Thursday, September 20, 2012

Completely Meaningless (but fun) Statistics After 2 Weeks of Football

By Charlie Scaturro


Source: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images North America
As anyone who knows anything about the NFL will tell you, two weeks of football is too small of a sample size to draw any wide-ranging conclusions. However, seeing as I have extremely limited time and it’s fun to overreact about statistics that might mean absolutely nothing, I figured I would dig up as many early season numbers as I could and cryptically post them. Maybe these stats are a sign of things to come, maybe they’re simply the product of us being two weeks into the season, but here goes nothing ( If you’re getting a “60 percent of the time, it works every time” vibe from some of these, that’s intentional):

- Michael Turner has 3 more carries that have gone for 5+ yards than times he’s been arrested for DUI since Week 1


 - 11 QB’s have either matched or surpassed Chris Johnson’s total of 21 rushing yards (including his own quarterback, Jake Locker. And no, I’m not counting Tim Tebow as a quarterback who has more rushing yards than Johnson after 2 weeks)

- C.J. Spiller is averaging over 10 yards per carry

- LeGarrette Blount and Felix Jones (both of whom were starters for their current teams a year ago) have combined for four carries thus far

- Matt Cassel has more rushing touchdowns than Steven Jackson, Demarco Murray, Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Jamaal Charles, Darren McFadden, and Cedric Benson. Combined. Maybe they should think about converting him into a running back in Kansas City…

- Russell Wilson, Kevin Kolb, Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, and Brandon Weeden have all thrown more touchdown passes than Matt Schaub

- Danny Amendola is on pace to lead the league with 160 catches this season

- Clay Matthews already has as many sacks this season (6.0) as he did all of last season

- Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Jason Pierre-Paul have combined for as many sacks as Chase Blackburn

- Brandon Marshall has as many catches (11) and targets (20) as the rest of the Bears wide receivers (Earl Bennett, Alshon Jeffrey, and Devin Hester) combined

- The difference between Brandon Weeden’s quarterback rating against the Eagles in Week 1 and the Bengals in Week 2 was 109.8 points (whatever the hell those are worth)

- Steve Smith has accounted for roughly 38% of the Panthers receiving yards. He has only received two more targets than Brandon LaFell

- Brent Celek leads the NFL in catches of 20+ yards

- Darren McFadden has more targets than all but three receivers in the NFL

- Andy Dalton has already been sacked 10 times this season. He was sacked 24 times in 16 games last year

- With one more touchdown, Mike Williams (TB) will have equaled the number of touchdowns he caught in 2011

- Andrew Luck has already equaled the number of 300-yard passing games any quarterback on the Colts had last season

- Reggie Bush is averaging 6.0 yards per rush. Ryan Tannehill is averaging 6.3 yards per pass

- NaVorro Bowman, not Patrick Willis, leads the 49ers in tackles. Bowman also leads San Francisco in passes defensed

- After leading the Saints in rushing last season, Darren Sproles has yet to receive a carry in 2012. He is, however, leading New Orleans in catches and receiving yards

- The Redskins longest play from scrimmage last season was 51 yards. They’ve already had two plays longer than that this season

- Cardinals receivers who have more receptions than Larry Fitzgerald right now: Todd Heap, Early Doucet, and Andre Roberts

- The combined record of teams that are currently converting less than 32% of their 3rd downs is: 8-8

- Joe Flacco has attempted 71 passes. Ray Rice has carried the ball 26 times. The Ravens have been trailing for a total of 5 minutes and 25 seconds this season out of a possible 120 minutes of play

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