During the 1980s, the late, great actor John Ritter hosted a series of educational videos for children and young adults (“Where There’s A Will, There’s An A”), offering various methods (or tricks) for retaining sizable nuggets of important information.
Among the key lessons, young minds should condense the material into shorter periods of processing, creating more opportunities to recall the first and last bits of information.
So, taking a cue from Where There’s A Will … There’s An A, we’ve reduced the number of weekly Fun Facts to an easily digestible five items.
In other words, we’re taking a Less Is More approach to gleaning top-shelf insight for your fantasy league.
Enjoy!
FUN FACT #1
This week’s No. 2 ranking for Chargers wideout Keenan Allen works on so many levels:
a) Allen torched the Steelers for 14 catches (on 19 targets), 148 yards and one touchdown last year.
b) Charting his last 10 home games against non-division foes, Allen owns elite-level averages of 7.8 catches, 102.4 yards and 0.8 TDs.
c) For 2019, opposing wide receivers possess a robust catch-to-target rate of 67 against the Pittsburgh secondary.
d) The Steelers have given up the seventh-most receiving touchdowns to opposing wideouts, despite ranking 11th overall in receptions allowed to this same group.
FUN FACT #2
The Packers are among the four NFC clubs with a record of 4-1 or better; but will that success carry over to Monday night’s home clash with the Lions?
After all, Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford has posted four straight victories versus Green Bay; and of his last five trips to Lambeau Field … Stafford has stealthily averaged 294 yards passing and 2.4 touchdowns.
FUN FACT #3
Most fantasy owners don’t require extra motivation to start Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes (61 TD passes in his last 21 regular-season outings) in daily or weekly leagues, regardless of emerging circumstances (injury, tough matchup, etc.).
But for those who do … check this out:
a) The Texans have yielded the most completions to opposing quarterbacks through five games (142 … for an average of 28.4).
In fact, opposing QBs currently boast a 70.2-percent completion rate versus Kansas City.
b) Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce owns rock-solid tallies against the Texans, averaging 7.3 catches, 117 yards and 0.5 touchdowns in four career meetings.
c) Dating back to 2005, the Chiefs have averaged 26 points versus the Texans … and this includes a three-point clunker from 2007.
d) On the back end of consecutive home games, Mahomes holds sterling career averages of 280 yards passing and three TDs.
FUN FACT #4
Cooper Kupp owners, like yours truly, should be nervous AND excited about their fantasy star’s major test this week. Here’s why:
On the negative side …
**San Francisco has surrendered the fewest receptions to opposing wideouts (38 through four games).
**Charting his only meeting with the Niners (September 2017), Kupp posted pedstrian numbers of two catches for 17 yards.
**The 49ers have allowed the fewest completions to opposing quartberbacks (68) … at only 17 per game.
On the plus side …
**Kupp might be the hottest PPR wideout on the planet, amassing 29 catches, 44 targets, 339 yards and four touchdowns since Week 3.
**Charting his last three matchups with the Niners, Rams QB Jared Goff has racked up nine touchdowns.
And last but not least …
FUN FACT #5
Mark Ingram (439 total yards, 6 TDs) and Joe Mixon (310 total yards, 1 TD) are seemingly shoo-ins for strong fantasy numbers this week, citing the following nuggets:
a) Baltimore and Cincinnati rank dead-last and 31st in rushing touchdowns allowed to opposing tailbacks.
b) Opposing backs are averaging 5.0 yards per carry against the once-impenetrable Baltimore defense.
c) With the Saints last year, Ingram shredded the bungling Bengals for 162 total yards (58 receiving) and one touchdown.
d) The offensive lines for Baltimore and Cincinnati are enabling weekly averages of three and four sacks, respectively.