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 6.
Week 6 Data Charter Observations
1. “Good luck projecting who Detroit's leader is in targets each week. With Tim Patrick seemingly hitting his stride, Detroit has five legitimate players deserving of targets. Also, Dallas showed little to no interest in defending the run. Multiple missed tackles and the defensive line getting blown off the ball were a massive issue.”
The Cowboys might need to volunteer to play every game on the road for the rest of the season as Dallas fell to 0-3 at Jerryworld, where they have allowed a staggering 119 points in 3 games. Lions’ QB Jared Goff and his plethora of weapons are the latest offense to have their way with the Cowboys defense, to the tune of 492 yards and 47 points while committing no turnovers. The Lions had 5 different players catch a pass that went for a gain of 20 or more yards, while dispersing their first read target share, with 4 different players seeing at least a 15% first read percentage. Beyond that, the Cowboys surrendered 2.86 YBCO/ATT (5th-highest in Week 6), allowing the RBs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs to control the game on the ground. A battle for the lead in the NFC North awaits the Lions in Week 7 with a matchup against the Vikings.
2. “Bijan Robinson had his first really solid game of the year on the ground, but the issue of him playing outside zone too fast continues to be present. Carolina being horrific against the run, especially outside runs, masked the issue, but Tyler Allgeier will most likely continue to get slightly more work than Bijan.”
A matchup with the Panthers and their 31st-ranked run defense was just what Bijan Robinson fantasy owners were looking for. Robinson helped lead the Falcons to a 38-20 victory in Week 6 with 105 total yards and 2 touchdowns. Teammate Tyler Allgeier was just as productive, with 108 yards and a touchdown of his own. On the season, the Falcons call mostly zone concepts on running plays, with Robinson and Allgeier having solid success rates of 58.0% and 59.0%. However, Allgeier sports a higher 5.38 YPC to Robinson’s 4.87 YPC on zone concepts. Week 7 brings a matchup with the Seahawks, who have coughed up the 5th-most rushing yards overall, including a healthy 5.14 YPC on zone concept run plays.
3. “Both the Steelers and Raiders struggled with negative plays, as RBs were often contacted and brought down in the backfield. Najee Harris was able to break several tackles and avoid getting stuffed.”
The Steelers were able to get back in the win column in Week 6 with a 32-13 victory on the road in Vegas against the Raiders. RB Najee Harris had his best game of the season in a favorable matchup, with 14 carries for 106 yards and his first touchdown on the season. To this point in the season, Harris struggled with breaking tackles, but was able to turn that around by nearly doubling his missed tackles forced count with 8 MTF while averaging 5.93 YACO/ATT. Attacking the Raiders on the ground was certainly the correct game plan, as the Raiders are bottom-10 in rushing yards allowed through six weeks while tying for the most missed tackles on run plays with 35. The Steelers will look to build on their best rushing game of the season in a primetime game with the Jets on Sunday Night Football in Week 7.
4. “Joe Mixon coming back from injury, appeared to still have some lingering issues. During his long run in the 2nd quarter, it looked as if he wasn’t running smoothly. Appeared to have what I would call a little hop.”
Held back by injury or not, RB Joe Mixon was a welcome sight for Texans fans as Mixon returned from a three-game absence to rack up 132 total yards and 2 touchdowns. The Texans outclassed the Patriots en route to a 41-21 win while leaning on Mixon and fellow RB Dameon Pierce who had 76 yards and a touchdown on the ground as well. Explosive plays were the biggest reason for the Texans' success on offense, as Mixon and Pierce generated 133 rushing yards on explosive runs. QB CJ Stroud tossed 3 touchdown passes and the Texans’ defense tacked on 4 turnovers to allow Houston to lead by double digits for the majority of the second half. Expect points next week as the Texans travel to Green Bay to take on the Packers in a showdown between two of the best offenses in the NFL.
5. “Antoine Winfield changes the complexion of the Buccaneers’ defensive backfield. When fully healthy, the Buccaneers defense is very good. The offense has a chest full of weapons, Baker Mayfield isn’t afraid to take chances, which has its good and bad. But with Antoine Winfield and Calijah Kancey healthy, the Buccaneers’ defense allows Baker to continue to air it out.”
Coming off a loss in Week 5 in which the Buccaneers’ defense surrendered 509 passing yards to the Falcons, S Antoine Winfield helped lead Tampa to a 51-27 win over the division-rival Saints. Saints’ rookie QB Spencer Rattler had success in the first half while completing 11 of 17 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown, but was held in check in the second half completing just 11 of 23 passes for 103 yards and 2 interceptions. Winfield had a crucial 58-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter, while teammate Calijah Kancey picked up a sack and 2 tackles for loss. With the defense shutting out the Saints in the second half, QB Baker Mayfield was able to rebound from 3 interceptions in the first half and lead 4 touchdown drives while throwing 2 touchdowns of his own. The Buccaneers host the Ravens in a marquee matchup where Baker will look to exploit the Ravens pass defense who has allowed the most passing yards in the NFL so far this season.
