It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose.
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
A flock of ravens (not Baltimore Ravens) is called an “unkindness.”
The Flintstones were originally called The Gladstones, and then The Flagstones.
The tongues of blue whales can weigh as much as an elephant.
Sloths can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes.
Superman wasn’t capable of flying in comic books until the 1940s.
Those are a few interesting facts you might not know.
Now for something you might find even more interesting: Here are your 101 Fantasy Football Facts from what was a very challenging and difficult 2023 NFL season.
1. It was a down season for the quarterback position from a statistical perspective. For the second straight year, just four players averaged more than 20 fantasy points per game (minimum 10 starts), which was down from nine in 2021. We also saw only four signal-callers throw for 30-plus touchdowns for the second straight season. That’s also down from the nine quarterbacks who hit that mark in 2021.
2. Among the top 12 quarterbacks drafted based on average draft position (ADP) data, just seven actually finished in the top 12 in fantasy points. The players who failed to meet expectations include Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Justin Fields, Deshaun Watson and Kirk Cousins. Trevor Lawrence (12th) barely made it.
3. The other five quarterbacks who finished in the top 12 were Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, Jared Goff, C.J. Stroud and Baker Mayfield. Goff was drafted highest out of the group, and his average draft position was just 139.9 on the NFFC website.
4. The 2023 NFL season was marred with injuries to field generals. In fact, there were 66 quarterbacks who started a game. None of those backups finished in the top 12 in total points, but Joe Flacco did rank fourth in points scored per game. Of course, he started just five regular-season contests for the Cleveland Browns.
5. The most backup quarterbacks to start a game in a single season came in 1987, which was the NFL’s strike-impacted campaign (so everyone was, by definition, a backup). Just nine teams started the same quarterback in all 17 games in 2023. Five other teams had just one quarterback start all but one game this season.
6. In 2022, Patrick Mahomes threw for 5,250 yards and accounted for 45 total touchdowns, which amounted to 417.4 fantasy points. That broke the previous single-season record for quarterbacks, which was 417.1 points … and held by Mahomes. His leading wide receiver was JuJu Smith-Schuster with 933 yards.
7. Mahomes was the first quarterback selected, on average in 2023 fantasy drafts. He went on to throw for a career-low 4,183 yards (1,067 fewer than last season) and account for a career-low 27 touchdowns. His 17.5 points-per-game average was 7.1 fewer than he had in 2022, and it was the lowest in his career by three points.
8. The major complaint about Mahomes was his receivers, but rookie Rashee Rice was actually far better than Smith-Schuster from a fantasy perspective. Beyond that, his next best wideout was Justin Watson with 460 yards. What’s more, his top target, Travis Kelce, failed to post 1,000 yards for the first time since .
9. In the final five weeks of the fantasy season (Weeks 13-17), Mahomes was an awful 21st in points per game among quarterbacks. Some players (including backups) who ranked ahead of him included Geno Smith, Jake Browning, Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, Jared Goff, Gardner Minshew and Taylor Heinicke.
10. Josh Allen scored 392.6 fantasy points this season, making it four straight years in which he’s scored over 390 points. He accomplished that feat despite throwing a career-high 18 interceptions, but his NFL-record 15 rushing touchdowns made up for some of those mistakes. His 15 scores on the ground tied Jalen Hurts (who also rushed for 15 touchdowns) for the league high in a single season.
11. Allen has now scored 2,082.5 fantasy points in his career. That’s the most points a quarterback has scored in his first six seasons in NFL history. He’s also first in terms of rushing touchdowns scored among quarterbacks in their first six years, and he’s third in rushing yards, behind Lamar Jackson and Michael Vick.
12. Despite the fact that he rushed for an NFL-record 15 touchdowns, Hurts still saw his fantasy numbers decline. His points-per-game average dropped by more than four points, which was due in part to an increase in turnovers. Hurts had a career-high 15 picks and lost five fumbles, which was also a personal worst.
13. On a positive note, Hurts still finished second in points among quarterbacks. He also set the record for the most rushing touchdowns scored in a field general’s first four seasons in the league. His 41 scores eclipsed the previous high of 33, which was set by Cam Newton in his first four years with the Carolina Panthers.
14. Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys had a terrible finish to their season, but he was a “star” in the fantasy world. Despite throwing 15 interceptions last season and having an ADP of 113.5 on NFFC, he ranked third in points at the position and led the league with 36 touchdown passes. Prescott was also the most accurate field general in the league based on an on-target percentage of 81.2 in his 17 starts.
15. Jordan Love finished fifth in fantasy points this season, but he had a ton of peaks and valleys. He averaged 21.3 points in his first four games, but he failed to score 17 points in any game over his next five starts while averaging 13.1 points. He turned things around the rest of the season, however, scoring at least 17 points in all but one of his last eight contests including five games with over 20 points.
16. Kirk Cousins was the sixth-best quarterback in fantasy football in the first eight weeks of the season, before tearing his Achilles against the Green Bay Packers. Had he completed the entire campaign, Cousins was on pace to score 318.2 points. That would have been a career high and would have ranked him sixth on the year.
17. Brock Purdy was a hidden gem in fantasy drafts, too, finishing sixth in points at quarterback even after being drafted, on average, at 182.4 behind the likes of Daniel Jones, Geno Smith, Derek Carr and Kenny Pickett. Purdy scored 20-plus points in eight of his final 14 starts, and he ranked fifth in passing yards per game.
18. Purdy was also the best quarterback in the league in terms of big pass plays (20-plus yards), completing 72 such plays in 16 games. That was three more than Jared Goff, who played in one more game, and six more than rookie C.J. Stroud.
19. Stroud is coming off one of the best years for any rookie quarterback based on fantasy points, finishing with the eighth-most points all time. He also ranked third among first-year field generals in passing yards and tied for sixth in passing scores.
20. Stroud was arguably the best rookie quarterback as a passer in NFL history, at least based on fantasy points. In fact, no other first-year field general who rushed for fewer than 200 yards or scored fewer four or fewer rushing touchdowns has had more points than Stroud. He had just 167 rushing yards and three scores.
21. Stroud also had the best single-game fantasy performance from a quarterback this season. In Week 9, he beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 470 passing yards, five touchdowns and 41.8 points. He also had a 147.8 passer rating in the game.
22. Stroud is one of just six rookie quarterbacks to throw five touchdowns in a single game in the history of the NFL. The other four signal-callers include Daniel Jones (2019), Deshaun Watson (2017), Jameis Winston (2015), Matthew Stafford (2009) and Ray Buvid (1937). Buvid only had six touchdown passes in that season.
23. Stroud’s 470 passing yards in that game is the most a rookie quarterback has ever thrown in NFL history. He broke the previous record set by Marc Bulger back in 2002. He threw for 453 yards and four scores against the San Diego Chargers
24. Sam Howell was one of the best quarterbacks in fantasy football in the first 13 weeks, averaging 18.2 points while ranking fifth in points at the position. In those games, he scored 18-plus points seven times including four with 20-plus points. He went in the tank the rest of the season, however, scoring a 20.6 points in his final four games while ranking 42nd in points. With the Washington Commanders holding the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, chances are Howell will lose his starting job (possibly Drake Maye), and he could be traded.
25. Joe Flacco went from his couch at home to a fantasy superstar in the final five weeks of the fantasy season. In that time, he threw for a combined 1,616 yards with 13 touchdowns and scored 100.8 points (20.2 PPG) while ranking fourth in points among quarterbacks. Flacco’s 100.8 points is 28.6 more than he had in his previous two seasons, during which time he scored more than 20 points .
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