The playoffs are here! Hopefully, you come through this week unscathed with all of the COVID news breaking – but the War of Attrition lives on for another week.
Here’s your Week 15 Stat-Pack:
(Note: Bye week teams were not included – Colts, Dolphins, Patriots, Eagles).
Arizona Cardinals
James Conner was a massive miss for me this year. I just didn’t think he had this type of season in him – especially as a receiver. Granted, Chase Edmonds getting hurt helped, but Conner has revitalized his career in Arizona. He’s now the RB11 in FPG (17.0).
Conner has played so well that there is no way the Cardinals can go back to his old role before Ednomds got hurt where he only played on 40% of the snaps.
Kyler Murray is healthy and running way more…
In Weeks 1-8, Murray tallied just 157 total rushing yards in eight games.
He has 120 rushing yards over his last two games.
Rondale Moore is still just a part-time player. He ran a route on just 28 of the Cardinals 61 pass plays (46%) on MNF.
Atlanta Falcons
Matt Ryan has now been held under 200 yards five times in his last 7 games.
Kyle Pitts played on just 54% of the snaps in Week 14 vs. Carolina – a season-low.
Pitts’ snaps were cut because of Hayden Hurst’s return. Hurst hadn’t played since Week 10.
Mike Davis has run more routes than Cordarrelle Patterson in four-straight games (71 to 54).
Patterson has just 8 receptions for 60 yards over his last four games as a result.
Baltimore Ravens
Light a candle and say a prayer for Lamar Jackson’s ankle.
The Ravens finally stopped messing around with Sammy Watkins and let Rashod Bateman takeover as the No. 2 outside WR opposite Marquise Brown. Bateman ran 43 routes while Watkins ran just 14 last week.
Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen became the fourth QB all-time to have 50+ attempts and 10+ carries in a game vs. the Buccaneers.
Buffalo didn’t even try to run the ball against Tampa as Devin Singletary and Matt Breida combined for 7 carries.
Carolina Panthers
DJ Moore has come back to life without Sam Darnold gone and has 14.9 FPG over his last three games.
Moore was averaging 9.6 FPG over his previous four games.
Ameer Abdullah out-snapped Chubba Hubbard (59% to 39%), but Hubbard got 10 carries to Abdullah’s 4.
Chuba has no upside as a receiver, though. He ran 9 routes to Abdullah’s 23 vs. Atlanta.
Chicago Bears
Darnell Mooney is averaging just 9.5 FPG in Justin Fields’ 8 starts on the season. Yikes.
While Mooney and A-Rob have been crushed by Fields and this offense’s ineptitude as a whole, at least Fields is running more. He’s averaged 8.8 carries and 65 rushing yards per game over his last four starts and has 8 or more carries in every game in that span.
Cincinnati Bengals
Ja’Marr Chase now has over 1,000 yards on the season and his 79.8 YPG is fifth-most all-time among rookie WRs behind only Odell Beckham (108.8), Justin Jefferson (87.5), Anquan Boldin (86.1), and Randy Moss (82.1). Not bad company!
Even with Chase’s bounceback, Tee Higgins continued his stellar play as of late with 5/114. He now has over 100 yards in three-straight games.
Joe Mixon has been incredibly game-script dependent once again this year and is averaging 103.6 rushing yards and 20.6 fantasy points per game in wins and just 51.8 yards and 15.3 FP per game in losses.
Mixon was out-snapped on passing downs last week by Samaje Perine (23 to 16).
Cleveland Browns
Nick Chubb played on a season-high 66% of the snaps in Week 14 and will obviously be leaned on even more heavily with Kareem Hunt out again and all of the Browns COVID issues.
The Browns play the Raiders on Saturday this coming week and Vegas has allowed a massive 34.1 fantasy points (second-most) and 154.8 scrimmage yards (fifth-most) per game to RBs over the last five weeks.
Dallas Cowboys
Since returning from injury in Week 9, Dak Prescott has completed 63.2% of his throws for 6.6 YPA and an 82.2 passer rating.
In Weeks 1-6 before he got injured and before the bye, Dak completed 73.2% of his passes for 8.4 YPA and a stellar 115 passer rating.
The Cowboys should really consider shutting Ezekiel Elliott until the playoffs. Zeke is averaging a pitiful 3.3 YPC and 5.1 YPR over his last five games.
With Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup back and playing full-time, the Cowboys moved CeeDee Lamb back into the slot full-time. Lamb ran 84% of his routes in the slot vs. Washington.
Denver Broncos
Both RBs had solid games for fantasy, but the Broncos went back to a full-blown committee between Melvin Gordon (50% snaps) and Javonte Williams (49%) vs. Detroit last week. Siiiiiigh.
Look, Teddy Bridgewater stinks, but Courtland Sutton getting five or fewer targets in six of his last 7 games is coaching malpractice. That’s on OC Pat Shurmur.
Sutton has caught 8 balls for 79 yards over his last five games.
Noah Fant and Albert Okwuegbunam basically split routes this past week (18 to 15).
Detroit Lions
Craig Reynolds came out of nowhere and led this backfield in snaps (48%) and touches (13) with D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams both out. Never fade Schefter.
Amon-Ra St. Brown now has 12 targets in back-to-back games and has 10/86/1 and 8/73 to show for it.
St. Brown leads the Lions in routes (82) over the last two weeks and has played more outside. He was a slot-only player for all of this year until as of late.
Green Bay Packers
Well, Aaron Jones certainly made the most of his 8 touches on SNF as he turned in 65 scrimmage yards and two scores in the Packers win over the Bears.
A.J. Dillon ended up with 15 carries to Jones’ 5, but Packers’ beat Matt Schneidman noted that Jones was getting looked at by trainers after his final carry to start the fourth quarter. At that time, the Packers had a 38-27 lead and likely wanted to play it safe with Jones and allowed Dillon to close out the game.
