A year and a half after establishing himself as a bona fide NFL starting running back, Baltimore Ravens running back Justin Forsett saw his season end Sunday. The 30-year-old back broke both bones in his right forearm in the first quarter of the Ravens' 16-13 win over the St. Louis Rams Sunday.
Forsett had four carries for 26 yards before his first-quarter injury. In his absence, rookie Buck Allen had 22 carries for 67 yards, adding five catches for 48 more. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk had two carries and three receptions. Terrance West, acquired by Baltimore less than two weeks ago, was inactive for Sunday's game.
Fantasy impact: It's just been brutal for the Ravens. The team never could get tight end Dennis Pitta right for the season, and had already lost wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. and linebacker Terrell Suggs before Sunday. Forsett was lost in the first quarter, and quarterback Joe Flacco joined him in late in the game with a torn ACL. Even original backup running back Lorenzo Taliaferro is on injured reserve with a foot injury.
Allen has been adequate as a rookie, with 249 rushing yards on 64 attempts, but he wouldn't even be close to a starting job without the injuries in front of him. As it is, he is a starting NFL running back without a significant challenger for touches who is owned in only 10 percent of Yahoo! leagues. That has value, even if, with Matt Schaub at quarterback and Kamar Aiken as the No. 1 wide receiver, the Baltimore offense isn't likely to be anything special the rest of the way.
As for Forsett, he'll head into 2016 as a near-31-year-old with only a season-plus of real NFL productivity under his belt. If Allen succeeds the rest of the way, Forsett could find himself out of a job.