Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters.
1.53 Points Per Player
So Week 9 belonged to the RBs once again, so much for the one week of WR dominance. The top 10 RBs averaged 1.53 points per player higher than the top 10 WRs. This is the trend that we've seen all season, definitely due to several factors, such as poor offensive line play and QBs dropping like flies. On the season the top 10 RBs are crushing the top 10 WRs, 120.97 - 87.36 (average points per player). To me, this means two things. First of all, top WRs are extremely valuable - there are only 2 that have broken 100 points this year (DeAndre Hopkins and Antonio Brown), and Tyreek Hill is the only other guy above 90. On the flip side, there are 14 RBs that have 90+ points, meaning that these are the guys who are winning weeks for you.
3rd and 33 Conversion
The Rams had a spectacular play and scored a touchdown on 3rd and 33, one of Robert Woods' two touchdowns. The Rams wound up scoring 51 points, but this play was remarkable for one main reason. No team has converted a 3rd and 30+ since the Vikings converted a 3rd and 37 on 10/31/1999, and it's only the second such conversion as far back as the pro-football-reference play-by-play records go back (to 1994). It's always fun to look at the past, but back the present and we see Jared Goff putting up the most fantasy points for all QBs this week - 28.44 on 4 TDs and 311 yards, his best game of the season.
39:13 TD to INT Ratio
Despite the low WR fantasy numbers, we are seeing the QBs get more and more efficient as the season goes on. This week, all the QBs that played combined to throw only 13 interceptions, versus an impressive 39 touchdowns. That's a 3:1 ratio that any QB would be proud of. 12 starting QBs had a passer rating of 100 or more. This week we saw MVP candidates Alex Smith and Carson Wentz in action. Smith was the early front-runner, but this week he finally threw his first pick and collected his third loss in the last 4 games. Meanwhile, Carson Wentz threw another four touchdowns (for the third time this year) and now has a league leading 23 TDs.
5 Ejections from 3 Fights
Week 9 was a particularly rowdy one, with three big fights breaking out, causing ejections for five players, A.J. Green and Carlos Hyde. Mike Evans is another player that maybe should have been ejected, but will be out next week, suspended for hitting Marcus Lattimore while he was having words with Jameis Winston. Hyde's ejection didn't hurt his fantasy day, since it was late in the 4th quarter, but Green left after only one catch for 6 yards - leaving him with just 7 receptions over the last three games. Green will be back next week against Tennessee, and the Bengals need him to play a lot better.
263 Points
With 51 points on Sunday (matching the Eagles total), the LA Rams are leading the league in scoring, with 32.9 points per game. First in the league this year, they finished last year in last place, with only 224 points scored. They only took 8 games to eclipse last year's mark. In his third season, RB Todd Gurley has been very impressive and is leading the league in fantasy points among non-QBs. Gurley leads the league with 10 TDs overall, 7 rushing and 3 receiving. His 338 receiving yards is good for fifth in the league among RBs, and does a lot to help Jared Goff. Goff, meanwhile, is leading the league in both yards per attempt and yards per completion and has an impressive 13:4 TD:INT ratio.
Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters. All fantasy stats are standard Yahoo scoring, unless otherwise noted.
42.28 Fantasy Points, 3% Owned
The season has begun, and our first stat is a two-for one special. On Sunday, Ryan Fitzpatrick (or the Amish Rifle, wtf), dominated the Saints in his best game of his career. Fitzmagic (his real nickname, come on guys) put up a career high 417 yards and QB rating of 156.2. 158.3 is perfect, so, ya know, there's room for improvement still. Only owned in 3% of fantasy leagues, Fitz outscored all other QBs by over 10 points to put up a ridiculous 42.28 points from 417 yards, 4 passing TDs, 36 rushing yards and another TD on the ground. Now with his 7th NFL team (he has started at least 3 games for each of those teams), he has established that he and his magnificent beard are planning on sticking around way past week 3. This will not even become a QB controversy if he continues to play at this level.
