Sleeper Watch

You could argue that before Sunday’s outburst, Nick Goings had carried the ball just 35 times all year for a total of 130 yards. You could also mention that in three prior NFL campaigns, Goings never broke the 200-yard rushing mark in a season, never ran for a touchdown, and never convinced his coaches that he had what it took to be a starter in this league. You could certainly also point to the immanent return of Brad Hoover, and the possibility that the Panthers will wind up using the dreaded committee approach.

And you’d be right on all counts.

You might also believe that Goings’ three-touchdown effort against Arizona was no more than a once in a lifetime fluke.

And you might well be right there, too.

But all those arguments notwithstanding, Nick Goings is a player worth adding to your roster. The fourth-year pro looked fantastic this weekend, running over the Cardinals for 121 yards and three scores, including a 57-yardc romp for his second TD of the opening quarter. He didn’t look bad a week ago in San Francisco, either, when he recorded 42 yards on eight carries (5.3 yards per attempt). If he can come through with a third solid game against Tampa Bay this Sunday, he’ll most likely be Carolina’s feature back for the rest of the year. With Stephen Davis, DeShaun Foster, Rod Smart and now Joey Harris all out for the year (Does this have something to do with that black cat logo? How unlucky can a team be?), his competition for the feature back job has been whittled down to Hoover and Brandon Bennett.

Goings is hardly a sure thing, but it’s not often you can find a back with this much potential on the wire at this point of the season. Pick him up to strengthen your RB corps, especially if your league’s title game is in week 17. In the last week of the regular season, Carolina hosts New Orleans, the softest run defense in the league at 150.6 yards allowed per contest.