Numbers matter in fantasy football. There’s no denying that. Passing yards are measured in numbers. Receiving TDs are measured in numbers. Rushing yards, receptions, interceptions, rushing TDs – that’s right, all numbers. The most critical fantasy number is points scored. Score more than your opponent, and you win. Score even a fraction of a point less, and you lose.
In the world of fantasy football, numbers are everything. Fantasy owners can read the box score of every game every week, but that doesn’t always tell the whole story. Numbers without context are meaningless. Some numbers matter more than others, some are good predictors of future behavior, some are fluky and hard to consistently forecast, and others merely reinforce what our eyes already tell us about a particular player.
This week, I’m going to look at one stat that stood out from the Week 9 games for every team. Once again, let’s go “By the Numbers.”
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Arizona Cardinals
321 – total yards of offense in Week 9
The offense expectedly ran much better under new OC Byron Leftwich, racking up the most yards of the season for this struggling offense. Larry Fitzgerald had his most targets, receptions, and yards of the season, and David Johnson had his second 100-scrimmage yard game of the year. Expect the Cardinals’ skill players to have a better second half of the season with improved schemes and play-calling.
Atlanta Falcons
396.4 – Fantasy points pace for Matt Ryan following Week 9
Matt Ryan threw four more TDs in Week 9, and he is on pace to shatter his career high in fantasy points (347.5) achieved in his 2016 MVP season. Through eight games in 2016, Matt Ryan was the QB1, and he finished the season as the QB2. He had 182.3 points through his first eight games. This year, Ryan has 198.2 fantasy points through his first eight games, and he ranks as the QB2. His 19 TDs and three INTs put him on pace for 38/6 TD/INT for the season – his final 2016 numbers were 38/7. He’s also on pace for a career high in passing yards (5,370). Ryan is an elite QB1 this year despite the Falcons’ struggles.
Baltimore Ravens
23 – points allowed by Baltimore in its third consecutive loss
For the third week in a row, Baltimore’s defense allowed at least 23 points after allowing more than 14 points only once through the team’s first six games. In Weeks 1-6, Baltimore allowed a total of 77 points, including one shutout. Over the last three games, this defense has allowed 83 points, nearly 28 per game. Following Week 6, the Baltimore D/ST was second in fantasy points, but after three bad games, they are the D/ST14. They have some tough matchups against good offenses coming up, and the Ravens are no longer a must-start D/ST.
Buffalo Bills
9.2 – Career INT percentage for Nathan Peterman
The sophomore QB from Pitt has been terrible, but the memes and Wikipedia updates still don’t put his historically bad performance into perspective. Peterman has a career 3/12 TD/INT mark with a 32.5 passer rating. He also had a 0.0 passer rating in the season opener, a bludgeoning by Baltimore. Peterman has thrown his 12 career INTs in just 130 pass attempts, and he boosts any D/ST he is facing to elite levels. The New York Jets D/ST is the top play of the week at that position for Week 10.
Carolina Panthers
7 – Cam Newton’s streak of consecutive games with multiple TD passes
Newton now has seven consecutive games with at least two TD passes this season after tossing two in Carolina’s win over the Bucs in Week 9. His previous high was four in a row in 2012, and he has the longest streak in the NFL of its kind this season after Matthew Stafford put up a dud against Minnesota. Newton has been a new man under OC Norv Turner, and his completion percentage of 67.3% is easily the highest of his career. Keep rolling with him as a “set and forget” QB1.
Chicago Bears
3 – Jordan Howard’s rushing TDs in his last two games
He was largely written off after a poor start to the season, but Howard has bounced back, crossing the end zone three times in his last two games and four times in his last four. His YPC (3.5) average is terrible, but he has still gotten nearly 16 carries per game and scored five rushing TDs already. He’s TD-dependent to be sure, but at the rate the scores are coming, he should be a top-25 play moving forward.
Cincinnati Bengals
138 – Tyler Boyd’s reception yards in Week 8
Boyd went off for a 9-138-1 line in Week 8, and he should take his hot hand into a juicy Week 10 matchup with the Saints’ generous pass defense which allows the most FPPG to WRs. Boyd leads the Bengals in receptions and is only slightly behind A.J. Green in receiving yards. Green is expected to miss at least two weeks, but he could very well miss the rest of the season due to a foot injury. Boyd should be a locked-in WR1 while Green is out.
