The fantasy football season is into Week 3 and a player that could be ready for a big game is Titans running back Chris Johnson, as Shonn Greene is expected to be out for at least two weeks after undergoing knee surgery.
According to ESPN.com, Greene will be out for next week's home game against the San Diego Chargers and he also likely will be out the following week when he matches up against his former team in the New York Jets when they come to Tennessee. Greene has been the backup running back for Chris Johnson and he was originally injured in the opening win against the Steelers, a 16-9 victory for the Titans on the road.
Greene had four carries in the game for 18 yards and was not effective, averaging 4.5 yards per carry and he was also held without a reception. He was replaced in the game by Jackie Battle and he didn't factor into the loss against the Houston Texans after being listed as questionable for the game and now Johnson is primed to get the full bulk of the carries this week against the Chargers. Battle was previously with the Chargers and he likely will be used as a third down back while Greene is out.
The Titans have three home games coming in a row and four out of the next five, as they host the Chargers and the Jets before playing the Chiefs in Week 5 and their rush defense looks much improved under Reid. The team then has to take the dreaded trip to Seattle before playing at home against the San Francisco 49ers, no easy feat. The team has a bye in Week 8 before coming back to play the Rams on the road and by then Greene could be back to full health.
Greene should be considered only a deep league option at this point, while Battle shouldn't be picked up unless the league has 12-14 teams, as he likely will not get many carries. Johnson is looking to break out after a couple so-so seasons and he rushed for 96 yards last week on 25 carries against the Texans and the previous week he had 70 yards on 25 carries.
Johnson is looking to have his first big game of the season and the team likely will try to get him over 20 touches again. The team is already ranked last in the league in passing yards per game and they are ninth in rushing and with Greene out, the Teams may try to stack the box on Johnson and that could open things up in the passing game for him as well.