6. “While Buffalo won, games will continue to be difficult through the air as long as they have the WR group they have. Good secondaries will make Buffalo grind out yards in the pass game with no clear #1 and no truly reliable target for Josh Allen.”
Bills’ GM Brandon Beane saw the same thing our data team saw as he orchestrated a trade to bring WR Amari Cooper to Buffalo following their Week 6 win over the Jets. QB Josh Allen has been good for real-life football, but fantasy owners are wondering why they spent a high-round pick for just 193.3 passing yards per game through 6 weeks. Enter Amari Cooper, who is off to a dreadful start due in large part to the ghost of Deshaun Watson leading the Browns offense. WR Mack Hollins currently owns the highest win rate among Bills’ pass catchers at 18.7%. Cooper should help Allen boost his passing output, as Cooper registered a win rate of 18.9% in 2023 and 29.9% in 2022 despite totaling a disappointing 12.5% so far this season. We should get our first look at Cooper in a Bills uniform in Week 7 in a matchup with the Titans.
7. “Drake Maye might not be the second coming of Tom Brady, but he injects life into the most boring passing game in the NFL. He was clearly a bit overwhelmed early and sailed some passes, but he settled in and was able to keep plays alive and move the ball. He also provided some resemblance of a downfield passing game.”
Coming into Week 6, the Patriots were last in the NFL in passing yards on deep throws, with a putrid 46 yards on such passes. Rookie QB Drake Maye nearly surpassed that total with his first career touchdown pass on a 40-yard touchdown to WR Kayshon Boutte just before halftime. I am guessing the Texans figured Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt did not have that type of play call on his call sheet since there was next to nothing on film that would worry a defense about a deep throw. Even worse, Maye’s touchdown pass was just the 3rd touchdown pass of 35+ air yards since Tom Brady left before the 2020 season. Maye does not figure to win many games in 2024, but he gets a shot at building on a good first start next week when the Patriots travel to London to take on the Jaguars’ 31st-ranked pass defense.
8. “AJ Brown looked healthy, and the Eagles think so too. Multiple sideline targets on go routes in the first quarter. He constantly had a step on his matchup, including the game-sealing catch. That said, the Eagles continue to have one of the most unimaginative passing offenses in the game. It is nice to have AJB and Devonta Smith back, but the limitations will be there as they make the passing game a slog and have AJB running a rudimentary route tree.”
Eagles’ WR AJ Brown returned in a big way from a hamstring injury to the tune of 6 catches of 116 yards and a score in Week 6, guiding the Eagles to a 20-16 win over the 1-5 Browns. While Brown has only played in 2 games this season, his route tree thus far has been underwhelming to say the least. Of Brown’s 59 routes on the year, 40 have come on either slants, go’s, and hitches, while just 19 have come on outs, digs, comebacks, corners, posts, crossers, and screens. He has an elite win rate of over 20.0% on each of slants, gos, and hitches, but his route tree is more of a route branch, considering he has not been asked to do much more. The Eagles have one of the most pass-friendly schedules in the NFL, and it rolls on next week against the Giants, who have been middling against the pass at 16th in passing yards allowed.
Bonus Observations
Saints QB Spencer Rattler — Rattler looked OK, particularly in the first half, as the offense was able to move the ball better than most other teams with a backup QB. The Bucs adjusted in the second half and started speeding up Rattler with blitzes, which he wasn’t ready for. In the first half, Rattler produced a solid 20.9% CPOE and 70.6% catchable target rate and then the Buccaneers decided to turn up the pressure. Rattler was sacked four times while his CPOE and catchable target rate plummeted to -15.4% and 60.9%, respectively.
Giants RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. — Tracy looked like he was shot out of a cannon on every play. He runs with decisiveness and power, and finishes strong. He could make guys miss in a phone booth with excellent lateral agility and quickness. Tracy’s rushing line looks poor, but that is a result of limited room to run with just 1.41 YBCO/ATT. The rookie RB forced 5 missed tackles on runs in Week 6, but added 2 more missed tackles along with 57 yards in the passing game.
Cardinals QB Kyler Murray — Marvin Harrison Jr. getting knocked out of the game early didn’t help, but the Cardinals’ passing offense was anemic, with many plays on which the WRs weren’t on the same page as Kyler Murray and multiple inaccurate throws. Murray is averaging a paltry 197.7 passing yards per game, with a large issue being his downfield passing, on which he ranks 25th in CPOE at -6.3% despite attempting the 5th-most passes of 20+ yards.