Cleveland Browns
5.77 – Jarvis Landry’s yards per target
Landry is the NFL’s second-most targeted receiver (101) just slightly behind Adam Thielen (103). He’s also one of the NFL’s least efficient receivers compiling only 578 yards on his ridiculous amount of targets. Of the 43 players with at least 50 targets this year, Landry is second-worst in yards per target at 5.77, just a fraction of a point better than his teammate Antonio Callaway (50 targets, 287 yards, 5.74 yards per target). Landry ranks behind players such as Kelvin Benjamin, Donte Moncrief, Corey Davis, and Nelson Agholor in that category.
He’s also sixth in catch percentage at 54.46 meaning he’s only hauled in 55 balls this year. Landry is not the PPR darling we thought him to be, and he can’t be treated as an every-week starter even with the enormous workload. The emergence of Duke Johnson and health of Rashard Higgins will further damper his appeal.
Dallas Cowboys
8 – Amari Cooper’s targets in his Cowboys debut
Welcome to Dallas, young man. Cooper started his Cowboy career off right going 5-58-1 on eight targets, including two targets in the red zone. He led the Cowboys in all receiving categories. Coop had a great game despite a tough matchup with Tennessee’s solid pass defense. He has a great matchup with Philadelphia in Week 10, and matchups with Atlanta, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay are coming. He’s a backend WR2 for the rest of the season.
Denver Broncos
85 – Percentage of snaps for Courtland Sutton in Week 9
As expected, Sutton stepped into a much larger workload following the Demaryius Thomas trade prior to Week 9. He played his highest percentage of snaps in this game, and he should continue to start opposite Emmanuel Sanders with no WR depth on this team. He only went 3-57 in this game, but he’s still a quality WR3 rest of season.
Detroit Lions
83.0 – Matthew Stafford’s passer rating in Week 9
It was Stafford’s first game without Golden Tate since Tate arrived in Detroit in 2014, and the Lions lost in embarrassing fashion 24-9 to the Minnesota Vikings. Tate didn’t miss a game for the Lions in four and a half years, so it’s unclear how Stafford will fair from here on out. It’s worth noting that from 2009 – 2013, Stafford had an 83.1 passer rating and 7.0 yards per attempt without Tate. From 2014 – 2017 with Tate, Stafford had a 93.7 passer rating and 7.3 yards per attempt. From 2009 – 2013, his INT% was 2.9, and it dropped to 1.9% with Tate from 2014 – 2017. The loss of Stafford’s most targeted receiver over the last four years certainly does not help his rest of season outlook.
Green Bay Packers
101 – Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s receiving yards in Week 9
Valdes-Scantling is one of the week’s hottest waiver wire adds because he went for 101 yards in Week 9, marking the fourth week in a row that he’s either scored or topped 100 yards. Although he only had three receptions, he received six targets, totaling 27 over his last four games. Geronimo Allison just went to the IR, and Randall Cobb is a bust this year. MVS is looking like the Pack’s clear number two option and a great fantasy asset for the second half of the season.
Houston Texans
31.5 – DeAndre Hopkins‘ target share
Hopkins currently owns a 31.5% share of his team’s targets. Although Demaryius Thomas had a good showing in his first game with Houston (3-61), he won’t challenge Hopkins for targets. The same is true of Keke Coutee and all other Texans’ pass-catchers. Hopkins is a must-start WR, and it’s clear that DT and Coutee will only carry significant value if Hop misses time. Thomas can be a flex in the right matchup, and Coutee can’t be played right now.
Indianapolis Colts
28.9 – Percentage of passes Andrew Luck has thrown to TEs this season
Luck loves throwing to TEs. In his last two fully healthy seasons, 2014 and 2016, he targeted TEs a whopping 26% of the time. This season, he ranks fourth in the NFL in TE target share with 28.9%. He made Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen fantasy relevant in the not-so-distant past, and he just got the reliable Jack Doyle back from injury. With six games off, Doyle returned to the Colts lineup in Week 8 and outsnapped Eric Ebron handily. He’s a weekly TE1 for the rest of the season, and Ebron should still be startable even if his production takes a hit.
