For a massive undertaking like Fantasy Points Data, we need a large team of dedicated and educated charting professionals to ensure that our statistics can be posted on the website accurately and quickly.
While the data-charting process is, by nature, objective, our team will form opinions about what they saw, given we have to watch every play multiple times.
Every week, we’ll select the most notable observations and back them up with the objective data we’ve become known for.
Here are our top observations for 2024 NFL Week 14.
Week 14 Data Charter Observations
1. “When the Bills need offense, Josh Allen is the Kobe Bryant of the modern-day NFL. The Bills fell behind in this one, prompting Allen to have the ball in his hands nearly every play, and he did a damn good job in trying to mount a comeback. Allen connected with multiple receivers, took off when the play broke down, and converted three times on sneaks at the goal line. Even in a loss, the MVP race looks like it’s Allen’s to lose at this point.”
Despite falling to the Rams by a score of 44-42, Bills’ QB Josh Allen increased his lead in the 2024 NFL MVP race. Allen completed 22 of 37 passes for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns while adding 82 yards and another 3 touchdowns on the ground. He often looked downfield, with 8 deep throws in Week 14, but he excelled on short and intermediate throws with 15 completions for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns on passes that traveled between 0 and 19 yards downfield.
WR Amari Cooper easily had his best game in a Bills’ uniform with 95 yards, but left a little to be desired with only 6 catches on 14 targets and an enormous 249 air yards. If the pair can connect more frequently, Cooper will be a huge asset for the Bills’ passing game. The Bills have a marquee matchup next week as they travel to Detroit to take on the Lions in a matchup between two of the NFL’s best teams.
2. “A Vintage Tyreek game, using his cheetah-like speed to separate from defenders at the top of the routes and beating man coverage.”
Needing a win to stay in the playoff hunt, the Dolphins were able to pull out a 32-26 comeback win over the Jets. WR Tyreek Hill had been struggling this season, but came through with a big game in Week 14 with a season-high 10 catches for 115 yards and a critical score in the fourth quarter. Typically one of the more efficient WRs, Hill’s YPRR is significantly down on the season, but he was able to spike his YPRR to 2.95 against the Jets while seeing a healthy 11 first-read targets.
QB Tua Tagovailoa has seemingly returned to full health after an early-season concussion, as he has thrown for at least 288 yards and multiple scores in four straight games. With wins in four of their last five games, the Dolphins boosted their record to 6-7 to give themselves a chance at making the playoffs. Hill and company will look to continue their playoff push in a Week 15 game against the Texans, which features two good offenses.
3. “Sam Darnold was piling up yards and touchdowns to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, as Falcons defensive backs were lost and their front seven couldn’t get consistent pressure. Darnold did a great job escaping a sack for one of the touchdowns, but generally was able to benefit from lots of time to throw and allow the routes to develop.”
The Vikings pulled away in the fourth quarter en route to a 42-21 win in Kirk Cousins’ return to Minnesota. QB Sam Darnold tossed 5 touchdown passes to go along with 347 yards in a monster performance against the Falcons. The veteran was efficient with a 20.5% CPOE, 88.0% ADJ COMP%, 64.3% ACC%, and 78.6% CATCH%. The Vikings offensive line guided Darnold to his big game by allowing an excellent 2.50 TTP rate.
WRs Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson put on a show with a combined 15 catches for 265 yards and all 5 of Darnold’s touchdowns. Addison and Jefferson have been easy targets, with good win rates of 13.6% and 16.7% on the season. The Vikings host the Bears in Week 15, who have been struggling since their bye in Week 8, allowing 1,815 passing yards (2nd most).
4. “Jalen Hurts frequently gave up early on downfield throws, settling for underneath targets. DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown were open, but Hurts held the ball too long and would check it down too often. Hurts just looks so uneasy when dropping back to pass. With Saquon Barkley having the year he’s having and the defense playing well, there hasn’t been a need to open up the passing game. You could see the frustration on the sidelines numerous times from AJB.”
Winning usually cures everything, but a close 22-16 win over the Panthers in Week 14 seemed to have the opposite effect for the Eagles. WR AJ Brown could be seen on the sidelines voicing his frustrations with the passing game, and multiple Eagles’ players and coaches made headlines this week in the media discussing the struggles. RB Saquon Barkley is having a historic season, which has led the Eagles to attempt by far the fewest passes (328) in the NFL this season.
In turn, QB Jalen Hurts’ passing numbers are down on the year and it reached a breaking point in Week 14, as he threw for just 108 on 14/21 passing. Hurts held the ball too long averaging 3.30 TTT while posting a mediocre 5.7 aDOT and failing to register a deep throw. The “squeaky wheel” narrative will be tested next week against the Steelers as their defense has forced 15 interceptions to 14 passing touchdowns allowed on the season.
5. “A stepback for Jameis Winston in this one. Too many missed throws on third down and turnovers held the Browns’ offense back. The Steelers’ defense did a good job of plastering to receivers and pressuring Jameis all game. Certainly a difficult matchup, but Jameis looked overwhelmed in this one.”
