The Worksheet: Week 3 Fantasy Football, All You Need To Know

Welcome to Week 3 of The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview, by Rich Hribar.

What is The Worksheet from Rich Hribar?

The Worksheet is a comprehensive weekly fantasy football preview for each NFL game. Rich Hribar analyzes the matchup for every notable fantasy player for every game every week of the NFL season.

We are only two weeks into the season, but because of injuries and a slow offensive start, gamers could be feeling as if we are already months into things.

Week 2 was a tough one with Cooper Kupp, Isiah Pacheco, and Deebo Samuel all suffering injuries that will sideline them for multiple weeks.

A.J. Brown and Evan Engram were ruled out Sunday morning.

Players such as Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Mixon, Justin Jefferson, and Amon-Ra St. Brown were among the handful of fantasy stars who were forced from last week’s game early.

The remaining players on the field continued to work through a league in transition.

We are now two weeks into the season, and offenses are still playing far behind defenses, especially in the passing game.

Through two weeks, the NFL has the fewest number of plays to gain 20 or more yards since 2008.

The 193.6 passing yards per game are the fewest through two weeks for any NFL season in the 2000s.

The league’s 3.6% touchdown rate per pass attempt is the lowest rate through two weeks since 2006.

The league’s 7.7% sack rate is the highest rate through two weeks in any season in the 2000s.

Edge rushers are ahead of the curve on offensive play and passing acumen across the league.

Teams also have had trouble converting in the red zone.

The league’s 47.0% red zone touchdown rate is the lowest since 2006 through two weeks.

There have been some beneficiaries outside of passing games.

We have seen the most rushing yards through two weeks since the 2020 season.

While we have some front-end running backs hitting for fantasy, the real uptick in rushing has come from quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks have their most rushing yards in league history through two weeks of any season.

They have 273 more rushing yards as a group than at this point a year ago.

Kickers are also living their best lives thanks to red zone issues and the impact of longer field goals being more successful than ever before.

The 141 field goals are the most through two weeks in any season in the 2000s, 20 more than the next closest season.

There have already been 35 field goals 50 yards or further, by far the most through two weeks of any season.

There were 22 last season.

That said, we do have offenses that have been effective out of the starting blocks. There are players scoring fantasy points.

We are always going to have to calibrate for the current scoring climate. That’s what this article has always been about, keeping things in context and adjusting for what is happening.

We still have 16 weeks to go, so let’s buckle in.

We are still working with small samples as part of a small sample.

For the most part, early on we are focusing on initial usage notes to diagnose spots where players let down expectations or exceeded them.

If you have been following this post for the past few seasons, tangible information builds up and this post expands with information.

This article will be updated throughout the week to reflect major news or injury implications.

I encourage you to use the game-by-game tables and data points here in conjunction with the player rankings that will be available every Wednesday. Enjoy the games!

Click the matchups below for the individual game previews.

Week 3 Fantasy Football Matchups