For a massive undertaking like Fantasy Points Data, we need a large team of dedicated and educated charting professionals to ensure that we are able to get statistics posted on the website both accurately and quickly.
While the data-charting process is, by nature, objective, our team will obviously 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 2.
Week 2 Data Charter Observations
1. “The Saints really utilized their motions and TEs/HBs to create multiple mismatches in the run game. We all know Taysom Hill is a Swiss army knife, used as a TE/FB/HB, etc. But beyond that, the way they use Foster Moreau as a bully TE, and they rotate a variety of fullbacks using Taysom and others. These player packages and crack-down motions create a lot of cut-back lanes and gaps for Kamara to look like he did in the good old days. But they use it in the pass game too, and Carr is thriving in it.”
One of the biggest early season storylines in the 2024 NFL season is the revival of QB Derek Carr and the Saints offense in general. OC Klint Kubiak has seemingly unlocked this offense to the tune of 91 points scored in the first two games. RB Alvin Kamara has a 73.1% success rate in zone concepts and a 77.8% success rate in man concepts, both ranking top-6 among all RBs (minimum 5 carries). Success on the ground has opened up the whole field for Carr as he is crushing play-action. Carr has 200 passing yards (4th most), a 20% deep throw rate (3rd most), and 0.72 FP/DB (4th most) on play-action passes. With most of the league struggling to get their offenses in gear, the Saints have come roaring out of the gate and will look to continue their offensive onslaught against the Eagles next week.
2. “Brock Bowers is a beast. Lining up in the slot as a receiver, getting designed screens at least 3-4 times throughout the game, and routinely beating Brandon Stephens in the slot with speed and leverage.”
Tight end production across the league has been a bit muted through Week 2, but the brightest spot so far has been Raiders’ rookie TE Brock Bowers. The former Georgia Bulldog entered 2024 as a generational prospect and has jumped out to a league-leading (among TEs) 156 receiving yards. Against man coverage, Bowers currently ranks 3rd with an ASS of .300, and despite depressed separation metrics against zone coverage, he has produced 3.11 YPRR in such coverages, good for 3rd-best among TEs. Fire away on Bowers in Week 3 DFS, as he squares off with the Panthers defense which is allowing a healthy 18.5 FP/G to opposing TEs.
3. “If there were any questions about who the alpha is in TEN, that question has been answered – it’s Calvin Ridley. Yes, maybe Hopkins needs to get healthy but Ridley is constantly being put in motion, runs a more diverse route tree, and still has the downfield speed to his game.”
The Titans spent big on WR Calvin Ridley in the offseason to bolster their receiving corps, and he is off to a great start in his sixth NFL season. Titans’ HC Brian Callahan spoke about Ridley playing the Ja'Marr Chase role, and while teammate DeAndre Hopkins works his way back from a preseason injury, Ridley has stepped right into that position. Ridley currently sits atop the league lead in air yards share at a 60% clip and is averaging an insane aDOT of 23.3 (second among WRs minimum 10 routes). QB Will Levis will need to play better to elevate Ridley and company, as Levis owns the 5th highest turnover-worth throw percentage at 8.3% (not including this crazy attempted dump off).
4. “Charbonnet did not look great. He was frequently contacted near the line of scrimmage and failed to make defenders miss. He does try to push through contact, but it is hard to gain yards when running into defensive linemen and linebackers. They seemed to only run to keep the defense honest. Longest run was 9 yards.”
Seahawks’ starting RB Kenneth Walker missed Week 2 with an oblique injury forcing second-year RB Zach Charbonnet into a full-time role. Although New England’s defense is a solid unit, Charbonnet struggled to create explosive plays registering zero explosive runs while averaging 0.50 yards before contact per attempt (54th among RBs). Blocking certainly could have been better, but to make things worse, Charbonnet only forced 1 missed tackle (0.07 MTF/ATT). Breaking tackles was a problem for Charbonnet in his rookie season as well, when he averaged 0.13 MTF/ATT (t-93rd among RBs) in 2023. The Seahawks leaned heavily on QB Geno Smith and the passing game by attempting 44 passes and will need Walker back to keep this offense from being too one-dimensional. Until Walker’s return, we should expect a bump in volume and production from Seattle’s pass-catchers.
5. “Kelce looked slow out there, oftentimes it looked like he was not playing with a sense of urgency.”
In the offseason, Chiefs’ HC Andy Reid spoke about limiting TE Travis Kelce during the regular season to keep him fresh for the playoffs. A strategy they deployed in the second half of 2023, which worked well considering Kelce returned to his elite status en route to a Super Bowl run where Kelce was the clear top option in the Chiefs’ passing game. This season has opened with a continuation of their second half strategy for Kelce as the future Hall-of-Famer has just a 64.5% route percentage and an 11.% target percentage (both 18th among TEs). He has parlayed that into a disappointing 4 catches for 39 yards through 2 games. Things could have been better for Kelce against the Bengals as he had a 41-yard catch and run called back along with getting tackled at the 1-yardline on a screen pass that counted as a run. Perhaps the emergence of WR Rashee Rice as the alpha for Kansas City has more to do with Kelce’s production. However moving forward, QB Patrick Mahomes will need to boost Kelce’s involvement especially since the Chiefs will be without WR Marquise Brown (IR) for most if not all of the 2024 regular season
6. “Trent McDuffie is still a jack of all trades. We can’t really call it a shadow on Chase on Sunday, but McDuffie mixed in a lot more slot snaps than I expected. Oftentimes against Irwin. When McDuffie played the slot, Nazeeh Johnson played outside CB frequently, and Burrow looked to attack that matchup when possible.”
