Chris Ivory (RB, BUF) - Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Buffalo Bills running back Chris Ivory is coming off one of his best performances of the season in Week 7. Ivory totaled 19 touches for 106 yards against the Indianapolis Colts, marking just the second game this season that he has topped 100 yards from scrimmage. He finished the game with 81 yards on 16 carries along with three catches for 25 yards.

Considering the Bills have one of the worst offensive lines in the league, Ivory ran really well versus the Colts.  While the 30-year-old was stuffed behind-the-line-of-scrimmage on three occasions, he totaled five carries of five or more yards on Sunday -- including two runs of at least 20 yards. Prior to Week 7, he did not have a single carry of 10 yards.

Last week was the third time this season that the ninth-year back garnered double-digit carries. He racked up 14 carries for 41 yards versus Tennessee in Week 5. Ivory saw his biggest workload in the Bills' upset over Minnesota in Week 3, where he totaled 126 yards from scrimmage on 23 touches with 55 of those yards coming on a short completion. Overall, Ivory has 210 yards and one touchdown on 67 carries and eight receptions for 129 yards.

The 6-foot, 223-pounder is a physical back who can be tough to bring down especially when gets going downhill. He is also a good receiver out of the backfield. Pro Football Focus currently has him graded out as a top-five halfback and an above-average receiver.

With LeSean McCoy's availability for Monday night's game against the New England Patriots unknown as he is in the league's concussion protocol, there could be no better time than now to grab Ivory off the waiver wire. The two previous games that McCoy either missed or saw limited action this year, Ivory was on the field for more than 60% of the offensive snaps. In comparison, when McCoy has been healthy, he has only once seen action in 30% of the snaps.

Ivory has had decent success against the Patriots during his career, although the last time he faced the Pats was in 2015. Ivory has produced two 100-yard rushing games against the Patriots and he averages 65.8 yards per game on slightly under 18 carries over six games. This could be good news with New England surrendering around 25 PPR fantasy points a game and 628 rushing yards on 141 attempts to opposing running backs -- both stats rank in the bottom half of the league.