Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to the Week 13 edition of The Inside Look for the 2021 NFL season. This will be a data driven article and will go under the hood to see if the box scores tell the whole story about what transpired during the weekend. My goal here will be to either calm your nerves about a player that may have underperformed or cause you to rethink some of the spots you may have taken.
Outside of the MNF game we have a pretty good sense of what transpired this past weekend.
Let’s dig in to the data!
Wide Receiver Targets
Before we dig in to individual player performances I wanted to take a moment to talk about why we focus so heavily on Targets. Targets equal opportunities and in fantasy opportunity more often than creates production. The more targets that a player gets the better chance there is that the player will return on value.
It felt like Tom Brady threw the ball all game long. One of the biggest beneficiaries of that game plan was Chris Godwin. After averaging only 6 targets per game in weeks 9-12, Godwin was targeted a season high 17 times. His 15 catches and 143 yards were also season highs for Mr. Godwin. The only thing that Godwin wasn’t able to do this weekend was get a touchdown. Next week will be a tough test for Godwin and the Bucs as they host the Bills at home.
Russell Gage, have yourself a day. Gage was another guy that had his best game of the season. While he failed to find the end zone, Gage had season highs in targets, catches, and yards. He finished with 11 receptions on 12 targets and 130 yards. It was his first 100 yard receiving game of the year and his first game with double digit targets and receptions. Gage’s stock is riding high right now as he has at least 5 catches in 4 of his last 5 games. Ryan is looking his way more often and his value is really jumping.
Ravens fans will not be sending Christmas cards to Diontae Johnson this year. Johnson’s late touchdown broke the hearts of many Ravens last night, including the majority of my family. Johnson just continues to put up solid numbers. This weekend was his first multiple touchdown game of the year and he now had double digit targets in 9 of his 11 games this season. It was also his third 100 yard receiving game. He is the Steelers offense at this point.
Running Back Targets
There was some good and bad for Saquon Barkley this weekend. The good was that he had a season high 9 targets this weekend and was able to catch 6 of them. The bad was that he did virtually nothing with them as he only went for 19 receiving yards. While the receptions are great, he really needs to do more with them or they will be essentially meaningless.
Javonte Williams was tied for the lead among running backs with 9 targets. The story was much different for him than it was Barkley as he surely made the most of his targets. Williams was an absolute beast last night vs. the Chiefs as he finished with 6 receptions and 76 yards. He also converted one of his receptions into a touchdown. His 76 yards receiving yards was on top of his 102 rushing yards. He had by far his best game of the year.
Tight End Targets
There is probably no one happier that Kittle is back than Jimmy G. With Kittle back Garoppolo now has one of his favorite and most dangerous weapons back. Coming into the week 13 matchup vs. the Seahawks Kittle had two very down weeks. Boy did he make a strong comeback this week.
His 181 receiving yards were by far the most he’s had all year and his 12 targets were also a season how. This marked his second 100 yard game of the year and it was the first time he had multiple touchdowns. Since his return he now has touchdowns in 4 of his last 5 games.
We highlighted with Godwin that Brady threw a ton this weekend. Another recipient of his throwing was Rob Gronkowski. Gronk was targeted 8 times yesterday and finished with 4 catches and 58 yards. What’s most important though is that he found the end zone twice this weekend. It was his third multiple touchdown game of the year, but it was his first since week 2 against Atlanta.
No Jalen Hurts, no problem for Dallas Goedert. While it was a cake matchup vs. the New York Jets, Goedert had one of his best games of the year. For the first time this season, Goedert broke the 100 yard mark and scored his first touchdowns since week 4 against the Chiefs. Goedert now gets to dream about his memorable performance for an extra week as the Eagles are on a bye in week 14.
Quarterback Target Share
Of Gardner Minshew’s 22 pass attempts this weekend 8 went to his wide receivers. His most heavily targeted person this weekend was Dallas Goedert, and 8 of his 22 passes were split between Gainwell and Sanders. His plan was clear and it was short passes. It worked out well as they beat the Jets by a pretty sizeable margin this weekend.
When you have one of the game’s best tight ends you throw to him often. That’s exactly what Garoppolo did this weekend. Garoppolo threw the ball 30 times this weekend, with 12 of them going to his tight end. Those 12 matched his total to his trio of wide receivers.
Only 4 working fingers, no problem for Joe Burrow. Even though he damaged the pinky on his throwing hand late in the first half, Burrow continued to throw the ball often. And Tee Higgins was the biggest recipient. Burrow threw the ball 38 times yesterday and 29 went to his wide receivers. There may be no better trio than Higgins, Chase, and Boyd.
Running Back Touches
Not really sure what else there is to say about Jonathan Taylor at this point. The man just continues to smash defenses. He now has rushing touchdowns in 10 consecutive games. His 143 rushing yards this weekend is the fourth most he’s had in a game this year. He is having as dominant of a season as we have seen in a number of years.
With Darrel Henderson banged up coming into the game this weekend, it was Sony Michel season. For those that picked him up last minute off the waiver wire he surely did not disappoint. His 24 carries were the most he’s had all season, as were his 121 rushing yards. His touchdown was also only the second rushing touchdown he’s had all year.
Playbook
The ‘Playbook’ as I like to call it shows a breakdown of the play splits that teams used this past weekend.
The Eagles were back to their running ways this weekend. With Hurts out the Eagles ran the ball more than 60% of the time this weekend. It helped that Miles Sanders was on his A game this weekend as he finished with over 100 yards rushing for the first time this season.
With Arizona up big from the start of the game Kyler Murray ended up only having to throw the ball 15 times. Between himself and James Connor they ran the ball 35 times yesterday. Their mix of 70/30 was the biggest run to pass ratio on the weekend.
They were joking on the broadcast yesterday that Brady was on pace to throw the ball 80 times. While he didn’t get quite there, he did throw the ball 51 times yesterday. His 51 pass attempts marked the third time this year he threw the ball at least 50 times and it was the first time since week 3 against the Rams.
Inside Look Wrap Up
What a fun day of football that was yesterday. All in all we saw 10 different receivers/tight ends go for over 100 yards receiving and 5 different players reach the 100 yard rushing mark. While we still have a solid match up tonight in the Bills vs. Patriots, this may go down as one of the more fun weekends of football this season. Unless you are a Ravens fan or married to a Ravens fan. Then it wasn’t so much fun. Not even close.
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