Chiefs’ All-Pro CB Trent McDuffie has been tasked with filling the void left behind by former teammate CB L’Jarius Snead and McDuffie was once again up to the challenge in Week 2. The Bengals entered the matchup short-handed at WR leaving Ja’Marr Chase as the main focal point of their passing attack. While McDuffie was not in full shadow coverage on Chase, the two matched up on 19 routes with McDuffie surrendering just 2 completions for 10 yards on 3 targets. Chiefs’ DC Steve Spagnuolo has made it difficult for opposing WR1s to produce, forcing teams to find other ways of moving the ball. QB Kirk Cousins and the Falcons will take their turn at solving this Chiefs’ defense in a Week 3 primetime matchup on Sunday Night Football.
7. “Trevor Lawrence’s internal play clock is pretty slow. Every time you would think his clock would go off for him to scramble, he just freezes and gets sacked. The Browns were able to get home with 4 rushers too often, including a pivotal safety in the 4th. Brian Thomas dusted Martin Emerson on an out-and-up route on the play but Lawrence was getting sacked already.”
A pair of close losses for QB Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars were not the ideal start to the season that the Jaguars were looking for. After signing a 5-year $275 million contract in the offseason, Lawrence was expected to take a step forward to help lead the Jaguars back to the playoffs and his play thus far has been subpar, including a historically poor turnover-worthy throw rate in Week 2. Offensive line play needs to be better as they have allowed an average time-to-pressure rate of 2.45 seconds (6th highest) against 4-man rushes and a 2.32 TTP rate overall (2nd highest). The Jaguars are entering a critical stretch of games (@ Buffalo, @ Houston, vs. Indianapolis, vs. (neutral) Chicago) where they need to avoid falling behind in the standings and Lawrence’s play will go a long way in determining their early season record.
8. “Consensus opinion will be that Anthony Richardson played bad today and they’re probably right. But I noticed multiple drops, WRs and QB not on the same page for timing of the throw, and receivers slipping mid-throw.”
Accuracy for Colts’ QB Anthony Richardson will always be a talking point when it comes to this offense’s weekly output. Through two weeks, Colts’ pass catchers are seeing the lowest catchable ball rate at 70.6%. Not all of the blame can be placed on Richardson as WRs Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman have struggled to separate while registering ASS scores of .089 (92nd) and .000 (t-157th) respectively. That said, rookie WR Adonai Mitchell needs to be more involved in this offense. Mitchell has registered a 0.359 ASS (top 5 among qualified WRs) so far this season despite being only third among Colts’ WRs in route share at 68.9%. The return of second-year WR Josh Downs will also be a huge addition for Richardson after he has missed both games to start the season.
9. “It is a two game sample, against the NFL’s best in Maxx Crosby and Chris Jones, but the right side of the Ravens O-Line is looking to be their Achilles heel. Crosby managed incredibly disruptive pressure forcing quick releases, scrambles and Lamar to do Lamar things.”
Two losses to open the season were not what Ravens fans were expecting to begin 2024. The Ravens entered the year with some turnover along their offensive line particularly on the right side with RG Ben Cleveland and RT Roger Rosengarten taking on full time starter positions. Blocking the likes of Maxx Crosby and Chris Jones is a tall order for any linemen, however, the Ravens have struggled mightily to provide time for QB Lamar Jackson to push the ball down the field. Increased pressure has led to Jackson attempting 14 passes on either check downs or scrambles (2nd most), which is concerning considering he attempted 60 such passes in 2023 (17th most). The Ravens will need to tighten up their blocking to help right the ship after knocking everyone out of their survivor pools and getting off to an 0-2 start.
Bonus Observations
Saints WR Rashid Shaheed – After Rashid Shaheed’s 70-yard TD bomb, Cowboys’ CB Trevon Diggs basically shadowed Shaheed the rest of the game when lined up outside. We have back-to-back weeks now where Shaheed has exploded for a 50+ yard touchdown in the first quarter. Defenses are now starting to key in on him with the Cowboys using their top CB in Diggs to shadow Shaheed. Who better for Shaheed to face in Week 3 than the Philadelphia Eagles who are allowing the most receiving yards (236) in the league on deep targets?
Lions WR Jameson Williams – Williams was targeted on 4 of the first 6 pass plays, including a 50-yard catch. Once the Lions fell behind though, they really focused on Amon-ra St. Brown and the RBs. Jameson saw 6 more targets throughout the game and a 15-yard reverse. In Week 1, Jamo saw an insane 42.9% first read target percentage, which was a stat to monitor given that he never crossed 20.0% in any game in all of 2023. QB Jared Goff appears to want to continue peppering Jamo as he looked his way on 29.7% of his first reads in Week 2. With St. Brown suffering a late-game leg injury, Williams should be in line for another healthy amount of involvement heading into Week 3. The breakout season for Jameson Williams appears to be upon us.
Patriots TE Hunter Henry – Henry was the Patriots passing offense by showing off his veteran IQ and finding soft spots in zone coverage. Patriots’ QB Jacoby Brissett looks timid when pressing for throws down the field. It could be his lack of trust in the youth of the Patriots’ receiving corps, which leads him to find Henry as his safety valve. Against zone coverage on Sunday, Henry averaged a robust 9.91 YPRR, allowing him to account for 109 of Brissett’s 145 passing yards.
