Every season you can find a lot of great fantasy information in statistics and statistical trends: some of it useful, some of it not, and some of it just plain strange. Since the season is just kicking off, here are a few stats to chew over as you work on your Week 1 starting lineup.
Fantasy Stat Breakdown: Week 1
Starting Fast: They call him “Fast” Willie Parker and from a fantasy perspective there’s a good reason. Since 2005, he’s averaging 98 rushing yards per game in Weeks 1 through 3. In that span, he’s topped the magical 100 rushing yard barrier in an amazing 10 of 12 games. If you’re ever going to start Parker, make it early in the season.
Starting Slow: On the other hand we have Frank Gore. Since 2006, Gore has averaged only 79.5 rushing yards per game in Weeks 1 through 4. He’s only had two 100 rushing yard games in that 12 game stretch and burdened his fantasy owners with five games where he finished with less than 70 rushing yards. Clearly, it takes Frank The Tank some time to get up to speed.
Who’s That?: Since 2005, T.J. Houshmandzadeh is averaging 93 catches for 1,021 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns. Sorry, tell me again why isn’t this guy one of your top ten fantasy wide receivers?!
Because He Switched Teams, That’s Why: But the Seahawks finished with 12.8 more passing yards per game than the Bengals last season. If you want to blame that on Ryan Fitzpatrick, the year before the Bengals finished with only 3 more passing yards per game than Seattle. You’re looking at two comparable passing offenses.
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ RBs: Over the past two years, Andre Johnson has 16 touchdowns. That’s more than Steven Jackson (14), Frank Gore (14) or Ryan Grant (13).
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ WRs: Since 2007, Jason Witten has more receiving yards (2,097) than T.J. Houshmandzadeh (2,047), Anquan Boldin (1,891) or Santonio Holmes (1,763).
I Don’t Like That Trend: Over the past four years, Carolina WR Steve Smith’s annual reception totals have been 103, 83, 87 and 78. Over the same period, his touchdown totals have been 12, 8, 7 and 6.
Precision Player: In 2007, Wes Welker had 112 catches for an average of 10.4911 yards per catch. Last season he increased his average a tiny bit by pulling in 111 passes for an average of 10.4955 yards per catch. That’s a year-to-year difference of only 1 millimeter per catch!
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