Welcome to the Week 4 edition of Snaps, Pace & Stats, where we examine trends in snap totals and no-huddle usage. It is meant as a 30,000-foot view of upcoming games, with the goal of identifying which matchups will — and which will not — be played on fertile fantasy soil.
This week we will hit on a pair of potentially high-paced matchups not as glaringly fantasy-friendly as the two high-total games that pop off the schedule page. It is not news that the Colts and Jaguars (in London) and the Saints in San Diego warrant fantasy exposure — so we will skip them and focus on the next rung down.
Up in pace
Rank | Week 3 Snaps | 2016 Snaps/Game | Opponent Wk 3 Snaps | 2016 Opp Snaps/Gm |
1 | Tampa Bay (82) | Carolina (72.7) | Los Angeles (82) | Miami (75.7) |
2 | New Orleans (79) | Tampa Bay (72.7) | Atlanta (79) | Los Angeles (73.3) |
3 | Arizona (77) | Houston (70.3) | Buffalo (77) | Buffalo (71.0) |
4 | Cleveland (74) | Dallas (68.0) | Miami (74) | Atlanta (70.0) |
5 | Carolina (72) | Seattle (68.0) | Minnesota (72) | Cleveland (69.7) |
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears
The Lions are sixth in pass attempts and 22nd in run rate despite trailing on only 39 percent of snaps (12th-lowest). After moderately successful rushing games against the Colts and Titans, they could do nothing on the ground in Green Bay and insist on treating scat-back Theo Riddick as a between-the-tackles runner. The Lions will throw often against the Bears — who allow the sixth-most plays per game (68.3) — and will do it with the league’s second-highest no-huddle rate (48 percent). They have incrementally increased their tempo each week, topping-out at a 58-percent rate against the Packers.
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