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.
525 Passing Yards
Joe Burrow had a hell of a game on Sunday, notching the highest point total of the week - the second highest going to his teammate, Tee Higgins, who had an equally gaudy stat line. Burrow went 37 of 46 for 525 yards and 4 touchdowns, tacking on 11 rushing yards just because. Burrow had 38.1 fantasy points, which was well ahead Dak Prescott’s 31.3 points (the QB2 of the week), but then again, Dak didn’t even play 3 full quarters. Joe Burrow outgained every single team in the league so far in Week 16, and I don’t see a serious challenge to that stat coming tonight. It is Burrow’s best game as a pro - his two highest passing games have come this year against the Ravens. Burrow is now the first player to throw for 400+ yards twice in one season against the same opponent, putting up a total of 941 yards against Baltimore, also a record for any QB against one opponent in a season. This is the most passing yards in a game since 2014 and Burrow now sits as the 4th highest passing yardage total of all time - just 3 shy of taking the 2nd overall spot, but still a bit behind Norm Van Brocklin’s 554 yards against the New York Football Yanks, way back when the Rams were in Los Angeles. Time is truly a flat circle.
132 Receptions
Cooper Kupp is now on pace to have a shot at breaking Michael Thomas’s single season receptions record. Some might complain that it’s easier with a 17-game season, and while that’s true, I find it mostly irrelevant. New records will not go into the book with an asterisk, and the season is unlikely to have fewer games in the future. The playing field is always changing, along with rules, and eras are just different, so deal with it and just enjoy the fun of players breaking records. Thanks for allowing me that digression - on to the numbers. Cooper Kupp and Jonathan Taylor are neck-and-neck for the most non-QB points on the season. Kupp has 325.4, Taylor has 324.2 and the next closest player is a whopping 60 points behind them. Taylor has the edge in yards gained (1,962) and touchdowns (19), but Kupp is certainly the beneficiary of the half PPR system, which has netted him an additional 66 points. At the end of this season, I’ve considered the merits of a point per first down, rather than point per reception (half or full), and I think it could be a trend that takes off in fantasy football. There are slightly fewer first downs on average, but awarding a full point instead of a half point would still boost scoring a little bit, and assign it to the players who make a bigger impact on the game.
37.4 Fantasy Points
The aforementioned Tee Higgins was the biggest beneficiary of Joe Burrow’s career game. He put up the second highest point total for any wide receiver this season, only eclipsed by Tyreek Hill’s 42.1 point performance in week 4. Higgins put up the 4th highest receiving yardage total on the season. Bengals receivers (Higgins and Chase) now have two of the top 4 receiving yardage totals on the season. Higgins has improved on nearly every statistical category from his rookie year. He’s averaging 1 more yard per reception, 1.3 more receptions per game, over 22 more yards per game, his catch percentage has jumped more than 5%, and even his yards per target has gone up by 1.4. Higgins may not have been the big storyline of the Bengals with Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Mixon taking the headlines so far this year, but it’s clear that he’s rounding out into a proper star in the NFL and is a key part of one of the youngest team cores in the league.
-4 Yards Rushing
Melvin Gordon accomplished the unique feat of finishing with negative rushing yards without exiting the game early with injury or losing yards on a kneel down. To be fair to Gordon, he had a 4 yard reception, so he finished the day with a net total of zero yards from scrimmage. On average, for every carry, Gordon went backwards 20 inches. Gordon’s final 3 carries went for -3, -4, and -3 yards. He opened the game with a 4 yard carry, and could not gain more than 1 yard at a time after that, aside from his single 4 yard reception. Obviously the Broncos have a rough situation without Teddy Bridgewater, but sometimes I just like to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a guy who’s been taking carries from Javonte Williams all year! Am I a little biased? Did I draft Javonte in my dynasty league this year? Yes.
19.75 Fantasy Points Per Game
Finally, a shout out to the Dallas Cowboys D/ST squad. Over the last 4 games, they are averaging 19.75 points per game, (16.42 over the last 7). They have been absolutely dominant in real and fantasy football, winning all of their last 4 games, allowing just 14.25 points per game - and we know that 7 of those last night were just total garbage points. The Cowboys D/ST are the #1 D/ST in fantasy football. They have scored more than any kicker this year, and more points than all but 2 tight ends. They have scored 9 total touchdowns this year, and have a whopping 25 interceptions, led by Trevon Diggs who has an astonishing 11 interceptions - the highest single season total since Everson Walls had 11 in 1981. Diggs still has 2 games left to keep adding on, and as I mentioned before, I don’t care that he has more games in a season than other players.
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