8 minutes, 21 seconds
The clock still read 6:39 left in the 1st quarter when Tyreek Hill found the end zone for the second time yesterday. A 91 yard punt return, followed by a 58 yard catch and run gave the Chiefs a comfortable 14-3 lead that they held on to the entire game. Known as the king of long touchdowns, Hill added a 1 yard score in the 4th quarter, showing he isn't just a one-trick pony. Even if he was, it's a really damn good trick - constantly outrunning everyone on the field. We must also give props to Patrick Mahomes, putting up 256 yards and 4 TDs while taking only 1 sack and not turning the ball over at all. The Chiefs have really not skipped a beat, all while turning over their OC and starting QB.
36 total touches
In a very Bell-esque performance, James Conner had a massive fantasy game in his first career start. This may be a surprise to some, but the Steelers seemed to know they would be fine without Bell. Maybe it's Conner's talent or maybe it's the stud-filled offensive line, but this makes me wonder why the Steelers tagged Bell in the first place. Bell is a favorite of this column, and I'm not happy with his situation, but this space is for James Conner. Going in to this game, Conner had 32 career touches for 144 yards and 0 TDs. On Sunday, he more than doubled those numbers, putting up 192 yards from scrimmage and scoring twice. He and Alvin Kamara are the only RBs in the top 16 fantasy point scorers, so a game like this only makes the drama with the Steelers more complicated. If only they hadn't TIED the stupid Browns.
13 WRs with 100+ Yards
So far in Week 1, there are 13 WRs who have over 100 receiving yards, led by Michael Thomas's absurd 16 rec for 180 yards. By contrast, there were only 2 RBs who had over 100 rushing yards (Todd Gurley is a good candidate for 100 tonight). This quick view of the week just reinforces something we've said for a long time on drinkfive. Wide receivers start the season much faster than RBs. Traditionally, we find the first half of the seasons is dominated by WRs and the latter half gets taken over by RBs. Not only is this number way in favor of the WRs, but it's guys who are drafted/owned/started. Of the 13 over 100 yards, only 1, DeSean Jackson (26% owned), is under the 68% owned mark. This means that the guys being drafted are producing right away. For the RBs, 5 of the 12 backs who are 100% owned in Yahoo put up single digit (or 0) points. Get those WRs early, turn them in to RBs later in the season. Win championship, rinse, repeat.
-7 Combined Points from 2 Top DSTs
I don't often venture into the DST territory in this column, but yesterday featured two ugly performances by top 8 DSTs based on ownership percentage. The Saints gave up 48 points en route to doing absolutely nothing else, ending with a -4 point score. The Chargers did manage one sack while giving up 38 points and finished with -3 points. This brings up a memory from a draft this year, where I was discussing DSTs with fellow drinkfiver Dave. He said that his favorite defense to draft was the Saints based on their week 1 matchup. I firmly disagreed, insisting that the Chargers were the team to own. Before you call us crazy, we only take DSTs at the end of the draft. This would feel like something to laugh off, but 6 of the other top 9 DSTs did find their way into double digits, and the Rams are on that list and can easily hit that mark tonight.
It's Week 6 in the NFL, and while there have been a lot of ups and downs it looks like we're finally getting a grip on the season. Gardner Minshew is a top-10 play, Baker Mayfield is not startable, and Christian McCaffrey is on track for a historic fantasy season. Tyreek Hill is on his way back to WR1 status with Mahomes and Austin Hooper has been tearing it up. Just another fantasy season! Don't chase hgh performances, but take a look at the rankings we have up as a guideline on your way to the championship!
Pay attention to these rankings throughout the week, as they will continue to evolve based on the latest injury updates, news, and player/matchup analysis. Good luck this season and remember, you can tweet us @drinkfive with any of your lineup questions!
Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters. All fantasy stats are standard Yahoo scoring, unless otherwise noted.
