David Montgomery is commonly my 3rd or even 4th running back on one of my teams, but I'm planning to include him in my lineup this week. It's a good situation for Detroit's No. 2.
The Lions come off an ugly loss at Philadelphia, but they've got a different kind of situation this week. They're home and favored by 10.5 against the Giants. It's a game they should be winning and putting up big team numbers, and that usually means very good things for Montgomery.
In Detroit's four losses this season, Montgomery has been very quiet. He's scored only 1 touchdown, and averaged 29 rushing yards.
| MONTGOMERY IN LOSSES | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Att | Run | TD | No | Rec | |
| at G.B. | L, 13-27 | 11 | 25 | 0 | 4 | 18 | |
| at K.C. | L, 17-30 | 4 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 37 | |
| Min. | L, 24-27 | 11 | 40 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| at Phi. | L, 9-16 | 6 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| Average | 8 | 29 | 0.25 | 2.3 | 19 | ||
In Detroit's six wins, on the other hand, Montgomery has averaged more than twice as many rushing yards while scoring 4 touchdowns. The dud against Cleveland hurts the averages, but that's one of the league's best defenses this season. Giants have one of the worst.
| MONTGOMERY IN WINS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Att | Run | TD | No | Rec | |
| Chi. | W, 52-21 | 11 | 57 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| at Bal. | W, 38-30 | 12 | 151 | 2 | 1 | 13 | |
| CLE | W, 34-10 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| at Cin. | W, 37-24 | 18 | 65 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| T.B. | W, 24-9 | 13 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 18 | |
| at Was. | W, 44-22 | 15 | 71 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Average | 13 | 63 | 0.67 | 1 | 7 | ||
If you start Montgomery this week, you're not getting his Baltimore game. Jahmyr Gibbs will be the main back. But those Chicago, Cincinnati and Washington games, with Montgomery going for 60-70 total yards and probably scoring; that's pretty reasonable against the Giants.
--Andy Richardson