Jackie Battle Fantasy: Owners Should Feel Free to Go to Battle with Battle

Heading into this season, the Kansas City Chiefs were practically synonymous with their running backs. After all, they boasted names like Jamaal Charles, Thomas Jones and Dexter McCluster, who combined to give the Chiefs the league's best rushing attack in 2010.

Somewhere else in the mix was Jackie Battle, who may as well have been invisible.

Until now, that is. Battle came out of nowhere to lead the Chiefs with 119 yards rushing on 19 carries on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Not bad for a 28-year-old who has barely played since the Chiefs picked him up as an undrafted free agent in 2007.

Because few (if any) fantasy owners actually benefited from Battle's big day, the question now is a simple one:

Is there more where this came from?

Every bone in my body wants to say no. Yes, Battle had a big day, but he had it against the Colts, who have one of the league's most pitiful rush defenses. You could slap some pads on me, and I could probably get away with 50 yards or so before breaking both my femurs and suffering multiple concussions.

This said, we are into bye week territory, and I recognize that owners are going to need to find stopgap options. Battle and the Chiefs have a bye in Week 6, but surely he is an option for Week 7.

Indeed he is. The Chiefs will face the Oakland Raiders when they return from their bye. These, of course, would be the same Raiders who are allowing over 120 rushing yards per game.

Sure, the Raiders did a fine job limiting Arian Foster after a tough start on Sunday, but I still have my doubts. They have been weak against the run for a long time, so I consider one good game to be an aberration.

The hope, obviously, is that this will play into Battle's favor in Week 7, and I think it will. With Charles out for the season, Todd Haley has every excuse to play the hot hand. Right now, that means playing Battle.

In a nutshell, my advice is to pick Battle up. He may not pan out as a week-in, week-out producer, but you can trust him for at least one week.

If you do, my other bit of advice is to change your team name temporarily to "Prepare for Battle!" That would be awesome.