Coming off a 497-yard performance, QB Jameis Winston returned to earth in a 27-14 loss to the Steelers in Week 14. Winston got off to a hot start with 62 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter, but would go on to throw for 150 yards and one touchdown with 2 interceptions over the final three quarters. The Steelers’ defense got after Winston all game, posting 19 pressures and forcing a 7.3% TWT% for Winston.
WR Jerry Jeudy was the only Browns’ pass catcher to post a good game with a 5/64/1 stat line and the only win rate over 10.0% on the team with a rate of 17.1%. The Browns take on the Chiefs in Week 15 and will be hard-pressed to produce offense as the Chiefs are surrendering 19.4 points per game (7th best).
6. “Joe Burrow made some great plays improvising and throwing on the run, hitting Ja’Marr Chase and Andrei Iosivas for some critical first downs. It’s unfortunate that they’re not in the playoff hunt based on how he has played this year, but he has bounced back strongly from last season’s wrist injury and is confident in making all the throws.”
The Bengals ended a three-game losing streak with a 27-20 win over the Cowboys in Week 14. Questions surrounding QB Joe Burrow’s health coming into the season have been answered with resounding results as Burrow leads the NFL in both passing yards (3706) and touchdowns (33). Burrow has been on fire with five straight games over 250 passing yards and 3 or more touchdowns. While Burrow has been lighting it up, WR Ja’Marr Chase has been otherworldly, registering 645 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns in that five-game span.
Needing a win in Week 14, Burrow peppered Chase with 18 targets, good for 14 catches for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns. It comes as little surprise that Chase led the NFL in ASS with a rate of 0.364. With their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, the Bengals square off against the Titans’ defense, who have surrendered the fewest passing yards (2,462) on the season.
7. “Continuing with the trend of vanilla offenses, the Cardinals have too much talent offensively to struggle this much. The red zone woes are a real thing, and the passing concepts in the tight spaces of the red zone make no sense. You can just about bet that at least one of the three plays will be a goal-line fade to Marvin Harrison Jr. If that fails, they might run a bootleg action with Trey McBride hitting a corner route. The fact that McBride has no receiving touchdowns speaks to the offense's inability to utilize their biggest target in the most important area of the field.”
The Cardinals’ grip on the NFC West lead took a major hit in Week 14 following a second loss in three games to the Seahawks by a score of 30-18. QB Kyler Murray led a touchdown drive on the opening series of the game, culminating in a 41-yard touchdown pass to WR Michael Wilson. After that, the Cardinals quickly fell behind, trailing 17-7 by the end of the first quarter while Murray struggled to move the ball the rest of the game. He finished the game with 259 yards and 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on the day.
A major issue for the Cardinals’ offense is the inability to get TE Trey McBride into the end zone. McBride leads the Cardinals with 851 receiving yards including a team-high 69 in the red zone, however, he somehow has yet to score a touchdown on the season. Now at 6-7 on the season, the Cardinals have back-to-back winnable games against the Patriots and Panthers before wrapping up the season with divisional games against the Rams and 49ers.
8. “While Deebo Samuel continues to struggle, Jauan Jennings continues to shine. Jennings, coupled with George Kittl,e got open with ease all game and were too much to deal with in the red zone. Jennings’ ability to get open in small areas helped cure the 49ers’ red zone problems, at least for this game.”
After failing to score more than 17 points in the past three games (all losses), the 49ers got their offense back on track with a 38-13 win at home against the Bears. QB Brock Purdy turned in an efficient performance completing 20 of 25 passes for 325 yards and 2 scores. TE George Kittle and WR Jauan Jennings made life easy for Purdy by racking up 13 catches for 241 yards and 2 touchdowns combined in Week 14. Kittle was a beast after the catch totaling 103 YAC, while Jennings was open all game registering an ASS of 0.190 on his way to a 2-score game.
Although Kittle and Jennings continue to have great seasons, WR Deebo Samuel has been underperforming, particularly recently. HC Kyle Shanahan tried to get Samuel involved by calling 5 run plays for Samuel, but the WR could only gain 13 yards on the 5 attempts. In the passing game, Samuel registered his fourth straight game with 22 or fewer receiving yards and zero touchdowns. The 49ers have a quick turnaround on Thursday Night Football as they host the Rams in a pivotal divisional game.
Bonus Observations
Jets RB Isaiah Davis — Davis looked every bit like an NFL-caliber running back. Call me crazy, but he reminded me a bit of Chase Brown, with a unique burst and ability to make defenders miss in small spaces, and excellent hands out of the backfield. In my opinion, he had the best burst of any Jets’ RB this season. Davis scored in his second straight game while forcing 3 missed tackles and averaging 2.40 YACO/ATT.
Saints RB Kendre Miller — Miller has been reborn! His anger and aggression can be highlighted by his touchdown run, where he refused to go down, and the entire offensive line helped push him over the goal line. This looks like a player with something to prove, and that will be important going forward, potentially without QB Derek Carr. Miller saw 10 carries for 32 yards and one touchdown to go along with 6 MTFs.
Raiders RB Sincere McCormick — McCormick looked explosive. He had multiple big runs and even had some catches in the passing game. With other Raiders’ backs playing poorly all season, McCormick was a spark for this offense that they desperately need. McCormick led the Raiders in rushing for the third straight game with 78 yards on 15 carries, thanks to a 3.13 YACO/ATT rate.
