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.

27 Fantasy Points

Greg Zuerlein was an offensive force to be reckoned with on Sunday. He's personally responsible for 23 of his team's 35 points after making 7 field goals and another 2 extra points. His 27 fantasy points make him the 8th highest scorer for the week. It was a hell of a week for kickers, with 7 of them scoring 15 or more points - all of them in the top 42 players of the week. Of these 7 kickers, only Stephen Gostkowski is owned in a significant number of leagues. Young GZ is next, owned in 38% of Yahoo leagues. Looks like there will be a lot of kicker swaps coming up this week.

5 Touchdowns

DeShaun Watson, the rookie QB who apparently couldn't start over Tom Savage week 1, tied a rookie record with 5 touchdowns. Four passing and one rushing TD from Watson lead the way for the Texans, as they scored a franchise record 57 points. Watson has had growing pains, throwing 3 INT's in the last 2 games, however he is clearly getting better with each game. Can we finally put to bed the thought that a bad veteran QB is a better option than putting a rookie or otherwise still-developing QB out there? Indy has figured this out, and it seems like Chicago might join the party this week and start Mitch Trubisky.

39 Touches

Le'Veon Bell looks like he's back to his old self, which is fitting since in the past couple of years he hasn't played until Week 4 anyways. Anyways, that's no way to talk about a guy who won me a couple of fantasy matches this week. Let's get back to the old tradition of gushing about him, shall we? Bell's 35 carries were the second highest in his career, as were the 39 touches. The 144 rush yards are tied for 6th highest total in his career in the regular season.  His 30.6 total fantasy points are easily his highest total since we celebrated Le'Veon Bell Week last year.

1 Out of the Top 20

There is only one WR in the top 20 players, Jordy Nelson, and he didn't even play on Sunday. By contrast, there were 7 RB's in the top 20, and yes, we're counting Greg Zuerlein in the top players. Didn't you hear me earlier? This was a good week for RB's, but really it was a down week for higher end WR's. None of them reached 20 points this week in standard scoring, and a couple of the top 5 WR's, Devin Funchess and Will Fuller, both are owned in less than 32% of Yahoo leagues. That's definitely a waiver wire tip for you guys.

146.0 Passer Rating

Andy Dalton's week 4 quarterback rating lead the league, as he went 25 for 30 for 286 yards and 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions. Since the Bengals got a new OC, Dalton's completion percentage is way up, his touchdowns are way up (from 0 to 6) and his INT's are way down (from 4 to 0). It's been a large swing for the Bengals this season, who can finally feel good after getting a very convincing win last week. In comparison, the team that intercepted Dalton on the way to getting a shutout in week 1, the Ravens - yes, the very same Ravens - have yet to recover from getting pantsed by the Jaguars in London just a week ago. The Ravens looked awful again against a Steelers team that has looked very good, but also lost to Mike Glennon, a guy who is about to get benched. Maybe the only consistent thing we can find in the AFC north is that the Browns are still 0-4. The Browns losing is like comfort food to unstable Ravens, Steelers and Bengals fans.

It's the end of another exciting week of football which means it's time to put your claims in for available free agents in your fantasy league to strengthen your team. I'll be going over who I think are the top five picks for you to target this week so don't miss out on them. Good luck!

Note: %owned is based on Yahoo! leagues at the time of publication.

5) Thomas Rawls/Eddie Lacy/C.J. Prosise (SEA) - 29%/20%/16% owned - With Chris Carson going down with what appeared to be a season-ending leg injury someone will step up to take his starting role. I have no idea who is going to carry the mail for the Seahawks, but whoever it ends up being will have immediate fantasy relevance. I like them in the order I have listed, but Pete Carroll has been unpredictable in regards to RBs ever since Lynch left town.

4) Deshaun Watson (HOU) - 34% owned - Watson looks like the real deal and has seemingly improved every week this season. What's really good to see for Watson's fantasy outlook is the Texans kept passing even with a huge lead against the Titans last week. Look to add for a bye-week replacement or to stash and play in favorable matchups.

