13 is traditionally an unlucky number. Just to looking at that number could give you visions of black cats and walking under ladders.
But here’s the deal, in Week 13 we have enough data to throw that “luck” word out the window. You need facts, stats, and concrete reasons to believe.
Here are some surprising stats that will lead you to your victory in Week 13. Go get ‘em, #FANation
SamajePerine carried the ball 23 times for 117 yards and a touchdown in Week 11. In Week 12, he carried the ball 24 times for 100 yards. Perine has the most carries and the most rushing yards in the league over the last two weeks.
On the season, Alfred Morris averages 5.8 yards per carry, 4.7 yards after contact (per Pro Football Focus), and for the record, he secured his only two targets for 22 receiving yards, with an averaged of 13.5 yards after the catch. Ezekiel Elliott was averaging 4.1 yards per carry 2.6 yards after contact.
Adam Thielen has 70 catches for 1,005 receiving yards so far this season. The only wide receivers in the league with over 1,000 yards are Antonio Brown (1,195), Julio Jones (1,039), Thielen, and DeAndre Hopkins (1,004). Thielen is only the second Vikings wide receiver with 70 receptions and over 1,000 yards in 11 games. The other Viking was Randy Moss.
Julio Jones caught 12 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns last week against the Buccaneers. That was Jones’ third game with 250+ receiving yards, and he is the only player in NFL history with multiple 250+ receiving yard games.
Marvin Jones Jr. has eight receiving touchdowns on the season. That is tied with Antonio Brown as the second most among wide receivers. Only DeAndre Hopkins has more, at nine.
According to Pro Football Focus, Joe Flacco has a 6.8 average depth per target (aDOT). This is tied with Mike Glennon for the lowest aDOT in the league among any quarterback to start a game this season. His nine passing touchdowns are the absolute fewest among quarterbacks who have started every game this year. The second fewest scored is 12 by Blake Bortles. 11 quarterbacks have thrown at least double the amount of touchdowns as Joe Flacco.
In the games that Chris Hogan missed due to injury, Brandin Cooks is averaging nine targets, six catches, 102 receiving yards and .66 touchdowns per game. When Hogan was on the field, Cooks averaged 6.75 targets, 4.13 catches, 70.38 yards and .38 touchdowns per game.
LeSean McCoy has 90+ yards from scrimmage in 14 of his last 16 homes games. Over the last four times he’s gone up against the Patriots, McCoy averaged 102 yards per game and scored three touchdowns.
Jimmy Garoppolo grew up in Arlington Heights, just outside of Chicago. Last week he saw his first game action as a 49er, and both of his pass attempts were completions, totaling 18 yards and a touchdown. He attempted one run and it went for four yards. He will have his first start in Chicago this weekend.
Dontrelle Inman has been the undisputed No. 1 receiver since joining the Bears prior to the trade deadline. He’s averaging seven targets and 65 receiving yards per game. He has yet to score a touchdown.
Only two wide receivers have over 2,000 receiving yards and over 15 touchdown receptions since 2016. One is Antonio Brown. The other is Mike Evans.
Jamaal Williams carried the ball 20 times in Week 10, 18 times in Week 11, 21 times in Week 12, totaling 59 times over the course of three weeks. That is tied with Tevin Coleman for the most carries of the last three weeks.
Jack Doyle has seven or more targets in all but one game since Week 6. He hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 8, but last week he logged seven catches for 94 yards.
The Jaguars tied the franchise record with 10 sacks when they played the Colts in Week 7. In that game, none of the offensive fantasy options for the Colts scored over 12 fantasy points, in PPR or standard, including Jacoby Brissett.
The Denver Broncos haven’t supported a fantasy relevant tight end all season, but Austin Traylor has nine targets over the last two weeks, and at least 34 yards in each of those outings, but no touchdowns. Miami has allowed eight touchdowns to opposing tight ends, the third most in the league behind only the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns.
