Saints Still Atop Week 4 Fantasy Power Rankings

by NESN Staff | Oct 6, 2009 | 3 Min Read

Environment is the major key to fantasy football production. These rankings, updated weekly throughout the season, assess the foundation upon which fantasy football statistics rise (or fall).

NFL offenses are ranked one through 32 in the following categories: red zone trips per game, third-down conversion percentage, yards per rush attempt, yards per pass attempt, sack percentage allowed, rushing touchdowns per game and passing touchdowns per game.

You want to see the touchdowns, I know, but those must be built on a solid foundation of good performance in the sampling of these other stats. Also use these rankings to target weak offenses when selecting a fantasy defense for the coming week.

Rank Team Red Zone Pos. Third Down % YPR YPA Sack % TD-Run TD-Pass Total
1 New Orleans (4-0) 1 8 5 6 6 2 1 29
2 Baltimore (3-1) 2 2 4 12 7 1 3 31
3 Indianapolis (4-0) 7 3 26 1 1 8 1 47
4 Philadelphia (2-1) 6 10 9 13 8 8 3 57
5 New York Giants (4-0) 4 5 15 3 4 26 3 60
6 Jacksonville (2-2) 10 11 6 15 10 2 18 72
7 Pittsburgh (2-2) 10 4 20 4 22 8 11 79
8 Dallas (2-2) 10 19 1 9 17 2 24 82
9 Minnesota (4-0) 10 6 16 19 23 6 3 83
10 New England (3-1) 2 6 25 18 3 8 24 86
11 Miami (1-3) 10 1 3 29 16 2 30 91
12 San Diego (2-2) 4 9 32 2 20 15 11 93
13 Tennessee (0-4) 23 14 2 24 5 8 18 94
14 Atlanta (2-1) 9 14 29 11 2 20 10 95
15 Chicago (3-1) 7 22 21 14 14 15 3 96
16 Denver (4-0) 27 18 8 8 11 15 18 105
16 Green Bay (2-2) 17 16 14 7 32 8 11 105
18 Cincinnati (3-1) 17 17 11 25 19 15 11 115
19 Houston (2-2) 10 25 31 5 18 26 3 118
20 Seattle (1-3) 19 12 24 22 13 22 11 123
21 Detroit (1-3) 10 13 27 23 20 6 27 126
22 New York Jets (3-1) 19 21 17 20 26 8 24 135
23 Washington (2-2) 19 20 19 10 24 26 18 136
24 Tampa Bay (0-4) 23 31 12 27 9 22 18 136
25 Buffalo (1-3) 23 30 7 16 28 30 11 145
26 Arizona (1-2) 22 28 30 17 12 25 17 151
27 San Francisco (3-1) 27 27 18 21 31 15 18 157
28 Carolina (0-3) 27 24 13 26 27 20 29 166
29 St. Louis (0-4) 31 23 10 31 15 30 27 167
30 Kansas City (0-4) 23 32 22 28 30 30 27 174
31 Cleveland (0-4) 27 29 23 30 29 26 30 194
32 Oakland (1-3) 31 25 28 32 25 22 32 195

Executive Summary (Yes, you're an executive. You own a football team!)
Again, note the overall record of the top 10 offensive teams and the record of the bottom 10. It's an offensive game.

I can't believe that Jacksonville is a top 10 offensive environment. Upgrade all Jaguars. Stop worrying about Maurice Jones-Drew, as I have advised was justified. If you own Mike Sims-Walker, congrats. David Garrard is still just a bye-week guy, however.

With Rashard Mendenhall looking like he can go inside and outside them, the only strike against the Steelers remains their sack rate. But Ben Roethlisberger holds the ball a long time and bounces around back there trying to make plays. He's had suitable time most snaps.

San Diego is golden if you have passing shares. Forget their running game though. Houston is similar.

What do you think?  Leave a comment.

I remain very worried about Green Bay, allowing sacks on 13 percent of drop backs. Aaron Rodgers is putting up numbers but looks skittish in the pocket and there's no deep game with rushers coming clean and Rodgers taking off at the first flash of opposing color.

The Jets are profiling finally like a team with a rookie QB. This is a big week for Mark Sanchez. It's also a big week for Arizona, which we don't expect to run but do expect to protect Kurt Warner.

It's hard to defend starting anyone in the bottom five. DeAngelo Williams and Steve Smith owners need to be very worried.

About the Author

NESN Staff

More From NESN

Trending on NESN

In This Article

More from this article