Sometimes I come across numbers that even shock me (i.e. the news on the Ravens top runner this season). Other times I come across numbers that help me to make a point that people have seemingly missed (see Mr. Brees below). And then there are just some numbers that I find interesting for no reason other than, well, they interest me (see Mr. Six Touchdown pass). In what follows I break it all down as we take a look into the numbers of the 2014 footballs season. 

THROWERS

5: The number of passers, since Week 9 of the NFL season, that have graded out worse than Colin Kaepernick according to Pro Football Focus. Over his last five games Colin K has thrown for four scores. Over his last two outings he's tossed three picks. Only once in five games has he thrown for more than 237 yards. Stuck in neutral is he.

6: The number of passing scores for Ryan Fitzpatrick in Week 13. In his previous five games he had thrown for six scores. FitzMagic has thrown for 17 scores this season, two more than Colin Kaepernick, Matthews Stafford and Russell Wilson.

Blake Bortles leads the NFL with 15 interceptions. He's also fourth in the league in rushing yards for a quarterback with 296 yards with his wheels. 

Drew Brees update. Are you still complaining about Brees? Please, stop the absolute nonsense. He's thrown for 677 yards and eight scores the last two weeks putting him on a 16 game pace of 4,997 yards and 36 scores. You were simply wrong to have ever doubted him, and don't lie to me and say you weren't worried - I got the emails and tweets to prove you were. 

Derek Carr has thrown 445 of the most inefficient passes in football. Not only does he have a mere 59 percent completion rate but he's also thrown 11 picks. With the Raiders seemingly always playing from behind, that pass total is 9th in football ahead of fellas like Eli Manning (440), Philip Rivers (408) and Aaron Rodgers (380) just to name a few. Think of it. Derek Carr is throwing 5.4 passes more a week than Aaron Rodgers. That seem like a recipe for success to you? Me neither. 

Jay Cutler and Andrew Luck lead all signal callers with 11 fumbles. Cutler has lost six of them, Luck five. Cam Newton has also lost five of his seven fumbles. 

Andrew Luck in Week 14 when under pressure: 9-for-11, 246 yards and two scores.

Colt McCoy in Week 14 when under pressure: 15-for-19, 278 yards and three scores.

Cam Newton has been awful. Just ask around. Do you know that he still has more passing yards than Russell Wilson - 2,586 to 2,466? Did you know that Wilson has thrown for 1,000 yards less than Andrew Luck, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger?

Aaron Rodgers is averaging 8.8 yards per pass attempt. That's more than two yards better per attempt than Ryan Tannehill (6.6). Yikes. 

Ben Roethlisberger threw for six scores in back-to-back outings for the Steelers. In three games since he's tossed four scores and five interceptions. Moreover, if we remove those two massive touchdown efforts from his ledger we end up with a mere 14 scores in 10 games. Think about that... 46 percent of his passing scores this season have come in 17 percent of his games. 
 

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RUNNERS

7: The number of runners who have 750 yards on the ground and at least 30 receptions. They are: DeMarco Murray, Le'Veon Bell, Justin Forsett, Arian Foster Matt Forte, Jamaal Charles and Eddie Lacy. How many of those runners have also scored eight times? Try four : Murray, Foster, Charles and Lacy. 

7: The number of runners who have at least 200 carries this season. All but one of them has run for at least 825 yards. The loser is Andre Ellington who has run for, get this, just 660 yards. His 3.3 YPC mark is eight tenths lower than any of the other runners (Matt Forte 4.1). 

17: The number of runners who have carried the ball 150 times in 2014. Of those runners only two have failed to reach 600 yards. Rashad Jennings clocks in with 598 rushing yards while Joique Bell settles in with 581 yards on the ground. Add that up and you get 1,179 rushing yards. DeMarco Murray has run for 1,427 yards on his own.

Le'Veon Bell is on pace for more than 80 receptions this season and that includes catching eight passes in two of his last three outings. However, it's his overall workload the past two weeks that is drawing attention. LeGarrette Blount is no longer in the mix since being released, so it's all Bell all the time with the Steelers. Should I have said the Steelers are ringing the bell? Tacky? Cliche? The last two weeks Bell has touched the ball 54 times on the ground and 10 times through the air leading to a two game average of 32 touches, 149 rushing yards 88.5 yards as a pass catcher and one touchdown. He's been DeMarco Murray and Antonio Brown at the same time.

