Welcome to the Week 3 Stat Pack! In this column, I’ll go team by team and post any interesting stats and data points from the week that was. This recap article is a big data dump, so feel free to jump around or come back and reference this piece during the week. Reading it from top to bottom in one sitting probably isn’t the best way to absorb all of the information. And it might make your eyes go cross.
Atlanta Falcons
Through two weeks, Calvin Ridley is the overall WR1 over DeAndre Hopkins by a wide margin (13.9 fantasy points).
In the 18 career games that Ridley has seen six or more targets, he’s now averaging 19.8 fantasy points per game. That would have made him last year’s WR2 ahead of Chris Godwin (19.4 FPG).
Todd Gurley has forced zero missed tackles on his 36 touches so far per SIS.
Arizona Cardinals
DeAndre Hopkins has seen a league-high 26 targets through two games.
The next closest receiver to Hopkins on Arizona in targets is Larry Fitzgerald (12).
Arizona is playing really fast and running a lot of plays, as expected. Through two games, they are second in plays per game.
Kyler Murray is scrambling way more to start the season. Per SIS, Murray leads the NFL in scrambles (11) and scramble rushing yards (99).
In his rookie season, Murray was only ninth in scrambles per game (2.6).
Baltimore Ravens
- The Ravens are running a full-blown three-man RB committee so far. Their snaps are: Mark Ingram (48), JK Dobbins (43), Gus Edwards (35).
Buffalo Bills
It’s a small sample against two bad defenses, but Josh Allen has been more accurate so far. Per SIS, Allen has been on-target on 81% of his pass attempts (eighth-best) after ranking second-worst in this metric last year (72%).
On throws of 15 or more yards downfield, Allen is 15-of-19 for 412 yards and 2 TDs.
Buffalo’s carries so far: Devin Singletary (19), Allen (18), Zack Moss (17).
Carolina Panthers
D.J. Moore has 22 targets while Robby Anderson has 18 to lead the team.
Ian Thomas has 2 targets. So does Chris Manhertz.
Chicago Bears
Per SIS, just 9 of Allen Robinson’s 18 targets have been catchable.
For reference, 18 of Stefon Diggs’ 22 targets have been catchable.
David Montgomery has seen 16 or more opportunities (carries + targets) in 13 of his 18 career games.
Cincinnati Bengals
A.J. Green has 22 targets so far, but just 12 have been catchable according to SIS.
The Bengals are still refusing to feature Joe Mixon as a receiver. Gio Bernard has 12 targets on 43 routes while Mixon has just 6 targets on 46 routes.
Bernard ran more routes than Mixon last year (280 to 254).
Cleveland Browns
Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt have now played 10 games together. Their fantasy points: Hunt (137.6), Chubb (135.7).
Hunt has out-targeted Chubb 52 to 17 in this span.
This year, Chubb has 20 first-down carries to Hunt’s 16.
Last year, Chubb had 100 first-down carries to Hunt’s 23.
Dallas Cowboys
CeeDee Lamb has out-targeted Michael Gallup 15 to 10 to start the season.
14 of Lamb’s 15 targets have come out of the slot.
Amari Cooper is easily leading this offense in targets (28% share) and air yards (36% share).
Denver Broncos
With Phillip Lindsay (toe) sidelined, Melvin Gordon played on 79% of Broncos snaps in Week 2 -- which was the fifth-highest rate among RBs.
Jeff Driskel will now take over for the injured Drew Lock (shoulder) over the next couple of weeks and it’s a huge problem for the Broncos offense at large. Dating back to 2018, Driskel ranks fifth-worst in sack rate (9.5%), second-worst in yards per attempt (6.2), and third-worst in completion rate (58.7%).
Detroit Lions
The Lions are rolling with a three-man committee at running back and none of these backs can be trusted in fantasy any time soon. Their snaps so far: D’Andre Swift (54), Kerryon Johnson (39), and Adrian Peterson (39).
Even with Kenny Golladay (hamstring) sidelined, T.J. Hockenson ranks 20th among TEs in target share (13%).
Green Bay Packers
Through two games, only Alvin Kamara (17) has seen more targets than Aaron Jones (14) among running backs.
Since the start of 2019, only Christian McCaffrey (17) and Ezekiel Elliott (15) have more games of 15+ PPR points than Jones (13).
Packers second-round pick A.J. Dillon has played just 12 snaps so far.
Houston Texans
The Texans have run just 119 plays so far, the third-fewest in the NFL.
For some reason, HC Bill O’Brien refuses to call designed runs for Deshaun Watson. Per SIS, Watson has just 1 designed carry while Cam Newton has a league-high 19.
O’Brien also refuses to use play-action to his advantage. The Texans have called a play-action pass on just 19% of their plays so far, which is the seventh-lowest rate in the league.
Watson is averaging 8.9 yards per pass attempt on play-action passes (12th-best).
Indianapolis Colts
After seeing 15 touches in Week 1, Nyheim Hines had just one reception on 9 snaps in Week 2.
Jonathan Taylor handled 67% of the Colts snaps and 26-of-35 carries (74%).
Taylor saw 24-of-28 Colts’ carries in the first three quarters against the Vikings (86%).
In his career, T.Y. Hilton has averaged just 57.3 yards and 11.4 fantasy points per game in 38 career starts without Andrew Luck. When Luck played, Hilton averaged 79.3 yards and 15.5 fantasy points per game.
Jacksonville Jaguars
James Robinson has handled 32 of the Jaguars 34 carries so far (RBs only).
Laviska Shenault has more designed (7) than receptions (6).
