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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.

37 Pass Completions

Jets QB Mike White set an NFL record with 37 pass completions in his very first start, but the fun numbers from the game did not stop there. White set the second-highest yardage total in a first start with 406, which was good for the most yardage so far in Week 8. White posted the highest yardage total for a Jets QB since Vinny Testaverde in 2000. White finished the Week as the QB2 in fantasy, the best of the QBs who are not owned in many leagues in a week dominated by guys like that. 5 of the top 10 QBs this week, so far, are not rostered on any team in the drinkfive.com league and have an average ownership rate of just under 30% in Fleaflicker leagues. White has certainly earned himself a chance to start another week or two, and may even find himself as the permanent starter if he continues to play at a high level like this. It’s really a tough break for all of us who said “Mike White? Who the hell is that?” and proceeded to pick the Bengals in our survivor pools.

331 Yards Per Game

Tom Brady, at age 44, is currently dominating in many statistical passing categories. He currently leads the league in completions, pass attempts, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. He is the QB1 on the season with 206.9 total fantasy points in just 8 games. Only Josh Allen has a higher PPG average than Brady, but sits as the QB2 due to bye weeks. Allen isn’t really putting up the passing numbers that Brady is either, with Allen’s fantasy points bolstered by 269 rushing yards and 3 rushing TDs. But, back to Brady, who put up another ho-hum performance yesterday of 375 passing yards and 4 touchdowns. Heck, he even threw a touchdown to the wrong team yesterday, which is the only thing that keeps him from passing the aforementioned Mike White as the QB2 for the week. Brady’s huge offensive output has kept 3 of his WRs as regular starts, when healthy. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown are all in the top 22 WRs by total fantasy points. If you look at them on a points per game basis, they are all ranked in the top 19.

137 Rush Yards

Elijah Mitchell is the only running back so far in Week 8 to have surpassed the 100 rushing yard mark. In an era where the traditional running back role seems to be disappearing week by week – and we lost our #1 boy this week, perhaps for the season – it’s increasingly rare to find someone top 100 yards rushing. This doesn’t mean that RBs are necessarily going away, they just get their points in a variety of ways. This week, 23 RBs had at least 10 points or more, so there’s plenty of good players out there still, but it’s so clear that this is a passing league now. 8 wide receivers passed the century mark on Sunday (no RBs or TEs joined them with 100+ receiving yards). Speaking of passers – the only other player with 100+ rushing yards this week is Justin Fields, who had 103 yards in a losing effort against Mitchell’s 49ers. Perhaps it’s fitting that the last bastion of 100-yard rushers is Soldier Field, for this week anyway.

4 WRs with 10+ Receptions

Illustrating my point about this being a passing-dominated league, which I suppose I seem to make at least a couple of times per year, is the fact that this week had the most players with 10+ catches of any this year. This week, we saw Tyler Lockett, Cole Beasley, A.J. Brown, and Michael Pittman all catch at least 4 passes. All but Pittman went over 100 yards as well, but Pittman managed to find the end zone twice, so we’ll still give him an A+ for his fantasy day. There were 3 weeks with 3 WRs at 10+ receptions, and 3 weeks with just 1 WR with 10+ receptions. Even with the 17^th game added this season, the season-long receptions record, set by Michael Thomas in 2019, seems perfectly safe. Currently, Cooper Kupp leads the league in receptions and is only on pace for about 133 receptions on the year, good for just 5^th on the all-time list. Also, an honorable mention must go to T.J. Hockenson, the only non-WR to crack the 10 receptions mark this week. In fact, kudos to Hockenson, who has currently the TE1 on the week without even finding the end zone.

38.7 Receiving Yards Per Game

Odell Beckham Jr. has really fallen from the heights of the top WRs in the league. With just 38.7 yards per game, he is a long way from his 80.3 career average (it was 83.3 going into this season). In Odell’s rookie year, he led the league with 108.8 yards per game, and he posted double-digit TDs in each of his first 3 seasons. He now has just a 50% catch rate on the year (61% going into the season). He posted a season-low 1.1 fantasy points this week, his 4^th game of the year where he is below just 5 points. Odell is not alone, however. Allen Robinson has had an equally disappointing fantasy season. Since week 1, he has not topped 4 receptions in a game, and in 2021, he has not broken into double-digit fantasy points once. He is at less than half his yards per game, 33.9, than he had in his first 3 seasons in Chicago, 70.0. Robinson is the WR63 for the season, a truly terrible mark for someone who has not missed a game this year.

