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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 standard Yahoo scoring, unless otherwise noted.

45.9 QB Rating

Tom Brady had an abysmal QB rating in Sunday’s game, his lowest rated game since 2006, although his Week 16 game last year against Buffalo when he put up a 48.3 rating is close. This is trying to develop into a division rivalry, though Brady’s pure dominance against Buffalo (31-3), suggests otherwise. It’s been hard to find a division rival for the Patriots in the last couple decades. Still, Brady put up a whopping 4.7 points as the QB26 so far this week, so at least we know he’s human. What may not be human is the Patriots defense and special teams this season. They scored another touchdown this week, which means that they have 3 TDs vs just 1 yielded on defense (and another on special teams). At 86 points on the season, they are the 6^th highest scoring “player” across all positions. They have 60% more points than the next highest scoring D/ST, the Bears – who have looked incredibly dominant.

15,021 Rush Yards and 1,326 Receptions

Congrats are due to Frank Gore and Larry Fitzgerald, who both reached milestone career stats on Sunday. Gore became just the 4^th player to rush for over 15,000 yards – just north of 8.5 miles gained from scrimmage. We’ve constantly been wrong when predicting the demise of Frank Gore, so I just want to say that you rock, Frank! Keep proving us wrong, because this must be his last season, right? I suppose being the RB20 and putting up double digits each of the last 3 weeks begs to differ. Meanwhile, down in the desert, Larry Fitzgerald is now second all time on the career receptions list, just behind Jerry Rice, whom is 226 receptions ahead, which is probably 3 seasons away if Larry wants to make a run at it. Fitzgerald is the WR20 so far this year and has put up 42 points, while Gore has 42.10 points. Aside from the position they play, they’re basically the same player.

81 Yard Rushing…. non-Touchdown

Leonard Fournette broke free on Sunday for an 81 yard rumble, the longest play in the NFL this season that did not result in a touchdown. Still, Fournette wound up as the RB3 on the week so far, with 225 rushing yards and another 20 receiving yards tacked on to that. The real story in Jacksonville is Gardner Minshew II, clearly a future hall of famer. Maybe that’s just what I want to happen, but I’ve been a fan since he got in the game Week 1 and completed 13 consecutive passes to start his career. Minshew is the QB16 on the season, ahead of guys like Jared Goff and Aaron Rodgers. He’s only owned in 11% of Yahoo leagues and has a floor of 16 points on the season – pretty good for a rookie who wasn’t supposed to start.

36.30 Fantasy Points

Your clubhouse leader in points in Week 4 is Nick Chubb, who had a ridiculous 183 yards from scrimmage to go along with 3 TDs. The Browns offense finally exploded for the first real time this season, beating the first place Ravens. The Browns, 2-2, are now tied with those same Ravens for first place in the AFC North. Chubb was a one-man wrecking crew, far outpacing his fellow fantasy star teammates, Baker Mayfield and Odell Beckham Jr., who both had a higher QB rating than anyone for Washington. Mayfield had his best game of the season, 16.78 points, which is basically Gardner Minshew’s floor. Minshew Mania, baby!

5 of the Top 10 QBs in Week 4

So far this week, 5 of the top 10 QBs this week, by fantasy points, are owned in 68% of leagues or fewer. This stat can only get crazier tonight if either Andy Dalton (36% owned) or Mason Rudolph (10% owned) can put up a 20-point game. Jameis Winston leads the way in both points and ownership, throwing for 4 TDs in a high scoring upset of the LA Rams where his team put up a franchise record 55 points. Jacoby Brissett, Matthew Stafford, Marcus Mariota and Joe Flacco all found themselves in the top 10. Between the 4 of them, their ownership overs around 27%. The top 10 QBs combined for a 4-6 record, so maybe we need to start picking, or at least streaming, QBs from bad teams instead of the good ones. Nah. I’ll take my chances with a Patrick Mahomes, this week’s QB12, who is on pace for 6000 yards this season. He didn’t even throw a TD this week despite his team putting up 34 points.

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.