carroll, that comment spoke volumes.

“He’s really team oriented; he holds himself accountable,” Carroll said. “There’s an illustration of that. He’s not going to try to duck and dodge anything. He is going to take it right on, straight up. It’s going to accelerate the process. He’s not going to be ducking and dodging the issues. He’s going to be going right at it, and give you everything that he’s got, and he won’t back away.”

Things did seem pretty easy for Walker after taking over for Rashaad Penny. HC Pete Carroll put the blame mostly on the O-line. Walker had touchdown runs of 14 and 12 yards — and a combined zero yards on his other 12 attempts this past week, the story pointed out. However, the story said Carroll did point to Walker, saying Carroll indicated at times Walker maybe has to be content with taking a shorter — but surer — gain instead of aiming to break a big one. Unfortunately things don't get easier. The only team left on Seattle’s schedule not to rank in the top half of the NFL in fewest yards allowed per rush is Carolina, which is 21st at 4.6. The Panthers, though, two weeks ago held a Ravens team that ranks third in the NFL in yards per carry at 5.3 to just 115 on 30 attempts, the story said.

The Rams officially ended Allen Robinson‘s season Tuesday, placing him on injured reserve.

Robinson injured his foot in Week 11 against the Saints, and a CT scan Friday revealed a stress fracture on the navicular bone and will need surgery to repair the injury.

Related players: Van Jefferson, Ben Skowronek, Tutu Atwell, Brandon Powell

The hits keep coming for the Rams. Robinson had 33 catches on 52 targets for 339 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games for the team. Robinson remains under contract with the team through 2024 after signing a three-year, $46.5 million deal in March. Jefferson, Skowronek, Atwell and Powell will be the team's top-four WRs. Needless to say, the Rams offense looks to be one to stay away from in fantasy.

Mike Tomlin was asked if he has long-term concern about Najee Harris and said he didn’t have much to say about the running back so soon after the game.

“Not as I sit here right now,” Tomlin said, via Adam Bittner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But I don’t have a lot of information as I sit here right now.”

Related players: Jaylen Warren, Benny Snell Jr., Anthony McFarland

It's a pretty fluid situation as far as the Steelers RBs go. Harris was seen limping in and out of the lineup before heading to the locker room early and not returning on MNF. Warren is dealing with his own injury leaving Snell and McFarland to carry the load on the ground, and they did a pretty good job against the Colts. We'll continue to keep an eye on this situation as the week goes on. The Steelers do have an early game against the Falcons so owners should have time to adjust lineups.

Aaron Rodgers on the Pat McAfee Show: "I plan on playing this week.”

Related players: Jordan Love

“I got good news with the scans yesterday," the tweet on to quote Rodgers. The team has said all along they would start Rodgers assuming he's good enough to play. We know we can't always count on what a player says about his own health, but it appears Rodgers could be on track to go in Week 13 in a good matchup against the Bears. Depending on what else we learn about the injury, owners will have to at least think about the possibility of Rodgers reaggravating the injury if he does play.

Coach Brian Daboll especially “optimistic” about TE Daniel Bellinger.

The tweet went on to say Daboll said Bellinger is “Trending in the right direction. … optimistic for Belly." Bellinger was starting to come alive in the Giants offense before an eye injury in Week 7 against the Jags. In Week 2 he caught one ball but it was a 16-yard TD. From Weeks 3-6 he averaged over three catches and four targets a game while adding one more TD and averaging a little over 30 yards receiving per contest.

Raiders RB Josh Jacobs hopes [to play] Sunday against the Chargers.

Related players: Zamir White, Ameer Adbullah

Jacobs was dealing with an ankle injury heading into Week 12 before running all over the Seahawks. Now dealing with a calf injury, Jacobs is not expected to practice much, if at all, this week because of the calf strain, Pelissero said in his tweet. Pelissero added Jacobs will get around-the-clock treatment. If he can't go, White and Abdullah would likely split up the workload.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Patriots RB Damien Harris is not expected to play Thursday night against the Bills.

Related players: Rhamondre Stevenson

There is a possibility Harris could miss more time since he is considered week-to-week, the blurb said. Stevenson will remain the Patriots' lead running back while Harris is sidelined and should be considered an RB1 candidate in this role.

Jets running back Michael Carter left Sunday’s win over the Bears with an ankle injury, but the team isn’t ruling him out of their Week 13 trip to Minnesota at this point.

Head coach Robert Saleh said at his Monday press conference that Carter suffered a low ankle sprain. He added that the team sees him as day-to-day with a chance to play against the Vikings.

Related players: Zonovan Knight, Ty Johnson, James Robinson

Carter has been the lead back for the Jets since Breece Hall tore his ACL, but the team’s other options had a good showing against the Bears. Rookie Knight ran for 69 yards and caught three passes for 34 yards while Johnson ran for a 32-yard touchdown. Robinson was inactive for that game, but could find his way back into the mix if Carter isn’t able to go this weekend, the story said. This could end up being a muddy situation fantasy-wise, especially if Carter plays but isn't 100 %. Hopefully we can learn more leading up to the game.