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.

7,156 Pass Completions

 Yet another all-time passing record has passed on to Tom Brady. He passed Drew Brees for the most completions on Sunday, now with 7,156 and counting. In addition, Brady now holds the NFL record for passing attempts (11,152), passing yards (83,338), and passing TDs (617)…and counting! This year, at age 44, he’s leading the league in completions (378), passing attempts (554), passing yards (4,134), and passing touchdowns (36). Maybe it’s no fun for the rest of us to watch Brady week after week after week do what he does, but occasionally it’s time to reflect on just how far ahead he is of everyone else in the league (currently, and through history). Aaron Rodgers is maybe the only active QB who has a chance at catching Brady in any of these categories – he’s averaging 31.36 touchdowns per year started, vs Brady averaging 30.85 per year started. Rodgers is still 178 TDs behind Brady, which would take over 5 years at his current average – and that’s if Brady (still going strong) doesn’t throw another TD pass in his career.

1.0 Interception Percentage

Speaking of the owner of the Chicago Bears, Aaron Rodgers leads the league in interception percentage yet again. Rodgers has led the league in interception percentage (lower numbers better, of course) in 5 of his previous 13 seasons, including the last 3 in a row. Back in 2018, Rodgers finished the season with a miniscule 0.3% interception rate, throwing just 2 picks on 597 pass attempts. But let’s go back to the present – in last night’s game against the Bears, the Packers trailed by 10 points at two different times, but Vegas never made the Packers positive money on the money line during live betting. They know that Aaron, like MJ, takes that shit personally. The Packers, of course, wound up winning the game by 15, with Rodgers throwing 4+ TDs against he Bears for his 7^th time in his career (54 total starts). The game also featured an incredible 2^nd quarter where the two teams combined for 45 points, scoring 5 touchdowns of 38+ yards.

62.7 Fantasy Points

Over the last two weeks, George Kittle has scored 62.7 fantasy points, just putting up massive numbers for the 49ers with Deebo Samuel out or basically playing RB. In those games, he has 22 receptions on 27 receptions, 332 receiving yards and 3 TDs. Even with his 1.8-point game in Week 12, Kittle has the highest 3-week average among all TEs in the league with 16.1 points. Kittle now has 139.6 points on the season, 45% of those points coming in the last two weeks. Kittle has missed three weeks this year, and had two other games with less than 20 yards receiving. Both players ahead of him in points – Mark Andrews and Travis Kelce, have played a full compliment of games this year. Kittle has the highest average points per game at the TE position with 14 ppg, well ahead of Andrews and Rob Gronkowski, both tied at 13.1 ppg.

300+ Passing Yards and 100+ Rushing Yards

Josh Allen is the top scoring fantasy player in the league, and it’s an easier comparison now that every team has completed their bye week. Allen’s performance on Sunday was so good that it deserves two stats shouted out, considering he’s only the 4^th quarterback to ever throw for over 300 yards and rush for over 100 in a single game. This is the 5^th time that Allen has led the league in fantasy points for the week, putting up a massive 36.22 points against the Buccaneers this week. Allen is only the second 100-yard rusher that the Bucs have allowed all season. Allen actually leads the league in yards per carry this season with 6.1 yards/attempt. He qualifies for the minimum 6.25 attempts per game, just barely, with 6.7 rushes per game this year. He has more rushing yards than starters Miles Gaskin (526) and Josh Jacobs (496), but is only third in QB rushing yards.