Jacksonville Jaguars
7 – T.J. Yeldon’s receptions in Week 8
He grabbed seven balls for 83 yards on nine targets in the Jags’ loss to the Eagles in London in Week 8, leading the team in receiving yards. Yeldon leads the Jags in receptions (37) and receiving TDs (four) and is fourth on the team in receiving yards. Even if Leonard Fournette returns at full health (unlikely), Yeldon should still retain his role as the primary pass-catching back on this team. He will remain fantasy relevant, especially in PPR leagues.
Kansas City Chiefs
103.3 – Kareem Hunt’s fantasy points since Week 6
Hunt is actually the highest scoring back in standard leagues over the last four weeks, outscoring even Todd Gurley, who has the second-most points over that time. Gurley is the highest scoring PPR RB over the last four weeks, and Hunt is second, but the two are separated by less than 1.5 points in either format. Hunt was the RB7 in standard and the RB10 in PPR for the first five weeks of the season, but he has come alive as of late. Consider him a top-five play every single week as he keeps his hot streak going.
Los Angeles Chargers
124 – Keenan Allen’s receiving yards in Week 9
It was his first 100-yard receiving game since Week 1. Through Weeks 1-8 of this season, Allen ranked as the WR25 in standard and the WR21 in PPR. Through Weeks 1-8 last year, he was the WR19 in standard leagues and the WR13 in PPR. He then went off in the second half of the season, finishing as the WR3 in both formats from Weeks 9-16. Allen owners who spent a second-round pick on him have been disappointed thus far, but the hope is that he can replicate last year’s strong finish. The 124-yard receiving effort was certainly a nice start.
Los Angeles Rams
274 – Combined yards for the Rams’ top three WRs in Week 9
The lethal trio of Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, and Brandin Cooks had another great game. All three receivers are now on pace for 1,000 yards each this season, and Kupp seems fully healthy after missing his last two games. This thousand yard trio would be just the sixth in NFL history, most recently accomplished in 2008 when the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston did it. You obviously had no doubts about starting any of these receivers, but it will be exciting to see just how historically great this receiving corps ends up by the end of the season.
Miami Dolphins
21 – Frank Gore’s total touches in Week 9
He out-touched Kenyan Drake 21-7 in this one, further confusing this frustrating RBBC. Through nine games, Gore has received double-digit carries in six consecutive games. Drake has only received double-digit carries four times this year. The total touches per game slightly favor Gore 111-104, while Drake holds a 572-506 scrimmage yards advantage. Both players should be avoided in lineups, and Drake has become a volatile fantasy player. It’s almost impossible to predict his usage on a weekly basis.
Minnesota Vikings
109 – Dalvin Cook’s total yards in Week 9
It was his first game since Week 4, and it looks like his hamstring issues are behind him. Cookie had himself a day, pounding out 89 yards on the ground and catching four balls for an additional 20 yards. He broke an impressive 70+ yard run and was tackled just short of the goal line, and he doesn’t look like he’s lost a step. He has a Week 10 bye to rest up further, but if he stays fully healthy, Cook is an easy RB2 the rest of the way.
New England Patriots
10 – Josh Gordon’s Week 9 targets
After years of addiction and uncertainty and being cut by the Browns, Gordon is thriving on a Super Bowl contender. It’s hard not to root for him. Gordon’s story is amazing from a football fan standpoint, and his fantasy story this year is terrific too. Over the last four weeks, Gordon is the third-most targeted Patriot behind James White (37) and Julian Edelman (35). He tied for the team lead with 10 targets in Week 9, and he led the Patriots in receiving yards. He’s a clear WR2 moving forward as his snap count and rapport with Tom Brady seemingly grows every week.
New Orleans Saints
4 – Drew Brees‘ TD passes in Week 9
It’s his fourth game of the season with at least three TD passes, and he shows no signs of slowing down. Brees is having an excellent statistical season, tossing 18 TDs and only one INT in eight games. His production could increase further now that the Saints have signed Dez Bryant, who would provide a solid option opposite Michael Thomas. Brees is matchup proof in fantasy.
New York Giants
94.7 – Odell Beckham’s career receiving YPG
He ranks second all-time behind only Julio Jones (97.0), and the two are head and shoulders over the rest of the pack. A distant third on the list of receiving yards per game is Calvin Johnson (86.1). Beckham will continue to be force-fed targets from Eli Manning, and even as the Giants go off the rails, OBJ is locked into a monster workload this year.
