Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

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.

2 Players over 30 points

This week, we had just two players break the 30-point mark. As I write this during the MNF game, I don’t expect anyone else to join this club. Everyone, however, expects Patrick Mahomes to be a prolific fantasy player, but they probably didn’t think all of his action to come in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson has been better than anyone expected this year. Following up a huge opening game with another big fantasy performance, he went to the ground this time. Jackson racked up 120 yards rushing on 16 carries, after just 6 yards on 3 caries last week. Jackson’s passing numbers weren’t as gaudy as Week 1, but perhaps the most important number is zero turnovers. We’re the real winners here though, these guys will match up in Week 3.

1 Player from the Top 10

After last week saw tons of no-names find their way to the top of the fantasy charts, this week only saw one player owned in single digit leagues make their way into the top wide receivers. Demarcus Robinson did his best Tyreek Hill impersonation, catching 6 balls for 172 yards and 2 TDs. Robinson’s 29.2 points was the third highest of the week, and he was basically a statistical error, having been started in “0%” of Yahoo leagues. I’m sure that number is going up for next week, especially since there weren’t a ton of really high scoring WRs. Only Julio Jones at 22.6 broke the 20-point mark, and Robinson more than doubled up the #10 WR, Marquise Goodwin. Again, while watching the MNF game, I don’t see anyone surpassing Robinson, or Goodwin for that matter. (Late edit: Odell Beckham Jr. did manage to join the 20-point club.)

34 Fantasy Points

Through 2 weeks, Mark Andrews is leading all tight ends in fantasy points, having put together two excellent games in a row. He’s caught 16 of his 17 targets, which has really helped out his QB, the aforementioned Lamar Jackson. His 220 yards are 6^th in the league so far this season. With an ADP in the 14^th round, he was a really great value for anyone who was planning on streaming tight ends this season. Travis Kelce is the only one of the big three drafted who is playing well. In fact, he’s got more points than George Kittle and Zach Ertz combined.

0 Points Allowed

The Patriots somehow improved on their 3 points allowed in Week 1 by pitching a shutout down in Miami. The hapless Dolphins could only manage 11 first downs in 13 drives, while giving up 43 points. On the season, the Patriots have now scored 76 points compared to just 3 given up. The Dolphins are on the opposite end of that spectrum, with just 10 points scored compared to 102 allowed. The Patriots D/ST managed 2 pick-sixes on Sunday, got the rare shutout bonus and tallied 7 sacks. The 37 points they scored is more than the season total for any kickers or tight ends, and led everyone in Week 2, technically.

2 QBs with 300+ Yards Passing

In Week 2, two QBs managed to throw for over 300 yards without throwing a touchdown. One is a QB on his way up, the other is a QB that could be on his way down, and at least along the way, they didn’t throw any picks. Cam Newton just didn’t look right on Thursday night, in this week’s first Heisman Trophy winner matchup. Newton disappointed owners with a piddly 11.32 points in a game that many had him pegged to do much better. There’s now whispers that Cam could be done in Carolina, as he just doesn’t look right. Meanwhile, Kyler Murray, who played in the second battle of Heisman winners, is still working things out by throwing the hell out of the ball. He has 94 pass attempts through 2 games and has passed the 300-yard mark in each of those games. Murray is looking decent to start the season, but he needs to put together 4 good quarters in a game and throw some TDs for us fantasy players.