205 Rushing Yards

Dalvin Cook has set the high-water mark for rushing yards this season with 205 yards on 27 attempts on Thursday night against the Steelers. His 34.7 fantasy points are also the second highest total for the week. This was a game where it was still up in the air earlier in the day if he would even be active – he wound up touching the ball 28 times, gaining 222 total yards and scoring 2 touchdowns in the Vikings wild win against the Steelers. At one point, the Vikings led 29-0, and had to hold off a furious comeback attempt by the Steelers where they scored three touchdowns in under 5 minutes at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth. Cook now has the highest rushing total of any player on the season (the only player above 200 yards), passing Jonathan Taylor’s 185 yards from week 11. With retirement talk for Ben Roethlisberger surrounding him every game now, it was nice to see him put up another 300+ yard game, his 67^th of his career.

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.

48 Passing Attempts for Zero Points

Last night, Tom Brady was shut out for only the third time in his entire career. The last time his team did not score any points in a game he started was Week 14 of the 2006 season when the Patriots lost 21-0 in Miami. Fast forward 15 years and Brady had a hell of a streak finally snapped. Last night’s game was the first time in his career that his opponent won while scoring fewer than 10 points. In last week’s column, I gushed about Brady as he broke yet another NFL record, so this week I’m going to have some fun celebrating him having an atrocious game on a national broadcast. Everything is just more fun when Brady isn’t winning every damn thing around. Brady has only lost 73 games that he’s started, so it’s not as if we get to do this every day - but then again, that is over 4.5 seasons of losses, so how great is he really? Brady seems to struggle when New Orleans comes down to south Florida - in those two games with the Bucs, he has 0 touchdowns, 4 INTs, and a fumble. He’s been outscored 47-3 and has a meager 55.8% completion percentage. He is 0-4 against New Orleans in the regular season over the last two years. Brady is currently the QB22 of the week - there’s only 2 starting QBs so far this week that have done worse.

36.1 Fantasy Points

Travis Kelce had his best game in his long career on Thursday night against the Chargers. Kelce’s final stat line was 13 targets, 10 receptions, 191 receiving yards, 2 TDs. This makes him the top fantasy player so far through Week 15 - with 4 games still left to play this week, I feel like anything can happen. This performance is the 2nd best TE game we’ve seen all season, in Week 5, Mark Andrews scored 36.2 fantasy points. George Kittle also had a 35.1 point game a couple weeks ago, so I think we can declare the mid-30’s the Tight End ceiling in fantasy football. Kelce, who has played over 120 games in his career, reached his all-time high in receiving yards with 191 (previous high was 168) and he now has 29 games with 100 or more receiving yards. He also tied his career high with 2 TDs, he now has 8 games with multiple touchdowns. The tight end position was pretty top-heavy this week, with both Kelce and Andrews breaking the 30 point mark, but TEs 7-10 combined did not match Kelce’s point total. 

13% Owned in Fleaflicker Leagues

This week’s top RB (so far, yeah) is a player that none of us started last week. The only people claiming to have him in their lineups are Duke Johnson’s mother, and liars. That being said, I want to congratulate Duke’s mom on her fantasy football playoff victory, because Duke had a hell of a game. Posting a career high 107 rushing yards (his only game over 100 yards rushing), and only his second game with two touchdowns, Johnson propelled the Dolphins back to .500 with their sixth win a row (yes, they started 1-7, if you’re counting). Duke has played in 93 NFL games, a rather respectable number for a guy who has never been a regular starter. His 107 rushing yards yesterday are 5.2% of his career total, and he scored 20% of his career rushing TDs! Duke saw 23 touches while only being on the field for 58% of Miami’s offensive snaps, so he could easily supplant the disappointing Miles Gaskin as the RB1 on the Dolphins. Unfortunately for Duke, his next two opponents will be the teams giving up the fewest (Saints) and second fewest (Titans) points to opposing RBs.

14% Owned in Fleaflicker Leagues

For an encore, let’s have a look at the QB1 of the week, who maybe a few of us started since he would have been a smart superflex fill-in. That being said, we’re going to need some proof if you want credit for starting him! Tyler Huntley told the Ravens, “No Lamar, no problem!” and proceeded to do his best Lamar Jackson impression with 28 completions on 40 attempts for 213 yards, 2 TDs through the air, another 13 rushes for 73 yards on the ground and 2 more TDs, good for 35.9 fantasy points. Huntley now has started or played significant time in 3 games this season and is on a definite upward trend, scoring 11.76 (Wk 11 @ CHI), 15.30 (Wk 14 @ CLE), and 35.90 (Wk 15 vs GB). Each of those three games, he has a completion percentage over 70% and has won, or had a chance to win at the end, each of those games. This year is Huntley’s first chance to get real playing time in a game, and he’s shown that he’s definitely more than just a backup level quarterback. If another team wants to design an offense around him, like the Ravens did for Lamar Jackson, I could see him getting snatched up as a starting QB as early as next year.

