Fantasy Football Rankings Week 3: 5 RBs Who Will Carve Up Porous Run Defenses

Knowing who to start is half the battle in fantasy football. While acquiring the perfect squad can take you far in fantasy football, perfecting the art of recognizing favorable match ups can buy you a championship.

This week there are five running backs who are going to annihilate their outmatched opponents. These backs aren't necessarily the best in the business, but they are going to be able to exploit the soft run defenses they are matched up against this week.

Here are five backs who will carve up porous run defenses in Week 3.

Michael Turner

Teams are running through the Bucs right now. It seems as though scrapping Barrett Ruud has cost them dearly and every week they have had trouble finding an answer for the ground game.

The Falcons have a complete offense that has the ability to capitalize wherever their opponent is most vulnerable. Tampa Bay can't exactly stack the box to compensate for Turner, as Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez would have a field day.

The Bucs are going to be searching for an answer to stop Turner, but will fail to find one.

Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs

This might be cheating, but I don't care. Both of these guys are going to get their touches and both are going to have big days. If you have one of them, start him.

The Giants haven't established themselves on the ground the way they would like to. When they take on the Eagles this week, they are going to have to rely on the run to move the ball. They have a banged up receiving corp and a talented run game begging to be utilized.

Expect big things from this tandem this week against a weak Eagles front that continues to be exposed.

Mike Tolbert

Mike Tolbert is going to have a monster day this week against the Chiefs, not that that's really a revelation. The Chiefs haven't been able to stop anyone and if you have any Chargers this week, odds are they are going to score points.

Tolbert is a feast or famine kind of player. In upcoming weeks, you can expect him to dominate. Four of his next five games are against week defenses and two of them are against the Chiefs.

Don't worry about him splitting carries. Ryan Matthews is going to take some carries away, but there will be plenty of love to go around. Expect multiple touchdowns and well over 100 all purpose yards for Tolbert.

Be sure to monitor his injury status this week, but as long as he is a go you should have no reservations about plugging him into the starting role.

Ray Rice

Ray Rice is going to feast on this season's worst run defense in the league. The St. Louis Rams allow 177.5 yards on the ground a game and Ray Rice is looking to avenge an embarrassing Ravens outing last week.

The Ravens came out swinging this season and put the Steelers in the ground right out of the gate. They laid an egg last week, but are sure to rebound this week against Sam Bradford and the Rams.

The Ravens are going to run the ball at will this week and Rice is almost guaranteed another 100-yard day.

Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson is still the most electrifying player in football. Don't freak out and bench or trade him away just because he's put forth a couple of duds.

To this point, the Titans have found success by putting the ball in the air and taking advantage against a stacked box and 22 eyes watching Johnson.

They face the Broncos this week and there is no way they can hope to contain Johnson. He's overdue for a breakout performance and this is going to be the week that he reminds people why they drafted him so high.