Jay Cutler cleared concussion protocol and will play in Week 13 against his former team, the Denver Broncos. Julius Thomas is in a similar “revenge” situation in this matchup. Thomas scored a touchdown in both Weeks 9 and 10. Last week he caught five of his six targets for 52 yards. The Broncos have allowed 772 receiving yards to opposing tight ends, the second most in the league just behind the Washington Redskins.
Travis Kelce has 95 yards and/or a touchdown in each of his last four away games.
A follow up from last week’s surprising stats, Robby Anderson now has five games in a row with a touchdown. Last week he scored two. The only other wide receiver who scored in five straight games this season was DeAndre Hopkins.
Tom Savage has five starts on the season. Deshaun Watson started six games before he tore his ACL. Savage has 984 yards on the season, which is 57.91 percent of Watson’s yardage. Savage has four passing touchdowns, 15 less than Watson. Savage has 12 total turnovers (five interceptions and seven fumbles), while Watson turned over the ball a total of nine times (eight interceptions and one fumble). Even though Watson has six fewer fumbles on the season, he carried the ball 33 more times for 266 more yards and two more touchdowns than Savage.
Delanie Walker scored his first touchdown of the season in Week 12 against the Colts. However, he’s fourth in yardage (613) among all tight ends this season.
Corey Coleman has 19 targets combined in his two games since coming back from his hand injury, and he put up 64 or more yards per outing. Since Week 6, no wide receiver has gone over 70 against the Chargers defense. Only one wide receiver has scored more than one touchdown against Los Angles, and that was Bennie Fowler back in Week 1.
Melvin Gordon is still out-touching and out-snapping Austin Ekeler, but over the last three weeks he’s averaged 32.33 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards, and one touchdown per game.
Josh Reynolds caught four of his six targets for 37 yards and a touchdown last week. The Arizona Cardinals have allowed an average of 16.27 receiving yards per game to opposing wide receivers, the 7th most in the league.
Larry Fitzgerald leads the NFL with 72 receptions on the season, and is closing in on his 10th season with at least 75 catches. If he hits that mark, he will be only the fourth player in NFL history with at least 75 catches in 10 seasons. The only other three players to hit that mark are Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, and Tony Gonzalez.
Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers has 8.5 sacks on the season, and is fourth in NFL history with 152 sacks. If he gets 1.5 sacks before the end of the year, he will only be the third player in NFL history with at least 10 sacks at the age of 37 or older (since they started tracking the stat in 1982). The other two players to hit that mark were Bruce Smith and Kevin Greene. Both players are in the Hall of Fame.
Alvin Kamara has 546 rushing yards and 548 receiving yards. This week he has the potential to be only the third rookie in NFL history to post 600 or more rushing and receiving yards in a season. It’s only Week 13.
Evan Engram has four catches for 27 yards over the last two games combined. Prior to Week 11, Engram had only one game with fewer than four catches and 31 yards.
The last time Marshawn Lynch played against the New York Giants he rushed for 140 yards and scored a career-high four touchdowns. That game was with the Seahawks in November of 2014.
The Philadelphia Eagles have won nine consecutive games. They won by at least 20 points in each of their last four. The Eagles averaged 31.9 points scored per game, the absolute most in the league.
Since 2012 (Russell Wilson’s rookie season), The Seahawks have the NFL-best record in regular-season games played in December and January. They have 19 wins to five loses. In those games, Wilson completed 450 of his 698 pass attempts (64.5 percent) for 5,726 yards, 47 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 103.5 passer rating, the highest rating among quarterbacks over that span.
Antonio Brown has the most receptions (80) and receiving yards (1,195) of any player in the league this year. He has the second most receptions by any player over a five-year span in NFL history (561). The all-time leader is Marvin Harrison, with 5663 receptions from 1999-2003.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have only allowed two touchdowns to opposing tight ends all season. One of those was scored by Tyler Kroft in Week 7.