3 Hot WR Pickups This Week
So far, week 6 has seen 4 WRs go over 20 points. We all watched Tyreek Hill go off for three scores on Sunday night, but there were three surprises Sunday afternoon that will be popular waiver pickups tomorrow. Albert Wilson, Tyrell Williams and Cole Beasley all put up at least 22 points while helping their teams to wins. All three players are currently owned in no more than 10% of Yahoo leagues. For Wilson, this is his third time in double digits on the season and is actually the WR16 so far this year. He was gaining more targets under Tannehill, and then had a season high of 9 with backup QB Brock Osweiler in on Sunday, so Wilson is definitely trending in the right direction. Williams and Beasley are a different story. Between them, their previous high was Beasley's 7.3 points in week 1. Williams seems to get 3-4 receptions per week, so he is a dart throw as a replacement. Beasley's usage is chaotic, and I still don't know what to make of the Cowboys offense. Hopefully you just have Tyreek Hill on your team and you're not so worried.
2 Games over 30 Points
Speaking of the best WR in fantasy football this year, Tyreek Hill now has two games north of the 30 point mark and he is now the #1 standard and #2 PPR scoring at his position. Hill as a wide receiver is what I imagine Devin Hester would have looked like, if he was any good at playing the position. Hill now has 27 TDs (both returning and receiving) in 37 games - 19 of those scores are 30 yards or longer. An exciting player, he is feast or famine for your fantasy team. Going into this week, he had turned in three straight performances of under 10 points. Despite this chaos (or maybe because he creates it), Hill is thriving and getting better as a WR. He's established himself as a red zone target for Patrick Mahomes, with a pair of 1-yard TDs on the season so far. He's also on pace for 90 receptions this year, 15 more than the career high he set last season. If Hill and Mahomes stay healthy, this is going to be a hell of a fantasy football combo for quite a while.
19.60 Fantasy Points
Hey, that's a pretty good performance from a running back. Should be good for top 10 any week, maybe top 5. The thing about that specific point total is that it represents the floor on the season for Todd Gurley. Gurley's season is so good that he's second only to Patrick Mahomes in total fantasy points. Gurley is averaging 25.8 points per week, more than 3 points per game higher than the RB2, Melvin Gordon. In fact, Gordon has 3 games where he didn't even reach Gurley's floor - and Gordon's floor is 14.40 points this year, also incredible! What I'm getting at is that great running backs seem to be in abundance in Los Angeles this year. Gurley is now leading the league with 11 TDs on the season - 9 rushing and 2 in the air. His 9 on the ground are just 4 behind his league leading 13 last season. He's scored at least 1 TD every game this season. This is just an incredible performance from the preseason #1 draft pick.
5 Consecutive 300+ Yard Games
Yeah, I've mentioned him several times already, but he deserves his own entry, doesn't he? Patrick Mahomes has now thrown for over 300 yards in his last 5 games. The game he didn't throw for that many, he just had 4 TDs. Mahomes is averaging 27 fantasy points per game and sports an 18:4 touchdown to interception ratio. Mahomes' streak of 5 games at 300+ yards is impressive, but he's got a long way to go to match Drew Brees' mark of 9 games, which he reached twice. Another impressive streak is Adam Thielen going for over 100 yards in 6 straight games to start the season. This is now just one game shy of matching the record for consecutive 100 yard games to start the season. He's just two games behind Calvin Johnson's all time mark of 8 straight games with 100 yards. Thielen is the WR2 on the season, and amazingly consistent as all his games are between 10.5 and 19 points.
27 Fantasy Points - From a Kicker!
Congrats to Jets kicker Jason Myers, for making 7/7 FGs and 3/3 XPs on his way to outscoring the Titans (0), Raiders (3), Jaguars (7) and Bills (13) combined! Two other kickers passed the 20 fantasy point mark on Sunday, Stephen Gostkowski and Cowboys kicker Brett Maher. Maher is leading all kickers with an average of 13 points per game over his last 4 games. The best part is that he's only owned in 6% of Yahoo leagues. There were some interesting D/ST performances as well. We saw the Bears finally stumble, and the Ravens score the cleanest 21 points I can think of. They had 11 sacks (ELEVEN!) and got 10 points for completing the shutout, something the Raiders had to take away from the Seahawks. At least the Raiders prevented the fine people of London from seeing yet another shutout.