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 of the Top 12 QBs
Quarterback continues to be a volatile position in fantasy football. This certainly has not been the case in years past, but this week alone, 7 of the top 12 QBs by fantasy points are not owned in the Drinkfive league. Part of the issue is that many top guys were out with injury, bye weeks, or...other issues. Another problem is that many top guys under performed - Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes combined for fewer points than Josh Johnson. Of course, credit must go to Josh Johnson, who put up big numbers in the (garbage) time he had vs the Colts on Thursday night. Colt McCoy and Trevor Siemian also get big kudos for turning in good performances in their first starts of the season, finishing as the QB11 and QB12 respectively. Overall, the 7 QBs that are unowned in the top 12 represent just 38% average ownership (in Fleaflicker leagues) - that number also is heavily weighted by Matt Ryan’s 81% ownership rate - he’s a free agent in our league right now. So, the lesson here is that volatility can happen in any fantasy football market, including at the traditionally stable quarterback position. If you planned on streaming QBs this year and didn’t invest draft capital in a QB, you’re definitely benefiting from that decision now.
31.4 Fantasy Point Average for the Top 4 RBs
I’ve been pointing out the lack of production from the top of the running back position over the last few weeks, and especially how there’s tons of production from wide receivers. This week was the opposite of that - maybe they got my message? Anyways, we saw huge performances from James Conner (37.8), Jonathan Taylor (33), Nick Chubb (29.3), and Joe Mixon (25.5). This was better than any wide receiver for the week so far. In fact, the best wide receiver owned in 90% or more of Fleaflicker leagues is Keenan Allen, who finished as the 15th best flex player this week (RB/WR/TE). The top 4 RBs on the week combined for 9 touchdowns, 646 total yards, and averaged nearly 8 yards per touch. Quite the week from all 4 guys, all of whom put up their best fantasy game of the year. Final note - even after that huge week, Jonathan Taylor remains the RB2. Derrick Henry still has both more points and more rushing yards than Taylor.
3 WRs with 2 TDs
It was a down week for wide receivers for sure. Only 3 of them managed to find the end zone twice, and stop me if you’ve heard these names on this column before (you haven’t). Elijah Moore, Olamide Zaccheaus, and Malik Turner all found the end zone twice this week, and none of them managed to go over 100 yards receiving. I wouldn’t expect a repeat performance from any of those three - they are owned in an average of 16% of Fleaflicker leagues. Most of that ownership is probably Elijah Moore in dynasty leagues. Only 4 wide receivers did reach the century mark for receiving yards - the same number of RBs who reached that number of rushing yards. This is the first week where the RBs were able to pace the WRs when it came to games over 100 yards - usually it’s close to a 2:1 ratio in favor of the wideouts.
17.1 Fantasy Points
George Kittle returned to the lineup on Sunday, giving the TE position a much needed boost. In fact, we saw the top 3 drafted tight ends finish 1-2-3 so far on the week. George Kittle was the top finisher, scoring a touchdown and gaining over 100 yards, leading all tight ends in week 9. Travis Kelce was right behind him, and Darren Waller made the most out of his 11 targets, which led all tight ends this week. This is the first time since week 1 of this season that all 3 guys have finished in the top 10 scorers. Of course, after them, 4 of the next 5 TEs were owned in an average of less than 4% of Fleaflicker leagues. This just goes to show that all it takes to be a decent fantasy tight end is that you find the end zone. In fact, 8 of the top 10 TEs did find the end zone, and the #10 guy who didn’t, Jared Cook, at least was able to get a few points from a 2-point conversion
10 D/STs over 10 points
10 points is a great benchmark for your defense/special teams slot. If you can get 10 or more points, you should definitely be happy. This week, there were plenty of opportunities for you to land a D/ST that could do that for you, but only if you chose wisely. The top team this week were the New England Patriots, the team that consistently just drinks Sam Darnold’s milkshake. The Pats put up 20 points with 3 picks (one of them a pick-six), a sack, and only 6 points allowed. Then it gets interesting. If you had the guts to pick against some of the top offenses in the league, then you stood a great chance of doing well. The Browns (vs CIN), Jaguars (vs BUF), and the Titans (@ LAR) all were able to score at least 16 fantasy points for you. Those three D/STs combined for 6 interceptions, 14 sacks, 2 defensive TDs, 2 fumble recoveries, and an average of just 13 points allowed. One other crazy thing about this week’s D/ST stats - the Texans and Dolphins played against each other and both teams scored at least 15 points against the opposing offense. Truly, that was a game that should have been played on Thursday 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.
