5 NFL Stats to Know Through Week 2

Week 2 was full of upsets and a crazy week for anyone in survivor pools. The Buccaneers led the biggest upset of the week, as Drew Brees and the Saints could not pull off the win at home as the biggest favorites on the week.

The Colts were also upset again, two wide receivers continued their record-setting pace, and we have an unlikely running back atop the fantasy football rankings. 

Here are five stats to know through Week 2 of the 2015 NFL season.

1. The Jets are first in the league in turnover differential

The Jets defense has caused 10 turnovers through the first two games, while Ryan Fitzpatrick has only thrown two interceptions and the offense as a whole is yet to lose a fumble.

The defense opened the season with one interception and four fumble recoveries against the Browns and added another three interceptions and two fumble recoveries against Andrew Luck and the Colts in Week 2.

This is a big improvement to a defense that ranked 32nd and 31st over the last two seasons respectively in terms of takeaways.

Here at numberFire, our signature metric, Net Expected Points (NEP), indicates how a team or player performs relative to expectation level. The Jets currently rank third in Adjusted Defensive NEP per play through two weeks (they were 26th last year). They currently rank 11th in our power rankings.

2. Andrew Luck’s 4.96 Passing NEP is 19th best in the NFL

In terms of Passing NEP, Luck ranks only one spot above Nick Foles. Fantasy owners who took him in the first or second round were certainly not looking for this type of early return. His 42% Passing Success Rate (which measures the number of passes that contribute positively toward NEP) is even worse and ranks him 28th in the NFL.

After two upset losses to start the season, Luck leads the league with five interceptions to go with only three touchdown passes.

This week he’s up against Tennessee, who is our 12th ranked pass defense. But they haven't recorded an interception this year.

3. Julian Edelman and Julio Jones lead the league with 22 catches each through two games

Do receivers whose names begin with “Juli” catch more passes than anyone else? This may not be a reliable statistic but it does happen to be the case so far this season.

Julian Edelman is Mr. Consistency as he has caught exactly 11 passes in each of the first two games and ranks 10th in Reception NEP. Julio Jones started the season with 9 before catching a whopping 13 passes in Week 2 and currently sits third in Reception NEP behind Antonio Brown and Larry Fitzgerald.

Edelman and Jones are on pace to catch 176 passes each this season, which would shatter the record of 143 that Marvin Harrison set in 2002. It’s still very early, and it won’t be easy to keep up this pace, but the “Juli” pair are currently averaging two more catches per game than Harrison did in his record setting year.

4. Rob Gronkowski has the third most points in PPR leagues

According to FantasyData.com, Rob Gronkowski has the sixth most points in standard scoring leagues, while his 56.70 points in PPR leagues ranks behind only Brown and Jones.

His 2 touchdown receptions lead the league, and his 207 receiving yards rank third. Once again, Brown and Jones are the only two players ahead of him in receiving yards, and they have caught 6 and 10 more passes respectively.

We’ll see if he can keep this pace up in week three against a Jacksonville defense that has held tight ends to a combined 4 catches for 73 yards and no touchdowns this season.

5. DeAngelo Williams’ 40.40 standard fantasy points is first among running backs

DeAngelo Williams found the end zone 3 times in Week 2 on his way to 27.2 fantasy points.

That’s very impressive, but now Le'Veon Bell's suspension is over, and he will take over as the starting running back. DeMarco Murray had over 100 more rushes than Bell last season and still only finished 6.60 points above him as the top running back in fantasy football.

Bell is the clear starter in Pittsburgh, but it remains to be seen what role Williams will play moving forward after his big start.