After seeing 21% of Jags’ targets last year, D.J. Chark has just an 11% target share through two games.
Kansas City Chiefs
After not seeing any targets in Week 1, Clyde Edwards-Helaire got eight in Week 2 against the Chargers (6/32 receiving).
CEH also had a big gain of 20+ yards on a seam route erased due to penalty this past week.
Travis Kelce has finished as a TE1 (top-12) in weekly scoring in 16 of his last 18 games. Unrivaled consistency.
Las Vegas Raiders
Darren Waller leads all tight ends in target share (39%).
Even with the addition of Henry Ruggs, Derek Carr isn’t stretching the field that often. His average depth of throw (aDOT) is 6.7 yards downfield. Carr’s aDOT in 2019 was 6.9 yards and in 2018 it was 7.1 yards.
It appears that the Raiders weren’t lying about getting Josh Jacobs more involved on passing downs. He has run 35 routes (and seen 9 targets) so far. For reference, Aaron Jones has run 36 routes through the first two games.
Los Angeles Chargers
Austin Ekeler has now seen 20 touches in back-to-back games.
In six career games without Melvin Gordon, Ekeler has seen 18, 24, 16, 23, 20, and 20 touches.
In these games, Ekeler is averaging 120.9 scrimmage yards.
Justin Herbert’s 311 yards in his first career start ranks third-most all-time behind only Cam Newton (422) and Robert Griffin (320).
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams have used play-action on a league-high 48% of Jared Goff’s pass attempts. Last year LA used play-action 32% of the time (second-most).
Goff is averaging 9.3 yards per pass attempt and has completed 73% of his attempts when using play-action.
The Rams have led on 75% of their offensive plays so far -- which is the third-highest rate in the league behind the Ravens (79%) and Ravens (82%).
LA has gone 57% run-heavy when they’ve been ahead on the scoreboard, which is even more run-heavy than Baltimore (54%).
Miami Dolphins
Myles Gaskin (88) has out-snapped Matt Breida (30) and Jordan Howard (17) by a massive margin through two games.
Howard’s 13 carries have gone for 11 yards.
Howard has five carries inside of the 10-yard line (red-zone) while Gaskin has just one.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings have run just 98 plays so far, which is the fewest amount in the NFL through Week 2.
The Vikings are averaging just 2:01 time of possession per drive, the worst clip in the NFL.
The Vikings have converted just 33% of their third-downs, which is the third-worst rate in the NFL.
Kirk Cousins’ QB rating is 61.9, worst in the NFL.
New England Patriots
19 of Cam Newton’s 26 carries have been designed (per SIS).
Newton and Ezekiel Elliott are tied for the league lead in carries inside of the 10-yard line (9).
Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry are co-team leaders in targets (18).
New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees’ average depth of throw (aDOT) downfield is just 5.2 yards through two games, which is the lowest clip in the league by far.
Last year, Brees’ aDOT was 6.9 yards (third-lowest).
Brees has attempted just two passes that have traveled more than 15 yards downfield this season (out of 68 attempts).
New York Giants
- 46% of Darius Slayton’s career fantasy points have come in just three games (out of 16 total).
New York Jets
- Have they fired Adam Gase yet?
Philadelphia Eagles
It’s official. Miles Sanders is a bell cow. In Week 2, Sanders played on 78% of the Eagles snaps and set a career-high in opportunities (attempts + targets) with 27.
Sanders ran a route on 32 of Carson Wentz’s 45 dropbacks (71%) per PFF.
Jalen Reagor and DeSean Jackson are the clear 1A and 1B receivers for the Eagles. They have run 68 and 66 routes, respectively, while the next closest receiver is Greg Ward (32 routes).
Pittsburgh Steelers
After getting injured (or benched?) in the opener, the Steelers gave James Conner his bell-cow role back in Week 2. He played on 77% of the Steelers snaps and handled 16-of-19 RB carries (84%).
Is Diontae Johnson already the No. 1 wide receiver here? He has 23 targets so far, which is tied with Amari Cooper for second-most. JuJu Smith-Schuster has 14 targets.
San Francisco 49ers
- Kendrick Bourne (28 routes) and Brandon Aiyuk (25) led the 49ers in routes in Week 2 followed by Jordan Reed (20).
Seattle Seahawks
In Week 1, the Seahawks passed on 60% of their early downs (1st and 2nd).
In Week 2, they passed on 47% of their early downs.
In the two previous seasons, the Seahawks passed on just 45% of their early downs -- which was the second-lowest rate in the league.
Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf are seeing highly concentrated usage, as expected. They duo has combined to see 50% of the team’s targets and 75% of the air yards.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
After getting just five carries in his Bucs’ debut, Leonard Fournette out-touched (16 to 9), out-gained (116 to 27 scrimmage yards), and saw more snaps (26 to 21) than Ronald Jones in Week 2.
Fournette even ran more pass routes than Jones (12 to 10).
Tennessee Titans
Without A.J. Brown (knee), the Titans split their targets as follows: Adam Humphries (6), Corey Davis (5), Jonnu Smith (5), Anthony Firkser (4), and Derrick Henry (2).
In 14 regular season starts, Ryan Tannehill is averaging 20.1 fantasy points per game with the Titans.
Last year, Russell Wilson averaged 20.4 fantasy points per game.
Washington
Well, it only took a week. But OC Scott Turner already saw enough of Peyton Barber. After seeing 29 snaps in the opener, Barber got just 1 snap in Week 2.
Antonio Gibson handled 65% of the team’s snaps, got 15 of the 24 opportunities (attempts + targets), and ran more routes than J.D. McKissic (22 to 13).