Justin Forsett is 4th in the NFL with 1,009 rushing yards which includes 3-straight 100-yard outings. The last four seasons Forsett ran for 1,074 yards. Forsett has 400 rushing yards the last three games. He rushed for 405 yards the last two seasons. He has seven rushing scores this season. He had eight in his first five NFL seasons. Wow. 

Jeremy Hill ran for 152 yards in his last game without Giovani Bernard on the field. The last two games with Bernard to share the workload Hill has run for 122 yards. He also has 31 carries in those two games after toting the rock 27 times in Week 11. 

Chris Ivory ranks 22nd at the RB position in a PPR setup. In his last five games he has one outing with 60 rushing yards and has caught three passes for seven yards. He also hasn't scored in 4-straight outings... and he's still a RB2 this season. You understanding why it's so important to get those horses in the backfield on draft day?

Hawaii for the holidays perhaps?

Tre Mason produced 117 rushing yard  in Week 13. He also scored twice on the ground and once through the air while taking on three receptions for 47 points. Add it up and in a PPR setup Mason produced 36 percent of his season long value in Week 13 (37.4 of 103.4 points).

LeSean McCoy stinks. Folks, he's third in the NFL in rushing yards with 1,018. My bad. Wait, you thought he was terrible, right? Four scores isn't what anyone hoped for, and how he has only 23 receptions is simply unexplainable, but the fact is that he's producing like a mofo on the ground right now. Maybe it has something to do with his 242 carries, the second most in football. It's all volume for McCoy at the moment. 

RECEIVERS

1: There is only one tight end who has seen 100 targets. That is Rob Gronkowski. Only two others have 90 targets - Greg Olsen and Martellus Bennett. There are three wideouts with at least 130 targets (Demaryius Thomas, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones) and eighteen who have been targeted 100-times. Ten others have at least 90 targets out wide. 

5: The number of consecutive games that rookie Jarvis Landry has caught at least five passes for the Dolphins. He's also seen at least 10 targets in three of his last four games and scored four times in five contests. He's failed to hit 70-yards in any of those outings and for the five weeks has produced an average effort of 52.6 yards. 

5: The number of tight ends who have more points than Jimmy Graham the last three weeks in a PPR setup as Graham has been held to less than six points in two of his last three games. 

12: The number of players at the wide receiver position who have caught 900-yards of passes this season. Only one - DeSean Jackson - have less than 53 receptions. He has 47. DJax and Mike Evans are the only two with less than 60 receptions. 

Keenan Allen has caught at least six passes in his last three games and in five of six outings. As a result he's up to 72 receptions, one more than last season despite the fact that he's appeared in three fewer games. He's also just 6.2 yards off his per game mark of last season. There's a chance that Allen catches 90 passes for more than 1,000 yards. Not as disappointing as you thought, right?

Odell Beckham became the first NFL rookie to have five games of 90 receiving yards in a calendar month in league history. In eight games this season he has 699 yards putting him on a 16 game pace of damn near 1,400 yards. Over the last five weeks he checks in third in football with 110.6 fantasy points  (PPR, 6 points for a score). Another rookie, Mike Evans, leads the way with 119.4 points. In the 6th spot is another rookie - Jordan Matthews - who has 96.3 points. That's right, in the month of November three of the top six wideouts in football were rookies.

Anquan Boldin has 68 receptions and 843 yards. Compare that to Alshon Jeffery who has 67 and 854. The only advantage that Jeffery has is in the touchdown department where Jeffery leads seven to four. 

Antonio Gates has four fewer catches (47) than Health Miller and nine fewer yards (574) than the Steelers' tight end. Thank goodness that Gates has scored nine times to tie him with Graham and Gronk for the tight end lead. 

Calvin Johnson is averaging 80.4 yards a game this season. The last three years that number was 105, 123 and 107. As of this writing Johnson comes in as the 26th highest scoring wideout in football. He has less fantasy points than Mohamed Sanu, Steve Smith and Brandon LaFell for goodness sakes. Speaking of Smith, he's scored once in six games and in that span his average effort has been 3.8 receptions and 36 yards a contest. Please tell me you aren't still starting him. 

Golden Tate has scored only three times this season. He is the only wideout in football with at least 775 yards who has scored that infrequently. Tate has gone for 1,136 yards, the 6th most in football. 

 

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