They might not have exactly been household names at the beginning of the season, but injuries to Oakland Raiders’ starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor and starting running back Darren McFadden have thrust QB Matt McGloin and RB Rashad Jennings into prominent roles.
As we’ve already seen with Eagles QB Nick Foles and Rams running back Zac Stacy, 2013 has been a great example of why fantasy football exemplifies the concept of “next man up.” Given how well they’ve fared in limited action this season, there’s no reason McGloin and Jennings can’t come to represent that concept this year as well.
McGloin, an undrafted free agent out of Penn State, has played pretty well in his two career starts. He has amassed a QB rating of 94.3 by completing 37-64 passes for 457 yards and four touchdowns. Better still, he’s only thrown one pick and been sacked twice. To put that in perspective, Pryor managed to throw for five TDs and 10 picks in his eight appearances this season.
All of that illustrates is that while McGloin might not be very flashy, he seems to be competent, and more importantly, taking care of the football. Against Dallas’ horrendous pass defense, competency might be the only thing required for McGloin to have a good game on Thursday. Dallas has allowed the most fantasy points (standard scoring) to QBs this season – an average of more than two touchdowns per game – and it’s not far-fetched to think McGloin will have a similar game on Thanksgiving to what Kansas City Chiefs QB Alex Smith did against the Cowboys in Week 2 (223 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions). It might not be outstanding, but fantasy owners who started Robert Griffin during Monday night’s debacle against the San Francisco 49ers would probably take those points.
Part of what helped Smith succeed was having a reliable RB in Jamaal Charles to fall back on. It’s somewhat surprising, but McGloin appears to have that in Jennings. While handling the majority of running back duties over the last four games, Jennings has rushed 73 times for 413 yards and caught 15 passes for 140 yards. In addition to the 553 yards of total offense he has racked up, Jennings has two touchdowns and no turnovers.
Much like McGloin, Jennings has been solid. And again, that might be enough to get things done against the Cowboys. Amazingly enough, they also rank dead last against running backs in terms of fantasy points allowed (standard scoring) and have given up 13 TDs to running backs on the year, an average of more than one per game. Jennings has touched the ball at least 20 times in each of his last four games and if that trend continues the odds seem pretty good that he’ll be taking at least one of those touches to the house in Cowboy stadium.
Given their proficient play and the atrociousness of the Dallas defense, McGloin and Jennings may end up losing on Thanksgiving, but they could certainly help your fantasy team eke out a win.
Evan Bleier is a freelance writer based out of wherever he can plug in his laptop. You can send him questions, comments and Buffalo wing suggestions @itishowitis or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
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