New York Jets
55 – Elijah McGuire’s percentage of snaps played in Week 9
He outsnapped “lead back” Isaiah Crowell 36-23 in his first game of the season. While Crow got more touches (14-10 advantage), McGuire led the RBs in scrimmage yards, finishing with 67 to Crowell’s 60. McGuire should be rostered everywhere, and he’s a dark horse for the remaining games.
Oakland Raiders
151.9 – Nick Mullens‘ passer rating in Week 9
Mullens, the 49ers’ third-stringer, got the nod on TNF and proceeded to shred an awful Raiders defense. His 151.9 passer rating is the highest ever by a QB in his debut. I picked up the Raiders D/ST just hours before kickoff with the news of the Mullens start, and I (like many frustrated owners) regretted that move pretty quickly. Oakland’s D/ST is completely unplayable even in seemingly stellar matchups, and they are the lowest-scoring D/ST in fantasy. This team is going nowhere fast.
Philadelphia Eagles
44.5 – Percentage of passes to WRs this season
That’s the lowest percentage in the league. The addition of Golden Tate to the receiving corps should do wonders for Carson Wentz who has a dearth of reliable options behind Alshon Jeffery. Expect Tate to draw quality looks early and often working out of the slot. He’s a WR2 in PPR and a flex in standard leagues.
Pittsburgh Steelers
2,170 & 22 – James Conner’s full-season pace for scrimmage yards and TDs
Le’Veon Schmeveon. Conner has been a revelation in Pittsburgh, and Bell isn’t missed. At this point in the season, Conner is on pace for 2,180 scrimmage yards and 22 total TDs. In Bell’s best season, 2014, he racked up 2,215 scrimmage yards and 11 total TDs with 83 receptions. Conner’s scrimmage yards totals are not far off, and he’s scoring TDs at a much higher rate than Bell. Conner is also on pace for 76 receptions. He’s an obvious weekly must-start, and the gap between he and Bell is small and closing fast. Conner owners shouldn’t be freaking out about Bell’s potential return.
San Francisco 49ers
15.0 – Points scored by San Francisco’s D/ST in Week 9
They were a top-five fantasy D/ST in Week 9, and they’ve been the D/ST2 over the last two weeks combined. This unit now gets the turnover-prone New York Giants before a bye and a decent rest of season schedule. At only 20% owned in Yahoo! the 49ers make a quality streaming defense for Week 10 and beyond.
Seattle Seahawks
31.8 – Seattle’s rushing attempts per game this season
Seattle leads the league in rushing attempts this year, and that makes the Seahawks’ starting RB a valuable fantasy commodity. The ‘Hawks rushed 32 times in Week 9, keeping in line with the season average of 31.8. Chris Carson is unlikely to play in Week 10, and Mike Davis is a solid waiver wire addition. The Seahawks’ backfield has been an utter nightmare since Marshawn Lynch left the team three years ago, but if a clear starter emerges, he could be the ticket to a fantasy championship.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
7 – Games of at least 54 receiving yards for O.J. Howard
Howard has reached 54 receiving yards in all but one game he’s played in this season, and he’s scored five TDs along the way. He crossed the end zone twice in Week 9, and he will be an obvious TE1 every week. He has one of the safest floors among fantasy TEs. Only Travis Kelce and George Kittle have at least seven games of 54 or more receiving yards among TEs this season. That’s pretty good company.
Tennessee Titans
22.8 – Marcus Mariota fantasy points in Week 9
Mariota finished this one with two passing TDs and a rushing TD, good for the QB7 finish in Week 9. He and the Titans offense have been pretty bad this season, but he faces New England’s eighth-most QB friendly defense in Week 10 and a beatable Colts team in a divisional matchup in Week 11. His schedule is tough after that, but finally fully healthy, he’s a nice bye-week streamer for the next couple games.
Washington Redskins
125 – Maurice Harris receiving yards in Week 9
Unbelievably, he was the first 100-yard receiver of the season for the Redskins, showing just how irrelevant this passing attack is for fantasy football. If Jamison Crowder misses Week 10, Harris could be in for another big workload, and Washington gets the Buccaneers’ generous pass defense in Week 10. He’s great as a super-cheap DFS dart-throw or a bye-week filler, but it’s hard to imagine him making a long-term fantasy impact this season.
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Zachary Hanshew is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Zachary, check out his archive and follow him @zakthemonster.
