Will Fargas keep it up?

After a hot start, Lamont Jordan has been injured and disappointing to this point in the season. In a surprise move, the Raiders started Justin Fargas in his place, and he rolled up 104 yards on 23 carries and added 15 receiving yards. Will this production remain?

Fargas is in his 6th year with Oakland, and has always looked good as a backup. He has career average of 4.3 yards per carry (on 339 attempts). Plus, he does not fumble often (3 fumbles in 376 touches). Combine this with Jordan's injury woes and ineffectiveness, and we think Fargas will continue to get carries.

The Raiders are averaging 4.4 yards per rush this season (4.0 with Jordan, 5.4 with Fargas). The offensive line has shown that they can block, as Jordan was averaging 5.0 yards per carry before his injuries started to affect him. I don't expect Fargas to keep running at a 5.4 yards per rush average, but 4.5 does not seem unlikely. If he can continue to get 20-25 carries a game, then he should approach 100 yards rushing several more times this season.

The Raiders play Chicago, Minnesota, KC, and Denver in the next four games. Chicago's run defense is still stout (their defensive problems are in the secondary), Minnesota has the best run defense in the league, KC is about average, and Denver is gawd-awful. So we have to hope that Fargas can keep his job for the next two weeks, when his numbers won't be real great, then he should have a good day against KC and explode against Denver.

If you can get him, Fargas is a great addition for the stretch run.