Here are 20 whimsical factoids — some positive, some negative — to digest before the Sunday/Monday slate of Week 3 games:
1. Let's open with our surprising stat of the day: In this decade, Broncos tailback Knowshon Moreno has logged 17 or more touches 12 times. And of those games, he boasts sterling averages of 125 total yards and 0.83 touchdowns.
2. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has a staggering total of 27 passing touchdowns in his last nine road games — good for three per outing.
3. How has Adrian Peterson's career arc changed since his 198-yard, three-TD demolition of the Browns in 2009? Excluding the four subsequent birthdays and one knee surgery ... not much.
In his last 13 regular-season games, Peterson has averaged 156.4 total yards and 1.2 touchdowns.
4. Cam Newton owners won't love this: Of his last six non-divisional home games, the Panthers quarterback has averaged only 218 total yards and one touchdown. Ugh!
5. Bengals wideout A.J. Green (15 catches, 203 yards, two TDs) could make history this week against the Packers. Of his absurdly good three-year career, Green has never logged double-digit targets in four straight outings.
6. Let's not put Frank Gore (95 total yards, one TD) out to pasture just yet. The 49ers tailback hasn't gone back-to-back games without 100 total yards or one touchdown in two years.
Plus, of his last seven home outings (including the playoffs), Gore has averaged 112 total yards and 1.4 TDs.
7. Go ahead and bet your kid's college fund that Steve Johnson scores against the Jets.
For 2011 and '12, the Bills wideout tallied a touchdown for Weeks 1-3. And after last week's eight-catch, 111-yard, one-TD outing against the Panthers, Johnson (11 catches, 150 yards, two TDs) is on pace to replicate the trifecta-TD feat for a third straight season.
8. Matt Ryan may be something like 34-5 at the Georgia Dome in his career (regular season), but he's hardly just an 'indoors' wonder. Of his last seven games played outside, Ryan boasts stellar averages of 314 yards passing and 2.6 touchdowns.
9. Of his last eight home games, including the playoffs, Broncos QB Peyton Manning amassed has 300 yards passing and/or three touchdowns every time.
10. How's this for semantics? Of his 44 career starts
in the pros (2010-13), Rams quarterback Sam Bradford has never thrown
for 300 yards in back-to-back games.
To be fair,
though, Bradford launched this season with outings of 299 and
352.
How's this for a reason to believe Bradford
might have starter-viability in 14-team leagues? He has averaged 42 pass
attempts and 1.7 TDs in his last seven games.
11. There is no explanation for Eddie Royal's absurd start to the season (10 catches, 114 yards, five TDs). From 2009-12, he had just five total touchdowns ... with per-game averages of 29 receiving yards.
And yet, as fantasy owners, we have no choice but to ride out a hot streak that's eerily reminiscent of Robert Meachem's six-TD aberration over five games from 2009 — off only 21 receptions.
12. Drew Brees may be, pound for pound, the best fantasy option on random Sundays. Especially at the Superdome. Of his last five home games, Brees has averaged 325 yards passing and 3.2 touchdowns.
13. Texans tailback Arian Foster (22 touches per game in 2013) has averaged 121 total yards and 0.8 touchdowns in his last four outings against the Ravens.
14. Here's a PPR-friendly nugget: Of his last seven regular-season games, Packers tight end Jermichael Finley (11 catches, 121 yards, two TDs) has caught five-plus balls six times.
15. The Redskins have allowed an average of 299 yards passing and 2.1 touchdowns in their last eight regular-season games — although that number has been skewed by monster outings from Aaron Rodgers (480 yards passing, four TDs) and Tony Romo (441 yards, two TDs).
16. Remember DeMarco Murray's 253-yard, one-TD assault of the Rams from 2011 — his first true breakout in the fantasy realm? In the 19 games after that, Murray has notched 90 total yards and/or one touchdown 12 times.
17. It's hard to predict Matt Schaub's immediate future: Four years have elapsed since he last tallied three or more passing TDs in successive weeks; and during the Arian Foster-focused era, Schaub (644 yards passing, six TDs) has only racked up back-to-back outings of 300 yards passing four times.
18. Green Bay's Jordy Nelson has modest per-outing averages of 4.3 catches, 76 yards and one TD in his last six games against AFC opponents.
But please don't mistake modesty for inefficiency, as Nelson (10 catches, 196 yards, three TDs) averaged just 6.5 targets in the non-conference clashes.
19. The Marshawn Lynch-led Seahawks have averaged 193.3 yards rushing and 1.7 TDs in their last six home games.
And but not least ...
20. Bears wideout Brandon Marshall has collected
double-digit targets in 12 of his previous 14 games.
In that span, he
amassed 110 catches, 173 targets, 1,373 yards and 11
touchdowns.
For what it's worth, though, Marshall has
never scored a touchdown against the Steelers.
