I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; intros are the hardest part of an article. If there aren’t major events or some overarching theme to piggyback off of, its tough to come up with something that’s not only relatable, but also that ties into this week in the fantasy football landscape. Spoiler: next week is absolutely Thanksgiving-themed.
So this week seems as good as any to change it up and instead give a shout out to my whereabouts and companions last weekend, where Belle of the Butterball came in 3rd place out of 28 recreational teams in Huntsville’s annual “Turkey Tourney” Ultimate Frisbee tournament. Obviously given the team names, we had to dress for the occasion.
Thats it. Thats all the intro you’re getting. It was cheesy and fun and keeps the beer off of my waistline… kind of.
Welcome to The Stats You Need To Know – Week 10 Edition.
This was the week that Isaiah Pacheco separated himself.
To this point in the season, the opportunity split between Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Jerrick McKinnon, and Isaiah Pacheco had been a muddled mess. This week changed a large part of that, on account of Pacheco dominating the carry split amongst the three, notching 16 carries vs just one split between the others (McKinnon).
On top of that, Edwards-Helaire might be done as a viable fantasy option for 2022. The Chiefs generated 15 running back opportunities in the second half of the game, and NONE of them went to Edwards-Helaire.
The Arizona Cardinals have surpassed the Seahawks as the worst Tight End defense in the NFL.
If you’ve read this piece with regularity, you know that I’ve been critical of the Seahawks defense vs TEs all season. Unfortunately for my narrative… that torch has to be passed to the Arizona Cardinals.
If you specifically filter to weeks 6-10 (arbitrarily the last 5 weeks), you’ll find that the Cardinals have given up the second most receptions, and only three passes targeting a Tight End have fallen incomplete. Every game since week 5 has this defense given up at least 5 receptions, and in four of those six at least 68 yards.
The Packers have seen the most runs against… and face the Titans tonight. The Titans have seen the fewest running back carries in the league.
Its not a hot take to say that the Green Bay Packers have struggled thus far to find an offensive identity, especially in the running game. Week 9 saw Aaron Jones talley his fewest opportunities (11) since week 1. Tonight going against the Tennessee Titans, this is unlikely to continue, as the Titans have seen the fewest carries allowed to running backs in the NFL.
To that same end, both Jones and Dillon are likely to see considerable work in the receiving game, as Tennessee is tied for the second most targets allowed to the running back position.
If the Green Bay runners are expecting fantasy production this evening, I would expect the vast majority of it to come via the passing game.
Over the last four weeks, D’Onta Foreman has the 3rd most carries of all running backs.
Seeing a workhorse runner in a Panthers uniform should come as no surprise, as over the years we had seen Christian McCaffrey dominate the snap share when healthy. D’Onta Foreman’s path to fantasy relevancy seemed much less certain.
But even considering the injury to backfield-mate Chuba Hubbard, I don’t think anyone counted on this level of involvement – especially when you stop to consider that he only had 10 total opportunities in week 9.
Foreman isn’t without his warts as a runner, with 14% of his carries going for less than one yard, but should remain a steady volume play for fantasy managers moving forward. 
And thats going to be a wrap on week 10 of The Stats You Need To Know!
If you liked any of these charts, all are available in the Advanced Research section here at the FF Playbook. We’re constantly updating and improving the content here, creating new reports and new pages on existing reports. If you have questions, suggestions, or just want to drop some love, hit us up on Twitter or our Discord!
Until next week, go greet someone with the same excitement and love that your dog shows you.
Andrew Hayslip
@FF_AHayslip
