Fantasy Football: 20 Fun Facts to Consider Before Crafting Week 6 Lineups

Here are 20 fun facts involving some of fantasy's biggest stars leading up to NFL Week 6, which has a quirky composition of only two intra-divisional meetings in a 14-game slate.

Hopefully, these numbers-based revelations will help bring clarity to your lineup dilemmas.

To view my smartphone-friendly cheat sheet for this weekend, click here.


1. Of his last 10 road games (including the playoffs), Giants QB Eli Manning boasts per-outing averages of 312 yards passing and 2.2 touchdowns—a superb stat that includes two roadies against the stout 49ers.

2. Granted, it's a small sample size, but Colts QB Andrew Luck (1,208 yards, eight TD) has thrown for 300-plus yards in three of four career games. Now comes the tricky part: The Jets defense has yielded fewer than 200 passing yards in four of their five games.

3. Arian Foster (592 total yards, six TD) is the unquestioned rushing king in standard-scoring leagues right now. He has notched 110-plus total yards or one touchdown in all five games, and he's averaging 28.4 touches this season (up considerably from 2011).

4. A few of my (knucklehead) Twitter followers swear that Indy's Vick Ballard (at N.Y. Jets) will have a better fantasy Sunday than Marshawn Lynch (vs. New England). To combat that absurd notion, I'll simply say this:

In his last six home games, Lynch has stellar averages of 126 total yards and one touchdown. And Ballard's greatest claim to fame would be...catching a four-yard pass from Andrew Luck last week.

5. For even-numbered games this season, Roddy White (31 catches, 481 yards, three TD) has averaged eight catches, 11.5 targets, 136 yards and 1.5 touchdowns. That does not bode well for the Raiders (27th against the pass) in Week 6.

6. In four career games at San Diego, Peyton Manning has averaged 324 yards passing and 1.75 touchdowns. On the flip side, his Monday counterpart, Chargers QB Philip Rivers (1,251 yards passing, eight TD), is averaging just 248 yards passing and 1.63 touchdowns in his last eight games against the Broncos (2008-11).

7. Robert Griffin III (1,420 total yards, eight TD) might struggle in Week 6, even if he's fully healed from a massive hit last Sunday. Through five games, the stingy Vikings have surrendered per-outing tallies of 244 total yards and 1.4 TDs to opposing quarterbacks.

8. Jamaal Charles has amassed 564 total yards and three touchdowns in the last three NFL Sundays. In a weird way, Charles is actually benefiting from his club's anemic play at quarterback. For PPR owners, here's a bold prediction: Charles will catch five balls for 45-plus yards against the Bucs.

9. Wes Welker (38 catches, 484 yards, one TD) is a healthy lock for strong Sunday numbers. In his last five games against non-conference foes, the Patriots receiver has per-outing averages of seven catches, 10.3 targets, 95.4 yards and 0.8 touchdowns.

10. For what it's worth, ex-Ram Brandon Lloyd (now with the Patriots) collected double-digit targets in both games against the Seahawks last year, with averages of five catches, 76 yards and 0.5 touchdowns.

11. Jason Witten might not have the easiest of matchups (at Baltimore), but who am I to deny a longtime great with double-digit targets for Weeks 2 and 4—especially coming off his bye week? My only gripe: Witten has an underwhelming catch-to-targets ratio (6:13) on the road this season.

12. Buffalo's Steve Johnson has only played three games indoors since 2010 (including two in Toronto), averaging five catches, nine targets, 78.3 yards and zero touchdowns.

13. The Browns have surrendered 100 combined rushing yards four times this season...with the lone exception being Week 2 against the Bengals. (In that game, BenJarvus Green-Ellis notched 105 total yards.)

14. Detroit's Brandon Pettigrew (23 catches, 223 yards, one TD) has enjoyed three games of nine-plus targets and 60-plus yards. Unfortunately, he also has two end-zone drops and one red-zone fumble to his credit.

15. Denver's Demaryius Thomas has essentially brought something to the fantasy table in every outing: Three games of double-digit targets and four games of 100 yards receiving or one touchdown.

16. Tight end Jacob Tamme is slowly making strides with the Broncos, even though he had a built-in rapport with Peyton Manning back in Indy. Tamme has drawn 23 targets in his last three games, and for Week 5, he posted seasonal highs in catches (six), yards (50) and targets (11).

17. Here's your Reggie Wayne PPR fix: In his last six games (dating back to 2011), the Colts wideout has collected 11 or more targets five times. And in that span, Wayne also boasts five games of eight-plus receptions.

18. The Giants may have ranked 29th against the pass last season, but the unit had Michael Crabtree's number. In two games, Crabtree had a grand total of two catches and 24 yards (10 targets).

19. With Arizona in "emergency" mode at running back after losing Ryan Williams (done for the year) and Beanie Wells, the club might be obligated to throw 35 times every Sunday—regardless of score. That bodes well for Larry Fitzgerald (30 catches, 337 yards, two TD), who already has three games of double-digit targets and eight-plus catches. And he's just warming up.

One more thing: Prior to his Week 10 bye, Fitz draws three susceptible pass defenses (Bills, Vikings, Packers) and the 49ers, a familiar foe.

And finally...

20. The Redskins have the NFL's second-worst pass defense (328.6 yards per game). But does that automatically translate to big Sunday numbers for Christian Ponder? For 2012, Ponder already has two passing days of fewer than 200 yards—and with full games on grass in his career, Ponder averages just 198 yards passing and 0.5 touchdowns.

Plus, there's the little matter of running back Adrian Peterson returning to the scene of the crime, or injury devastation, at FedEx Field. He should be highly motivated to conquer the venue where he tore an ACL last Christmas Eve.

Jay Clemons can be reached on Twitter, day or night, at @ATL_JayClemons.