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.

398 Passing Yards

Kaepernick lead the league in passing yards this week, stopping just shy of 400 yards. As usual, we see the same patterns with the leading quarterbacks - their teams went 2-6. Meanwhile, rushing leaders went 6-2. So sure, Kaepernick looks better than Blaine Gabbert, but he still isn't winning any games. The 49ers haven't won since their opening game against the Rams. They've given up at least 33 points in all but one of those losses, so maybe the QB wasn't exactly the problem in the first place.

261 Yards from Scrimmage

Melvin Gordon is now the leading fantasy RB on the year after having a monster game against the Titans. Gordon had 196 rushing yards and 65 receiving yards against the team that is still the 7th best against opposing RBs. With 11 total touchdowns this year, Gordon has redeemed himself from his disappointing rookie season.

8 Touchdowns

Mike Evans leads all receivers with 8 TDs after grabbing two more on Thursday night. He's the only real threat on offense right now for Jameis Winston, and has 103 targets on the year already, on track for over 200 on the season. He's only got 55 receptions, mostly because he's always getting creamed by the other team, as also seen on Thursday night. Evans is practicing again on Monday, so he's on track to play, but needs to clear the concussion process first.

2 Defensive Touchdowns

San Diego needed a pair of return touchdowns on defense to beat the Titans. They still only managed 14 fantasy points for their DST (each score netted them 8 points each). Giving up 35 points can be rough on anyone's performance. To put that in perspective, other teams that have scored two defensive TDs this year: Week 1, Vikings, 21 pts. Week 2 Broncos, 22 pts. Week 3 Chiefs 35 pts.

5 Fourth Quarter Comebacks

Matt Stafford and the Lions have 5 wins this year, all of them fourth-quarter comebacks. Every loss that they've had has been by one score, so I suppose he's just slacking off. Stafford is the 6th highest scoring QB this season, but the Lions just have not been able to put a good game together from start to finish. They get a bye this week and will ride high on this past win, but the Vikings get a rematch on Thanksgiving, so that should be a fun one to watch.