I am a co-founder and the editor of drinkfive.com. In order to stave off fantasy football insanity, Dave and I have branched out to cover a variety of interests. When I'm not knee deep in wikipedia pages, I like to hang out at breweries or a disc golf course (especially both in the same day). FSWA Member for 5+ years.
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.
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.
23 Penalties
The Raiders set a record on Sunday, committing 23 penalties for 200 yards. It took a herculean effort by Derek Carr (and almost all of OT) to put up such numbers. Carr put up a stellar 513 passing yards and 4 TDs, an amazing 35.82 points in a standard league. The Raiders are now 6-2 and in first place in the AFC West and are getting excellent fantasy play from their wideouts, in addition to their QB. Now if only their running back committee could get some kind of clarity.
12% Owned
Three of the top six wideouts in week 8 are a combined 12% owned, just showing that it really can be anyone on any given Sunday. J.J. Nelson, Tyreek Hill and Kendall Wright are these three - all owned in less than 6% of Yahoo leagues. This doesn't even include Andrew Hawkins, who found the end zone twice and is owned in 0% of leagues, though he won't be a waiver option like the others. Wide Receiver points were also spread out this week, with only Amari Cooper topping 20 points, but 23 total players reaching the double digit mark.
3 Overtime Games
Sunday saw three games go in to overtime, two of them being "island" games, so everyone could experience extra football. This was fun, in the case of Dak Prescott and the Cowboys managing a drive on the opening possession that resulting in a game winning TD. It was exciting, in the case of the Raiders and Bucs, mixing penalties and passing yards and giving us a long TD to win the game with under 2 minutes remaining. Finally, it was bad - and we exported a tied football game to England, something that only they were able to manage until now.
60 Rush Yards
Aaron Rodgers lead his team in rushing on Sunday, in both attempts, 6, and yards, 60 - a career high. With Lacy out for the season, he's easily the leading active rusher on the squad for the season with 156 yards. The recent moves that the Pack have made indicate that James Starks should be close to coming back, but he was averaging just 1.8 YPC this season. Rodgers is currently averaging 45 pass attempts per game, and this isn't likely to change much this week against Indy's poor passing defense.
4 Games
It took 4 games for Patriots Tom Brady to throw a touchdown completion to a wide receiver this season. Clearly struggling, Brady is only on pace for 36 touchdowns in 12 games this season. OK, OK, maybe his 73.1 completion percentage, zero INTs and 4-0 record don't say struggling per se. What can I say, the Patriots are the only truly dominant team this season and this is just nitpicking. Brady is also leading the league in yards per attempt and QB rating - the Tom Brady middle finger tour is in full effect.
Week 8 is upon us, and this is the first week with some major byes. Six teams are taking the week off: Ravens, Steelers, Giants, 49ers, Rams and the Dolphins. We're not losing tons of fantasy players, and really a lot of them could use a week off - see Odell Beckham and Ben Roethlisberger. But I digress, we're here for Week 8! This week, look for Derek Carr to have a big day capping off his Florida vacation. Matt Jones, Julian Edelman and Vernon Davis (if there's no Jordan Reed) all deserve to be in your lineup as well.
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.
43 FG In a Row
Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri broke the NFL record and has now made 43 of his last 43 attempts, going back to early in the 2015 season. In fact, Vinatieri started off last season 0/2 and hasn't missed since then. Over this span, he's made 9-50+ yarders, kicked a FG in the last 16 straight games and has an average of 41 yards per attempt during the streak. The oldest player in the NFL is playing better than anyone at his position ever has. If any kicker belongs in the Hall of Fame, it's definitely Vinatieri.
6-6 Tie
Those of us who kept watching compelling, yet bad, football on Sunday night were rewarded with a game full of bad. Missed field goals, stepping out of bounds just shy of the goal line, penalties and more penalties - it had all the bad football that one could want. This was the lowest scoring overtime tie in NFL history and the defensive player of the game definitely goes to the goalposts.
24 Penalties
It wound up being an ugly game in Jacksonville, and the Raiders and Jaguars combined to get 24 penalties for 239 yards and three ejections. To be fair, this whole week featured some awful football. There were 39 turnovers in the 13 games that were played on Sunday, missed kicks all over the place and a 6-6 tie to cap it all off. Don't even get me started on the orangest game of the year, the equally hard to watch Bengals-Browns game.
214 Rush Yards
Jay Ajayi was fantastic yet again, putting up 214 yards on 29 carries and became just the 4th player in NFL history to have back-to-back games of 200+ rushing yards. He now leads the league with 6.3 yards per attempt and has already vaulted himself into the top 10 RB's this seasons. Ajayi does have the last two games to thank for that, but his role on the team indicates that won't be a fluke (though 200+ yards is more than anyone can ask for). He plays the Jets after a bye this week, look for him to keep going strong when they return.
6 Quarterbacks
So far this season, the Browns have had six different guys play quarterback for them. Kevin Hogan is the most recent player this season to take the mantle of Browns QB. Going 12/24 for 100 yards passing and 2 INT, he fits right in with the Browns this season. He did put a little spark into the offense, however, by rushing for 104 yards and a TD. The Browns are probably hoping that McCown can return asap, but don't expect much to get better in Cleveland, as far as football is concerned.