Still, even before Jones went to the sidelines, Dillon had 10 carries to Jones’ 4 while Jones was the primary passing down back as he ran 20 routes to Dillon’s 7 in the first three quarters.
Houston Texans
Brandin Cooks is averaging 14.4 FPG in Davis Mills’ starts and just 11.7 FPG with Tyrod Taylor.
Cooks gets the Jaguars next – a team he’s shredded for 8/161/1, 3/83/1, and 5/132 in his three meetings.
Jacksonville Jaguars
- I’m just waiting for Urban’s heart problems to start acting up again.
Kansas City Chiefs
- Travis Kelce has been the definition of boom-or-bust as of late. He’s finished as a top-2 scoring TE three times and outside of the top-20 scoring TEs three times in his last six games.
Las Vegas Raiders
Hunter Renfrow in the four games that Darren Waller has missed or left early: 7/58, 8/134, 9/102, and 13/117/1.
Renfrow has led the team in targets in all four of those games and is averaging 10.3 targets/game without Waller.
Los Angeles Chargers
- In a brutal season for injuries and now COVID issues, at least we have Austin Ekeler. He’s finished as a top-12 scoring RB in 9-of-13 games and has dipped below double-digit FP just once.
Los Angeles Rams
Sony Michel has played on 97% and 100% of the snaps in his last two games with Darrell Henderson out.
Michel has 23, 27, and 20 touches in the three games that Henderson has missed.
Odell Beckham has 3 TDs in four games with the Rams. He had 3 TDs in his last 16 games with the Browns.
Minnesota Vikings
Justin Jefferson has a ridiculous 18/261/2 over his last two games with Adam Thielen out.
Jefferson has seen 14 and 15 targets in those two games for a massive 42% share.
Kirk Cousins now has multiple passing scores in 10-of-13 games including six straight.
Cousins gets the Bears next and they’ve allowed multiple passing TDs to four of the last 5 QBs they’ve faced with the lone QB failing to do so being Tyler Huntley.
New Orleans Saints
One of the lone good bits of news from the past few weeks is that Alvin Kamara is back and looks damn good. He set a career-high in carries (27) in his return vs. the Jets.
Taysom Hill targeted Kamara five times on 21 throws, so the whole “Hill won’t throw to Kamara” theory has been proven to be bunk.
Taysom Hill’s weekly finishes in his six career starts: QB3 > QB12 > QB6 > QB11 > QB6 > QB4.
Taysom is averaging 12.4 fantasy points per game as a runner alone in his starts – which would easily be ahead of both Hurts (9.8) and Lamar (7.4) this season.
New York Giants
- Kenny Golladay is averaging 2.2 receptions and 28.4 yards per game since returning from injury in Week 9. Lol.
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
Najee Harris has played on 97% and 96% of the Steelers snaps over the last two weeks.
Harris is now third among all RBs in touches per game (22.8) behind only Kamara (23.2) and Derrick Henry (29.6).
San Francisco 49ers
What is up with Deebo Samuel’s lack of targets?
Deebo’s uptick in usage as a running back has directly coincided with his downturn in receiving production. Deebo started the season with 8 or more targets in eight-straight games, but has since seen just 12 targets total across his last four contests.
Of course, Brandon Aiyuk getting out of the doghouse and George Kittle looking like a monster has something to do with Deebo’s lack of targets recently but it has nothing to do with usage. Deebo wasn’t limited at all in his return against the Bengals as he ran a route on 40 of the team’s 48 pass plays.
My theory is that HC Kyle Shanahan is going to continue to use Deebo as a running back first for as long as Eli Mitchell is out. Deebo got a season-high 8 carries in both of the games that Mitchell has missed recently (Week 11 vs. Jaguars / Week 14 vs. Bengals) but saw 4 targets in the first three quarters against the Vikings in Week 12 when Mitchell was playing before Deebo left in the fourth quarter with that groin injury.
Seattle Seahawks
Tyler Lockett has found a pathway to production despite all of Seattle’s issues offensively and has put up 18.8 FPG over his last four games. I’ve got those two upcoming games against the Bears (Week 16) and Lions (Week 17) circled as potential league-winning weeks.
Meanwhile, DK Metcalf is going through the worst stretch of his career so far and has just 3.4 receptions and 34.6 yards per game over his last five outings with Russell Wilson back.
While Lockett and Wilson have just picked right back up with their excellent deep ball chemistry, the same can’t be said for Metcalf.
Since Week 10 when Wilson returned, he and Lockett have linked up on 11-of-21 for 372 yards and a TD on passes of 15+ air yards.
Lockett also has drawn two DPI’s on those deep targets.
Metcalf and Wilson’s connection has been poor, though, as the duo has gone 2-of-12 for 51 yards on throws of 15+ air yards.
Rashaad Penny time? The Texans stink, but Penny’s usage was certainly there as he set career-highs in both carries (16) and snaps (57%).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Leonard Fournette is the RB2 in FPG (24.0) since Week 10 – when the Bucs’ returned from their bye.
Fournette now leads all RBs in receptions (62).
Tennessee Titans
The Titans went with a full-blown three man committee last week with Jeremy McNichols (38% snaps) leading the way followed by Dontrell Hilliard (34%) and D’Onta Foreman (32%).
However, 7 of McNichols 8 touches came in the fourth quarter.
Julio Jones was unsurprisingly limited in his first game back from a hamstring injury as he ran a route on just 23 of the team’s 39 pass plays last week.
Washington
- Taylor Heinicke has been the NFL’s third-least accurate passer over the last three weeks as just 65.9% of his passes have been on-target. Only Cam Newton (60%) and Taysom Hill (61.4%) have been worse.