170 Rushing Yards

Jonathan Taylor had yet another massive game this season, this time against one of the best defensive minds ever in football, Bill Belichick. Taylor posted the highest rushing total and most fantasy points given up by the New England Patriots all season, with 170 yards on 29 carries and 1 TD, good for 23 points. Saturday night for Taylor was punctuated by a 67 yard rushing TD to close out the game when there was just about 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter. This season, Taylor owns the longest rush in the NFL at 83 yards, and the longest rushing TD in the NFL with 76 yards. He leads the league in rushing attempts (270), rushing yards (1,518), rushing TDs (17), yards from scrimmage (1,854), and total TDs (19). It’s all the more impressive when you consider his slow start to the season. In the first 5 games, he was not on the field for more than 55% of the snaps in any of those games, averaged 65.4 yards per game in that stretch, and scored only 2 TDs. Taylor, the 4th-highest scoring fantasy player in 2021, is in the MVP discussion, and is inching ever close to the lead there with Brady’s performance on Sunday night.

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.

45 Years Old

Tom Brady became the oldest player to start a game at 45 years hold. While this is not necessarily a fantasy stat, it’s appreciated by someone who feels themselves getting older all the time. There were also zero rookie QBs starting this week. Finally, it’s time for middle-aged men to shine.

10 Players Scoring 2-TDs Each

Through Sunday, there are 10 players who scored 2 TDs each, and in an interesting quirk, half of those players are free agents in the drinkfive fantasy league. Those players – Jamaal Williams, Dontrell Hilliard, Devin Duvernay, Jahan Dotson, and O.J. Howard – are free agents, owned in just an average of 29% of Fleaflicker leagues. Week 1 is always a fun time to revisit your entire draft and blow your team up with the waiver wire, so put your claims in now!

34.9 Fantasy Points

The high-water mark for Week 1 is 34.9 fantasy points – achieved by two players who are common subjects in this space. Patrick Mahomes threw for 360 yards and 5 TDs. Mahomes now has 18 touchdowns in 5 opening days, a low QB rating of 123.3 on opening day, has not thrown a pick, and is 5-0.  Justin Jefferson also put up 34.9 fantasy points, having 9 receptions and 11 targets (on 9/11) and was one of the players who are owned in our league who had 2 TDs. His 184 receiving yards are a career high and his 15^th 100-yard game in his 34-game career.

8 D/STs with 10+ Points

Week 1 saw a lot of fantasy value coming from the defense/special teams slot. The Pittsburgh Steelers led the way with an astonishing 26 points. It helped a bit that they had a sack/fumble in bonus time to pad their numbers a bit. This performance was very impressive considering it came against the AFC Champion Bengals and Burrow had 2 more turnovers than he ever had in his career before. In an interesting tidbit, Burrow had the most rushing yards of his career in a single game. The Steelers are only owned in 51% of Fleaflicker leagues and play against New England next week, the offensive team that surrendered the second most points to their opposing D/ST in week 1.

5 WRs on New Teams with 14+ Points

Sometimes, a change of scenery works wonders. 5 Players on new teams – Tyreek Hill, Christian Kirk, Jarvis Landry, A.J. Brown, and Davante Adams – all scored at least 14 fantasy points for their new teams. Both Brown and Adams put up monster games over 20 points, picking right up where they left off with new QBs. A.J. Brown had the most receiving yards for any Eagles player in their debut game. In a case of good old home cookin’, Michael Thomas played his first game for New Orleans in 21 months, and had his best performance since December 2019. Thomas scored 2 touchdowns on his way to 20.2 fantasy points, good for WR7 on the week.