How schedules might help guys like Leveon Bell and Tony Romo, while hurting the likes of Marshawn Lynch and Peyton Manning. Ian Allan explains.
A little do-hickey on strength of schedule. For this one, I’m focusing this in specifically on either rushing or passing.
Starting with rushing, the Steelers, Panthers, Giants and Washington project to have the easiest schedule in the final four weeks of the fantasy season (Weeks 13-16). So good news for the likes of LeVeon Bell, Rashad Jennings and Alfred Morris.
The hardest remaining schedules belong to the Chargers, Seahawks and Dolphins.
In the case of Pittsburgh, their next four teams have allowed a league-high 5,599 rushing yards. That’s over a 1,000 more than eight teams. The Browns’ next four are against teams that have allowed a league-high 42 rushing touchdowns. Pittsburgh is next, tied with two others at 41 TDs.
The remaining schedules look really tough for guys like Ryan Mathews and Marshawn Lynch. With the Chargers, they’re the only team whose next four against teams that haven’t allowed 4,000 yards. Seattle’s have allowed a league-low 21 TDs (half as many as the Browns, and just ahead of Oakland (22) and San Diego (23).
The fantasy scoring system supposed here, by the way, is 6 points for touchdowns and 1 point for every 10 yards.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, RUSHING (Weeks 13-16) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Team | Yards | TD | Points |
1. | Pittsburgh | 5,599 | 41 | 805.9 |
2. | Carolina | 5,423 | 39 | 776.3 |
3. | NY Giants | 5,415 | 39 | 775.5 |
4. | Washington | 5,251 | 41 | 771.1 |
5. | Jacksonville | 5,363 | 38 | 764.3 |
6. | Houston | 5,185 | 40 | 758.5 |
7. | Cleveland | 5,024 | 42 | 754.4 |
8. | New Orleans | 4,994 | 41 | 745.4 |
9. | Tampa Bay | 5,014 | 40 | 741.4 |
10. | Tennessee | 5,207 | 34 | 724.7 |
11. | Buffalo | 5,207 | 33 | 718.7 |
12. | NY Jets | 5,218 | 32 | 713.8 |
13. | Arizona | 5,063 | 34 | 710.3 |
14. | St. Louis | 5,019 | 34 | 705.9 |
15. | Green Bay | 4,939 | 35 | 703.9 |
16. | Atlanta | 4,910 | 34 | 695.0 |
17. | Indianapolis | 5,035 | 31 | 689.5 |
18. | Denver | 5,127 | 26 | 668.7 |
19. | Cincinnati | 4,700 | 33 | 668.0 |
20. | Detroit | 4,936 | 29 | 667.6 |
21. | Baltimore | 5,033 | 27 | 665.3 |
22. | Dallas | 4,780 | 29 | 652.0 |
23. | Philadelphia | 4,451 | 34 | 649.1 |
24. | New England | 4,794 | 27 | 641.4 |
25. | San Francisco | 4,535 | 30 | 633.5 |
26. | Chicago | 4,094 | 34 | 613.4 |
27. | Oakland | 4,789 | 22 | 610.9 |
28. | Kansas City | 4,270 | 29 | 601.0 |
29. | Minnesota | 4,182 | 30 | 598.2 |
30. | Miami | 4,413 | 26 | 597.3 |
31. | Seattle | 4,137 | 21 | 539.7 |
32. | San Diego | 3,993 | 23 | 537.3 |
On to passing, in which I use the same scoring system (1 for every 10 yards; 6 for TDs).
Dallas, Detroit, Tennessee and New Orleans have the softest remaining schedules for passing.
The hardest remaining pass schedules belong to the Broncos (yes you, Peyton), 49ers, Raiders and Cardinals.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, PASSING (Weeks 13-16) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Team | Yards | TD | Points |
1. | Dallas | 12,329 | 91 | 1778.9 |
2. | Detroit | 11,612 | 90 | 1701.2 |
3. | Tennessee | 11,890 | 85 | 1699.0 |
4. | New Orleans | 12,002 | 78 | 1668.2 |
5. | Washington | 11,904 | 76 | 1646.4 |
6. | Miami | 11,396 | 81 | 1625.6 |
7. | Jacksonville | 11,834 | 73 | 1621.4 |
8. | Houston | 11,730 | 71 | 1599.0 |
9. | Cincinnati | 11,175 | 78 | 1585.5 |
10. | St. Louis | 11,380 | 74 | 1582.0 |
11. | Kansas City | 11,253 | 76 | 1581.3 |
12. | Indianapolis | 11,421 | 73 | 1580.1 |
13. | San Diego | 11,198 | 76 | 1575.8 |
14. | Minnesota | 11,000 | 79 | 1574.0 |
15. | Baltimore | 11,223 | 75 | 1572.3 |
16. | NY Giants | 11,418 | 71 | 1567.8 |
17. | Seattle | 10,999 | 77 | 1561.9 |
18. | Green Bay | 11,553 | 67 | 1557.3 |
19. | Atlanta | 11,410 | 68 | 1549.0 |
20. | Carolina | 11,099 | 73 | 1547.9 |
21. | New England | 10,590 | 80 | 1539.0 |
22. | Buffalo | 10,860 | 75 | 1536.0 |
23. | Cleveland | 11,225 | 63 | 1500.5 |
24. | Philadelphia | 10,828 | 69 | 1496.8 |
25. | NY Jets | 10,596 | 72 | 1491.6 |
26. | Chicago | 11,195 | 62 | 1491.5 |
27. | Tampa Bay | 11,191 | 62 | 1491.1 |
28. | Pittsburgh | 11,244 | 59 | 1478.4 |
29. | Arizona | 10,846 | 61 | 1450.6 |
30. | Oakland | 10,263 | 65 | 1416.3 |
31. | San Francisco | 9,998 | 68 | 1407.8 |
32. | Denver | 10,270 | 60 | 1387.0 |
—Ian Allan