15 Games With 300+ Passing Yards
Justin Herbert just completed his 15th career game with at least 300 passing yards on Sunday against the Bengals. He’s only started 27 games in his career, and has more starts with 300+ yards than starts without reaching 300 yards. Herbert finished this week with 26.28 points as the QB3, and is the QB2 on the season (QB4 by points per game). His floor is great, never dipping below 12 points this year, and he’s topped the 30 point mark 4 times - in each of those 4 games, he has finished as the QB1 or 2 on the week. Outside of fantasy, he has 5 game winning drives complimenting his 5-4th quarter comebacks this season. This is a really great showing this year for a guy drafted as the QB8 (59th overall), right behind Russell Wilson, who is the QB24 on the year.
86 Receptions
Jaylen Waddle is currently on pace to break the rookie receptions record. He currently is averaging 6.6 catches per game and is on pace to smash the current record of 101, set by Anquan Boldin back in 2003. Thanks to the 17 game season, he’s on pace for a whopping 112 total receptions, but even if there were only 16 games, he would be on just enough of a pace to break it. Waddle is the WR15 on the year, helped along by much more consistent play over the last 5 weeks, where he’s averaged 7.6 receptions per game and helped his team to a 5-0 record during that time. Waddle won’t challenge for the rookie yardage record - his pace of 1,110 for the year is far from the record of 1,473, set by Bill Groman back in 1960 in only 14 games.
35.1 Fantasy Points
For the first time this season, a tight end leads all fantasy players in total points for the week. George Kittle put together a massive 34.4 fantasy points in half PPR. He had 9 receptions on 12 targets for 181 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. He tacked on a 5 yard rush for that little bit extra. Last week, Kittle had 1 catch for 13 yards, totaling 1.8 fantasy points. Kittle owners are sure to have whiplash from the point swing, so please be careful. Kittle got 30% of his total receiving yards on the season in week 13 (and 40% of his touchdowns, but he only has 5 total). Amazingly, Kittle has two games with higher yardage totals, and two with higher reception totals, but it’s his first career game with two touchdowns.
12.2 Fantasy Points Per Game
Through 12 games this season, Nick Folk is averaging 12.2 fantasy points per game and is the #45 point scorer in all of fantasy football. That’s a better per-game average than DJ Moore, David Montgomery, Saquon Barkley, and the aforementioned Jaylen Waddle. Folk would be the RB11 and the WR12 on the season (if he played those positions and still kicked…it’s a stretch, work with me here). Folk has 7 games with double digit points this season. He’s only missed 3 field goal attempts on the year, all of them from 53 yards or longer. Tonight Folk has to kick in some sketchy conditions - it’s supposed to be very windy, and of course cold because it’s December, in Buffalo.
5 of the Top 10 Quarterbacks
Volatility is once again the name of the game at the QB position in week 13. Half of the top 10 QBs this week were not rostered in the drinkfive.com league, and those 5 QBs combine for an average ownership rate of just 39.2% in Fleaflicker leagues (thanks to Gardner Minshew for keeping that number low). This is the 4th time since week 8 that we have seen 5 out of the top 10 QBs not commonly rostered. This week saw a performance from Taysom Hill, which in hindsight, should have been obvious that it was coming. Even if he threw 4 INTs and ran for 100 yards (an NFL first), he’s still a good fantasy QB. Zach Wilson and Jared Goff both had their best games since Week 1. Ben Roethlisberger, the most rostered player in this group at 65%, had a stellar 4th quarter with 2 TD passes and a 2-point conversion on his way to beating the Ratbirds….errr, Ravens..
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 7th time in his career (54 total starts). The game also featured an incredible 2nd 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 4th quarterback to ever throw for over 300 yards and rush for over 100 in a single game. This is the 5th 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 67th of his career.