All About the Solo: Week Six
One of the more frustrating things in IDP leagues is seeing your stud linebacker fly all over the field on game days only to see the home score keeper dilute his performance by divvying up his tackles as an assist. On the flip side, if your league doesn’t score solos and assists too differently, you’ll have a better idea of what teams hand out assists like candy. Not everyone knows this, but the NFL does not recognize a tackle as an official statistic. Tackles are scored by the home team’s official score keeper and those are the stats you see on the news and websites. The league made an effort to standardize what is and isn’t a solo tackle back in 2007 when they sent a video to all NFL teams, but it still the discretion of the score keeper. There is a still a large discrepancy from team to team and week-to-week. I will be tracking this throughout the season to give you a better idea of what to expect when choosing your IDPs each week.
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Week six was incredibly frustrating and a perfect example of what’s wrong with letting a home score keeper decide what is a solo tackle and what is an assist. The scorekeepers in Seattle and New York (Jets) were in a giving mood. Seattle awarded more assists than solos to both teams and the New York was almost a 50-50 split. Depending on how your league scores solos and assists, this either helped you a lot by all the excessive assists or it killed you because your studs’ stats were diluted. For example, Luke Kuechly had 14 total tackles but only five were solo. For Seattle, three players had double digit tackles, K.J. Wright, Kevin Pierre-Louis and Kam Cancellor. Only Chancellor had more solos than assists, while the two linebackers had nearly 75% of their total tackles scored as assists.
Of the top tacklers in week six, two names really stick out to me, Stephen Tulloch and Dannell Ellerbe. Both players had incredible games but played 61% and 71% of their team’s snaps, respectively. Both players produced in a favorable matchup but I caution anyone chasing these kinds of stats. Antwon Blake and Pierre Desir were also beneficiaries of playing pass heavy offenses. They aren’t elite fantasy cornerbacks but it does remind us you can stream the cornerbacks facing the Broncos and Cardinals passing games.
Not on the list of top tacklers this week but merits mention is Minnesota middle linebacker Eric Kendricks. He finished the game with nine solo tackles, one assist and a sack while playing 98% of the snaps. I’ve been drooling over Kendricks since before the NFL draft and was really excited when he was selected by Mike Zimmer. Since Gerald Hodges was traded to the 49ers, Kendricks has moved into a starting role and has assumed an every down role. He should be a locked and loaded LB1 for many years. Your opportunity to buy low has passed.
Follow me on Twitter @OlingerIDP.
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- Dynasty IDP Waiver Wire: Week Seven - October 24, 2018
- Dynasty IDP Waiver Wire: Week Six - October 16, 2018
- Dynasty IDP Waiver Wire: Week Five - October 10, 2018
