Ryan

Torain

Shanahan nearly made the switch because Hightower couldn’t keep his balance, a big problem early in the game. “We can’t have the type of slippage we had,” said Shanahan, who has a propensity for pulling tailbacks at a moment’s notice. “Hopefully, we will have that problem rectified.” Added Shanahan, “I got a lot of belief in Ryan Torain.” Just keep in mind that Shanahan is also known for using the media as a motivational tool on running backs. Torain can’t function in the passing game, so it’s not realistic to think Hightower would’ve been benched. Shanahan’s comments do suggest that he envisions Torain as the immediate backup to Hightower, with Roy Helu locked into a change-of-pace role.

“I’m going to play the best players and we’ll see how these guys do,” he said. “They have some great competition. As I said before, we have three backs that I really believe in. ... I think we’re in a good situation and we’ll see how practice goes this week and we’ll make a decision.” Tim Hightower isn’t quite 100 percent after a Week 4 shoulder injury. He should be active against the Eagles, but Ryan Torain is tentatively expected to be the featured back.

The Redskins had no intention of using Torain today. Tim Hightower started and rarely came off the field in the first half, seeing a monster workload. Roy Helu was the third-down back. But after Hightower suffered a potentially serious knee injury, Torain got on the field for a little early-down work. Torain is a “hold” while we see if he emerged from this game healthy and wait for a timetable on Hightower.

It was an incredibly disappointing performance against a run defense that’s been bad all year. The Skins fell behind early, essentially abandoned the run, and Torain wasn’t productive on a per-play basis even before that. Since Week 4, Torain has managed just 31 yards on 20 carries (1.55 YPC). He’ll be much easier to bench against San Francisco’s shutdown run defense in Week 9.

Helu was able to put together consecutive practices on Thursday and Friday, but was unable to get through pre-game warmups and will not play in Week 16. Evan Royster is expected to start but could lose carries to Ryan Torain and is not a recommended fantasy option. The Vikings currently have the NFL’s 10th ranked rush defense.

Helu played on all third downs in the first half and then every down in the fourth quarter as the Redskins tried to mount a comeback. He averaged 6.0 yards per touch compared to 2.1 for Torain. If coach Mike Shanahan properly evaluates the tape, he’ll reinstall Helu as his every-down back for Week 11.

Shanahan hinted that Choice may not even play versus his former team this week. Knowing the Redskins, that could mean anything from surprise starter to game-day inactive. Our expectations for Choice remain low.

It won’t be on passing downs because Torain doesn’t pick up the blitz or catch passes well, so his role is going to be pretty minimal if Shanahan stays true to his word. “We’re going to have Ryan kind of substitute him when he gets tired,” said Shanahan. “You can see (Helu) is a pretty good all-around back. He made some plays.” Helu finished the game with 24 touches, gaining 149 yards. Torain had one carry and one reception.

Coach Mike Shanahan continues to be impossible to predict. Even though he said this week that Torain would only come on when Helu gets tired, he was apparently lying. Torain got the first two carries of the game today before Helu came on for a third-down play.

We’re not sure why coach Mike Shanahan turned back to Torain. In the first half, Torain was the exclusive early-down back and looked slow while finding no holes. In the second half, the Redskins went to more of a spread, up-tempo offense and used Roy Helu as the every-down back. Helu was significantly more effective, just like the rookie was last week. We likely won’t know next week’s starter until game-time.