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 standard Yahoo scoring, unless otherwise noted.
14.6 Yards per Carry
Isaiah Crowell (CAW!!!) turned in the best rushing yards total for anyone on the season with a whopping 219 yards. What's more impressive is that he reached that total on just 15 carries, good for a 14.6 yards each time he was handed the ball. As stated by our very own Mike Mocerino just two weeks ago on our podcast, Crowell is an odd-week player. It's now...a trend? In weeks 1, 3 and 5, Crowell has 68.4 points thanks to 355 rushing yards and 5 TDs. In weeks 2 and 4, he's got a whopping 4.20 points. For now, Mike's Nostradamus-like prediction of Crowell's season has held true and is a trend that I'll be considering when setting my lineup on at least one team. Crowell finds himself as the 8th best RB on the season in total fantasy points. If you take the average of just his odd week games, he's 3rd, behind only Alvin Kamara and Todd Gurley.
2 Turnovers, 28.68 Fantasy Points
Aaron Rodgers had one of the most unique games of his career in Detroit on Sunday. In the first half, all the Packers drives either ended on an Aaron Rodgers fumble, or a Mason Crosby missed field goal. Rodgers would finish the game with his best stat line of the season, throwing for 442 yards and 3 TDs and was the QB2 this week (so far) just behind Tom Brady. Unfortunately for Rodgers, the Packers just can't quit Mason Crosby, who missed 4 field goal attempts and his lone extra point try. That's 13 points in a game that the Packers lost by 8, if anyone's counting. Crosby did kick a 41 yard FG as the game ended, so I guess he's warmed up for next week. Given the state of kicking in the NFL this year, Crosby's job is assured through at least next week, but I have to at least wonder if the Packers might go for it on 4th and medium a bit more now, considering that no-man's land seems to be expanding for their kicker.
5 Straight 100-yard Games
Adam Thielen has set a league record by starting the season with 5 straight games with at least 100 receiving yards. This amazing consistency (with a brand new QB) has him as the #1 WR in standard scoring, just above Cooper Kupp. That's right, Cooper Kupp is the #2 overall WR through 5 weeks of the NFL. They say that the white WRs are gritty, maybe they have the emergence of Gritty to thank for this success. Thielen's 13 targets per game is tied with Antonio Brown for the most on the season. I expect his production to continue considering the Vikings running game is non-existent so far this season. At 2, Kupp is maintaining his strong fantasy performances by finding the end zone 5 times this year. In fact, he only has one game where he has not scored a TD. The Rams continue to roll, the Vikings are finding an offensive groove, and both of these WRs will have the opportunity to turn in career years if they can keep this up.
9 TDs on the Season
Todd Gurley is steamrolling through all the teams he has played this season, finding the end zone 9 times in just 5 games. He's averaging almost 25 points per game and has amazing consistency. His low total was in week 3 where he had 19.6 points. It feels nice when a consensus #1 overall pick can play like it. Right behind him at the top is Alvin Kamara, who hasn't even played this week, but is still the #2 overall RB. These two guys are in a class of their own and are on offenses that are total juggernauts. If Gurley can keep up this pace, he will have over 2000 yards from scrimmage and 28 TDs on the year. That's a bit of a stretch to extrapolate that over just 5 games, but what else is this column for? While we're at it, Jared Goff is going to throw for 5500 yards and 38 TDs. This is fun!
22 Points for the D/ST
A pair of teams reached 22 points for the defense and special teams in week 5. The Cincinnati Bengals scored twice on defense in their impressive comeback against the Dolphins. The Kansas City Chiefs defense finally found their way to the field on the same day as their offense. The picked off Blake Bortles 4 times, sacked him 5 times and scored a TD en route to putting up 22 fantasy points. An honorable mention goes to the Arizona Cardinals, putting up 21 fantasy points in their first victory of the season. I don't know what conclusions to draw from all of this, as I find D/STs (and kickers) to be very chaotic and unpredictable. Backing up my claim is the fact that the top 5 D/STs this week are all owned by less than 50% of Yahoo teams. The Rams, Jags and Eagles all combined for 10 points this week. Streamers rejoice!