3) Will Fuller V (HOU) - 32% owned - Fuller's season debut was quite productive catching 4 of 6 passes for 35 yards and 2 TDs. The Texans don't really many passing options outside of Hopkins at the moment so Fuller should have a decent weekly floor.

2) Alvin Kamara (NO) - 46% owned - It looks like the Saints have finally come close to a Darren Sproles replacement in Alvin Kamara. Kamara had 5 rushes for 25 yards and 10 catches for 71 yards and a score last week against the Dolphins. He is a must add in PPR formats and is probably flex status in standard leagues. Saints are on a bye this week but if you don't take him now someone else will.

1) Latavius Murray (MIN) - 17% owned - With Dalvin Cook going down with a season-ending ACL tear Murray will step in as the lead back for the Vikings. He will most likely cede passing downs to Jerick McKinnon but will see work on first and second downs as well as receive goal line carries.

It's the end of another exciting week of football which means it's time to put your claims in for available free agents in your fantasy league to strengthen your team. I'll be going over who I think are the top five picks for you to target this week so don't miss out on them. Good luck!

Note: %owned is based on Yahoo! leagues at the time of publication.

5) Marlon Mack (IND) - 9% owned - Mack should have earned himself more playing time after putting up 93 yards and a touchdown. There will probably be an even timeshare of carries between him and Frank Gore for the time being, but he has a shot to overtake Gore if he continues to play well.

4) Elijah McGuire (NYJ) - 17% owned - McGuire could be poised for a significant workload this week against the Patriots as both Matt Forte and Bilal Powell are injured with little expectation to be ready to go.  McGuire has played well in his limited opportunities this season running for 5.2 yards per carry.

3) Javorius Allen (BAL) - 58% owned - Allen is coming off a very productive game racking up 85 yards 4 catches and a touchdown after Terrance West went down early with a calf injury. West isn't expected to be ready this week so Allen should be in line for another high volume of touches.

2) Mike Wallace (BAL) - 33% owned - Coming off back to back productive games it would appear Wallace is getting more involved in the Ravens offense. At the moment he looks to be a boom or bust deep threat, but Flacco has proven to be able to hit the deep ball in his career.

1) Aaron Jones (GB) - 57% owned - Jones has emerged as the lead back for Green Bay with Ty Montgomery sidelined. It's expected that Montgomery will miss multiple weeks which makes Jones a must start until he comes back.

It's the end of another exciting week of football which means it's time to put your claims in for available free agents in your fantasy league to strengthen your team. I'll be going over who I think are the top five picks for you to target this week so don't miss out on them. Good luck!

Note: %owned is based on Yahoo! leagues at the time of publication.

5) Dallas Cowboys DEF (DAL) - 7% owned - The Cowboys defense has a great situation this week coming off a bye and playing against a rookie quarterback in C.J. Beathard.

4) Darren McFadden (DAL) - 52% owned - A speculative grab assuming Elliott's suspension will stand for weeks 7 through 12 and also assuming McFadden would be the lead back over Alfred Morris in that situation (which I do). The reward feels worth the risk if you have the bench space to spare.

3) Nelson Agholor (PHI) - 55% owned - Agholor finally looks to be a key component of the Eagles offense in his third season as he almost has hit his yardage for all of the last season and has double the touchdowns he had last season. Look for another productive game against a mediocre Redskins pass defense this week.

2) Orleans Darkwa (NYG) - 11% owned - Darkwa impressed against a tough Denver defense last week rushing 21 times for 117 yards and looks to be the favorite for carries in the Giants backfield for the time being. There are still a lot of concerns with the Giants offense but Darkwa is a decent depth grab and bye week fill in if needed.

1) Sterling Shepard (NYG) - 52% owned - It's painfully clear the Giants need someone to step up as a number one receiver especially after there were only TWO catches from all Giants wide receivers last week. When he is back in the line up from his ankle injury he should have enough targets to maintain a safe floor.