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.