All About the Solo: Week Seven

One of the most 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 assists. On the flip side, if your league doesn’t score solos and assists too differently, you’ll have a better idea of which 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 is still the discretion of the home score keeper. Even after this effort 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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In a week of offensive duds through the league, it wasn’t exactly surprising to see so many double digit tacklers this week, led by Christian Kirksey of the Browns with 17 total tackles. He played all 72 snaps on a team lacking both an offense and an identity. With the Browns once again playing musical chairs at the quarterback position he’s going to continue seeing an obscene amount of tackle opportunities.

I don’t know what has clicked with Blake Martinez in Green Bay but he’s by far playing the best football of his career and has emerged as a bona fide LB1. Since week three he has at least 11 total tackles in every game except week four against the Bears. As fellow IDP writer Tom Kislingbury noted, it looks like Martinez has put on some size since last year and hopefully it helps his durability.

I love Lavonte David as a player but I would use this week four spike to try to cash in on name recognition and the hope of a statistical bounce back. I don’t think his production will ever meet his expectation while he’s playing in this defense.

I don’t think Zach Brown gets the love he deserves in the IDP world, even from me. What he was been able to do in Buffalo last year only to be shown the door and then to step into Washington and not miss a beat is so impressive. Brown has at least eight tackles in every game and double digit tackles in four of six. This week against Carson Wentz and the Eagles he added 1.5 sacks. Both he and Blake Martinez have 63 total tackles on the season, one behind league leader C.J. Mosley, but Brown has played one less game than both of them.

Eric Kendricks is finally producing the type of season I have been expecting from him all along. He now has 52 total tackles on the season with one sack. This Vikings team has an opportunity to stake claim as “Kings of the North” behind this defense and Kendricks will be a big part of it.

Deone Bucannon has increased his tackle total each week since returning in week four. He’s gone from one, to seven, to eight, to twelve. With Carson Palmer and David Johnson now both down and out, the Cardinals defense is going to be on the field so much as Drew Stanton wastes everyone’s time on offense. Just typing his name gave me stink face.

Can we take a second to truly appreciate the awesomeness of NaVorro Bowman? Just days after signing with the Raiders after unceremoniously being released from the 49ers, he stepped in and balled out. Bowman played 97% of the team’s defensive snaps and led the team in tackles with 11 total. The Raiders still have time to right this ship and Bowman brings incredible leadership and production potential to the Silver and Black. He maintains every week starter status.

I wouldn’t suggest chasing the box scores of Avery Williamson and Todd Davis. Both players only played 48% of their team’s snaps and have proved time and time again how inconsistent they are.

The Jaguars damn near killed Jacoby Brissett this weekend after sacking him 10 times. It was their second 10 sack game of the season and four players registered at least 1.5 sacks, led by one of my favorite breakout stars of 2017 Yannick Ngakoue with 2.5. Calais Campbell chipped in two while Malik Jackson and Dante Fowler Jr. each finished with 1.5. This Jaguars defense is finally what we all thought they might be the last two years.

Derek Barnett had a bit of a coming out party on Monday Night Football. While he only played 36 snaps (56%) he was able to bring Kirk Cousins down twice. He’s obviously a future elite pass rusher and it was awesome to see him flash that on a national stage.

Follow me on Twitter @OlingerIDP.

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