With the league extending to 17 games and 18 weeks this season, bye weeks have also been extended.
Unfortunately this year the league gives us another super bye week with six teams taking a breather. As was said before, weeks like this are where we need to hit as much as we can. And with the roll we’re on after last week, I’m not too worried!
Week 14 – HERE WE GO!!!!
(HOME TEAM IN CAPS)
13 – DALLAS over Houston – The Cowboys just put up 54 points at home…but at least the Texans will have Davis Mills back!!!
12 – CINCINNATI over Cleveland – It’s a little more difficult to win a game without any offensive points against the Texans than it will be against the Bengals.
11 – SEATTLE over Carolina – The Panthers don’t exactly have an offense that makes me feel they can score against the 12th Man.
10 – SAN FRANCISCO over Tampa Bay – Barely winning at home against the Saints means you don’t get to travel cross-country and beat the 9ers.
9 – TENNESSEE over Jacksonville – King Henry always seems to have fun hosting the Jags. My BOLD PREDICTION for this week is that DERRICK HENRY WILL RUN FOR AT LEAST 200 YARDS.
8 – Kansas City over DENVER – Remember people thinking this game would go a long way in determining the AFC West race? Not me, but other people? Remember?
7 – BUFFALO over New York Jets – Weird to think that the Bills will come out on top in this one just because they are the home team.
6 – Las Vegas over LOS ANGELES RAMS – As a Raiders fan, I was very happy to see Baker Mayfield get picked up by the Rams this week.
5 – ARIZONA over New England – This is a Monday Night matchup that will have Buck and Aikman looking at their bank accounts to remind themselves why they took the Monday Night Football job.
4 – LOS ANGELES CHARGERS over Miami – This is a game the Chargers should win – all depends on their defense that has not lived up to expectations.
3 – Minnesota over DETROIT – I feel that this game should be higher on our list…but there’s just something about this that makes me keep it this low.
2 – PITTSBURGH over Baltimore – No Lamar…the Steelers offense…take the under!
1 – NEW YORK GIANTS over Philadelphia – Pure “Home Team Hunch” on this.
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 half PPR scoring unless otherwise noted.
33.70 Fantasy Points
This week’s best performance by a WR/RB/TE came from a very unexpected place. Evan Engram had a monster game, putting up 33.70 points in the best game of his career by a long shot. He caught 11 passes on 15 targets for 162 yards and found the end zone twice. That’s a career-high for targets, yardage, touchdowns, and tied his high in receptions. He increased his season total in yardage by 42%. He scored more than 31% of his fantasy points this season this week. It took him the first 6 weeks of the season to get to 33.7 points. He has jumped all the way up to TE4 for the year – he was the TE15 going into the week. He’s increased his weekly average by 2.2 points. He scored more than the TE1 and TE2 combined last week. He scored more than the TE2 and TE3 combined this week.
4 Touchdown Passes
Russell Wilson threw 4 touchdown passes on Sunday, though one of them was to the wrong team. It took Russ 4 games to throw his 4 first TDs of the season. Over his next 7 games, he only threw 4 more. Then on Sunday, he managed to throw another 4 – with three of them going to his own team! It’s only the second time all season that he’s thrown for more than one touchdown. He improved from QB22 to QB19 – almost worth starting in a superflex league. He’s averaging more than a point per game less than Marcus Mariota. Russ finally got to cook in Kansas City, but he provided his opponents a little too much of their own home cookin’ to be able to try and avoid his 5th L in a row.
223 Receiving Yards
Marking a new career high, Justin Jefferson caught 11 passes for 223 yards. He did not make it to the end zone but still was the WR2 on the week with 27.8 points. He’s less than 2 points behind the unexpected 3 TD performance of Jerry Jeudy. But back to Jefferson – it’s the 6th time he’s had 139 or more receiving yards. He’s at an even 1,500 yards for the season, and with 4 games left, he has a real shot at passing 2,000 yards receiving, which would be a first for any NFL receiver. I suppose it helps when your QB throws the ball 41 times in a game – the 5th time Kirk Cousins has done that this year. Amazingly, Cousins is only 4th for attempts this season – Tom Brady leads the way with 89 more attempts than Kirk!
99 Rushing Yards
So close to that mostly meaningless mark of 100 yards – unless you’re in a league with bonuses. In which case, I offer my condolences to those with Josh Jacobs on their team, but not really. Honorable mention goes to those with Joe Mixon on their team, 96 yards. Jacobs finds himself as the RB1 on the season, a spot he’s held the last couple of weeks. He has 1,402 rushing yards, which is 203 more than the second-place RB, Derrick Henry. He has 1,748 yards from scrimmage, which is 224 more than the aforementioned Justin Jefferson. Jacobs is averaging just over 134 yards from scrimmage per game. He has 11 touchdowns on the season, but if he had zero, his yardage and receptions would make him the RB7.
3 D/ST Teams with Negative Points
The Tennessee Titans became the 6th team this season to post the absolute failure of a fantasy stat line. -4 points from your D/ST. That means that they gave up 35+ points to the opposing team, while not forcing a single turnover or sack or really blocking anything or doing a single thing of note all game long. Joining them in their failure are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Minnesota Vikings. All three teams gave up at least 34 points and over 400 yards of offense. It’s the third time this year that the Titans have finished with negative points. I don’t understand what the people who roster this team were thinking, going against the upsurging Jaguars – 45% of leagues in Fleaflicker have the Titans rostered. And while, yes, I’m responsible for the Titans being on a roster in two of those leagues, I must defend myself by pointing out that in two other leagues, I have the Buccaneers.
Since the league extended to 17 games and 18 weeks last season, bye weeks have also been extended.
We’ll get back to our full schedule of games soon enough – but at least we get an extra Monday Night game this week … … … but at the same time???
Week 14 – HERE WE GO!!!!
(HOME TEAM IN CAPS)
15 – MIAMI over Tennessee – The Titans offense is getting a bit more exciting but they still aren’t close enough to keep up with the Dolphins
14 – SAN FRANCISCO over Seattle – This could be a let down game for the 9ers…but it wont be. My BOLD PREDICTION for this week is that CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY WILL HAE AT LEAST 275 YARDS FROM SCRIMMAGE
13 – NEW ORLEANS over Carolina – Carr? Winston? Doesn’t matter, it’s the Panthers.
12 – BALTIMORE over Los Angeles Rams – Yes the Rams have seemed to pull it together a bit, but not enough to handle the long trip.
11 – Houston over NEW YORK JETS –Surprisingly enough, a switch back to a reluctant Zach Wilson won’t help the Jets this week.
10 – PITTSBURGH over New England – When you’re watching this one Thursday Night, just remember there are plenty of other games to come in just a few days.
9 – CICINNATI over Indianapolis – I feel like I should have more faith in the Colts…but I don’t.
8 – LOS ANGELES CHARGERS over Denver – Same goes for the Broncos.
7 – KANSAS CITY over Buffalo – I made a bet in the preseason that this would be the Bills first loss of the season … … … I was wrong.
6 – Tampa Bay over ATLANTA – This is a game the Falcons SHOUD win, so they wont
5 – Jacksonville over CLEVELAND – Look for the Jaguars to take out the Ohio aggression out on the Browns.
4 – Detroit over CHICAGO – I have no good reason for this game to be so low, pure hunch
3 – DALLAS over Philadelphia – Philly seems to have some issues with the top teams.
2 – Green Bay over NEW YORK GIANTS – This matchup might be why there is a second Monday Night game on at the same time.
1 – LAS VEGAS over Minnesota – Justin Jefferson is back, but can’t play every position