Analytics & Advanced Metrics

What teams run at a fantasy-friendly pace of play? What teams operate in the Stone Age? All of these questions and more are answered in the Pace of Play Report!

Which offenses were operating at warp speed in Week 14? What offenses are crawling slowly along? All the answers are found here, in the Pace of Play Report!

Truth be told, there were no real dramatic shifts in pace this past week. We seem to have reached a point of the season where teams seem to know who they are. The New York Jets jumped from No. 8 a week ago up to No. 4 after playing catchup for the bulk of their loss to the Vikings. But this Jets team tends towards playing fast, so this is not an earth-shattering development. They haven’t ranked lower than No. 8 all season long. What is noticeable is that over their last two games they’ve averaged 2.47 points per drive. In the ten games prior, this mark was just 1.74. I don’t think you’re coming back anytime soon, Zach Wilson.

Welcome back to the AFC South Report! 12 weeks of regular season action have come and gone, and I’m here to tell you all about how the AFC has shaped up so far. Also, I will take a look at how my predictions for the season are stacking up so far as well as provide a few more predictions. A lot has happened since the last check-in on Week 8. The Colts brought Jeff Saturday in as their coach and he reinstated Matt Ryan as the starting QB. The Texans have somehow started to look worse. Malik Willis had his shot, but lost it for the rest of this season. And the Jaguars continue to steadily improve, especially Trevor Lawrence. Without further ado, let’s take a little bit deeper of a look into these teams now that there’s only a few weeks left.

The Denver Broncos continue to step on the gas and operate at a faster pace. They are up to No. 11 after Week 12 with a pace of play mark of 2.124. In the first six weeks of the season, the Broncos were never higher than No. 25 while dropping as low as No. 28 on occasion. This emphasis on speed has done precious little for them offensively, and it should be noted. The Broncos are No. 32 in points scored and No. 32 in the percentage of drives ending with points at 26.6-percent. Luckily, they don’t have the mother of all albatrosses in a contract for their misfiring quarterback. Oh, hang on…

The New England Patriots played out one of the all-time ugly on-the-eye games in NFL history against the New York Jets in Week 11. Yet, they clearly were enjoying what they were doing and wanted to savor every moment. Why else would their pace of play drop from 1.879 (No. 27) a week ago to 1.843 (No. 31)? Because the Patriots have clearly decided, in the words of the Mandalorian, that this is the way. This is another fantasy offense that we really don’t want too many pieces of.

It should come as no real surprise that, when teams are losing, they might be incentivized to speed up their processes. This was evident in Week 10. The five teams that showed the biggest increase in plays per minute last week were the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Atlanta Falcons. All five teams lost in Week 10.

This is the Pace of Play Report: Week 9! We’re back again folks. We return once more to delve into the world of the pace of play in 2022. Our weekly look at the speed by which teams snap off their offensive plays, casting a glance at the teams who look to get two or more plays a minute run. We do this while turning our noses up (for the most part) at the teams who wait until the last possible second to run a single play. Why do we care? Because the more plays that get run, the more opportunity players have to score fantasy points, of course.

Marcus Mariota’s middle name must be ‘miracle’ because not many predicted he’d be the Falcons starting quarterback this long. Despite 30 (No. 12) Deep Ball Attempts, he throws one of the worst deep balls in the league. He missed Kyle Pitts for a walk-in long ball by a mile on Sunday. He’s the poster child for an inefficient backup, yet he produces 0.64 (No. 5) Fantasy Points per Dropback. While the Falcons run near a league-low in pass attempts, it’s worth noting that Mariota has thrown for over 300 air yards in two straight close Game Scripts, including a game vs Carolina. It might be ugly, and there will be low points, but Mariota is a QB2 with a big-play upside and a rushing role. I expect a QB2 performance in what should be a slower grudge match on a slow week.

Posting his fourth consecutive top-8 fantasy QB finish against Miami Sunday, Fields completed 60-percent of his throws with three passing scores. But that wouldn’t be nearly the half of it. His insane 178 rushing yards on just 15 carries was the greatest regular-season rushing performance by a quarterback in NFL history and just three yards shy of Colin Kaepernick’s playoff outburst 10 years ago.