Willis McGahee Injury: Why McGahee and Lance Ball Will Run Through Jets D

By all accounts, it appears that running back Willis McGahee is a game-time decision for tonight's game against the New York Jets.

"Willis McGahee (hamstring) is expected to start against the Jets barring a setback in pregame warm-ups," according to the report on McGahee's Rotoworld page. 

While this is a good news, you need to remember that hamstring injuries always linger. So, despite the promising news, you'll want to keep an eye on this situation leading up to game time. 

However, for the sake of this article, we'll assume McGahee gets through his pregame workouts and gets the start. Even if that happens, I wouldn't mind starting Lance Ball in my fantasy leagues at the flex spot. 

Think about it this way: Last week against the Chiefs, the Broncos ran the ball an astounding 55 times. Let me repeat that. 55 times. They threw it just eight times. I guess that's what happens when you have Tim Tebow as your quarterback.

This week, the Broncos get the Jets. New York has been better this year against the pass, so you can expect another big run-to-pass ratio for Denver tonight. 

I would say 40 total rushes is the floor. They could easily run it 55 times again, as crazy as that sounds. 

Back to McGahee. If he is playing with a hamstring that is less than 100 percent, there is no way he gets more than 20 carries, no matter how effective he is.

If you assume Tebow gets somewhere around 10 carries, that means Ball will still get 10-15 touches and maybe more.

The Jets are giving up four yards per carry on the season, and with that amount of touches, Ball could easily make for a good flex play.

If you are waiting for Thursday night's game to start to decide whether or not you can use Ball, feel free to get him into your lineup now.

He's serviceable in the flex spot with upside for much more if McGahee isn't at full strength.