Andre Williams, Peyton Hillis' Instant Fantasy Reaction After Week 6

New York Giants rookie running back Andre Williams stepped into the spotlight of Sunday Night Football shouldering great fantasy expectations as the starter with Rashad Jennings injured, only to underwhelm, much as his entire team did in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. 

The Boston College product had flashed in each of the past two weeks, scoring 12 and 13 points with two total touchdowns as his role increased. Sunday, though, Williams was a dud from a statistical standpoint and was even outplayed by veteran Peyton Hillis in terms of rushing average:

	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	Fantasy Pts.
A. Williams	16	58	3.6	0	5
P. Hillis	5	24	4.8	0	4

That said, the bruising back made a few highlights along the way:

It can be hard to differentiate Williams from the rest of the roster's poor performance. It hurts that this miserable outing came against an Eagles defense that entered Sunday surrendering the 19th-most points to backs, but the team as a whole was so bad that the weight of his performance is difficult to judge.

For now, Williams needs to remain a matchup-based play as a high-upside flex option. The problem with this, though, is that the remainder of the schedule is downright brutal, and perhaps one of the worst in the league overall in terms of potential fantasy production for backs:

WK	OPP	Rank vs. RBs (Avg. points surrendered)
7	@Dal	14 (15.6)
8	BYE
9	Ind	17 (19.2)
10	@Sea	1 (8.8)
11	SF	3 (10.4)
12	Dal	14 (15.6)
13	@Jac	31 (22.0)
14	@Ten	18 (19.4)
15	Wsh	7 (11.8)
16	@StL	10 (13.5)
17	Phi	19 (19.6)

There is little trade value with Williams at this juncture unless he can explode against Dallas next week, a unit that has admittedly begun to trend in the wrong direction against backs as of late. Should he post gaudy numbers there, it is time to sell to the highest bidder, especially with Jennings sure to return sooner or later.

It should go without saying, then, that Hillis has no true fantasy value at this point. Williams certainly does for the time being, but the early case study suggests he is much more effective as a committee member than as the lead back at this juncture.

In the confines of New York's offense, the ground game is not going to fall to the wayside any time soon. Williams will continue to get steady touches as the starter, which makes him a decent value. To expect anything more than flex production for the time being is grasping at straws, though.

All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info and ownership stats as of Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. ET. Statistics courtesy of ESPN. Kansas City, New Orleans on bye.