Well we are a quarter of the way through the season, so what better to do than look back at our preseason Stat Leaders Predictions post and see if we are on pace or way off.
Passing
Yards
Jeff’s pick- Andrew Luck 4,900 yards
Clayton’s pick- Andrew Luck 5,100 yards
We both picked Andrew Luck here with slightly different numbers. Luck got off to a slow start and then got injured and missed Week 4. He is currently on pace for 4,106 yards. We have to imagine he will pick it up and get going but he may be too far behind to get close to our predicted numbers and the league leader Tom Brady who is on pace for a record shattering 5,931 yards.
Touchdowns
Jeff’s pick- Aaron Rodgers 46 TD’s
Clayton’s pick- Ben Roethlisberger 42 TD’s
Jeff picked Aaron Rodgers to lead the league and stuck with his pick even when Jordy Nelson went down. Rodgers is currently on pace for 44 TD’s, which is slightly behind Tom Brady’s pace of 48 TD’s.
Clayton picked Ben Roethlisberger who he admitted was a risky pick. Granted the injury basically ensured this pick won’t be correct, it’s fair to note that Ben was on a pace for a measly 27 TD’s before the injury.
Rushing
Yards
Jeff’s pick- Lesean McCoy 1,400 yards
Clayton’s pick- Eddie Lacy 1,500 yards
Jeff picked Lesean McCoy who seemed like a good bet given Rex Ryan’s run heavy scheme. However, similar to Big Ben, an injury early on seems to have put a damper on this prediction. He came into the season nursing a hammy injury but still was expected to produce. McCoy is currently on pace for 730 yards if he returns in Week 5, which is about half of what the league leader Chris Ivory is on pace for.
Clayton went with the big man Eddie Lacy. Lacy seems to defy nature with his size and foot work on the field. I really liked this pick for Clayton. Eddie Lacy too is a guy struggling with an injury as we saw him get only 3 carries due to an ankle injury and then follow it with only 10 carries in Week’s 2 and 3. Currently he is on pace for 920 yards which puts him well behind the leader Chris Ivory who is on pace for 1,570 yards.
Touchdowns
Jeff’s pick- Adrian Peterson 14 TD’s
Clayton’s pick- Marshawn Lynch 14 TD’s
Jeff was big on Adrian Peterson coming into the year and AP has looked very good so far. AP Is slightly behind the pace with 12 TD’s but is getting better each week. He will need a strong middle section of the season to reach 14. It’s hard to say he won’t catch the current leader Devonta Freeman who is on pace for 28 TD’s because I think it’s easy to assume his pace will slow down tremendously.
Clayton went with Marshawn much to the opposition of Jeff. Clayton wasn’t wrong in assuming beast mode will be beast mode but with injury issues and Jimmy Graham basically doing nothing to help the run game this one is looking tough. Marshawn has yet to score a TD this year and it’s unclear if he is coming back for Week 5 just yet.
Receiving
Receptions
Jeff’s pick- Demaryius Thomas 125 receptions
Clayton’s pick- Antonio Brown 130 receptions
Jeff went with Demaryius Thomas here and he hasn’t disappointed. He is currently slightly ahead of Jeff’s prediction and is on pace for 132 catches. He should continue to see heavy targets and keep this number rising and he will need it to catch current leader, Julio Jones, who is on pace for 152 receptions even after sitting the entire 2nd half of his Week 4 matchup against Houston.
Clayton stuck with last years leader Antonio Brown to repeat. While the injury to Big Ben definitely seems to make this prediction a tough one now it still could happen. AB is currently on pace for 136 receptions.
Yards
Jeff’s pick- Julio Jones 1,600 yards
Clayton’s pick- Julio Jones 1,650 yards
Both guys went with Julio here with very close predictions. Julio is currently on pace for 1,912 yards, which as stated before is with him sitting an entire half in a blowout. This pace should be much higher if not for the Texans laying an egg and letting Quinn rest his work horse. He is currently on the same pace as Antonio Brown who as we stated earlier is playing with Mike Vick as QB for the next few weeks,
Touchdowns
Jeff’s pick- Dez Bryant 14 TD’s
Clayton’s pick- Rob Gronkowski 16 TD’s
Jeff finally put his hatred for Dez Bryant aside and picked him here and what happens? Dez breaks a bone in his foot and is going to miss anywhere from a quarter of the season to about half the season. Dez had 0 TD’s in his 1 partial game so it’s hard to really break this one down.
Meanwhile Clayton went with a tight end here to lead the league in TD’s, but not just any tight end, we are talking about Gronk here. Gronk rewarded Clayton with 3 TD’s in the first game of the season and had Clayton sitting nicely with this pick. Gronk is currently on pace for a monster 21 TD’s which puts him slightly ahead of Larry FItzgerald’s 20 TD pace.
Defense
Tackles
Jeff’s pick- Luke Kuechly 165 tackles
Clayton’s pick-Lavonte David 170 tacklers
Jeff picked the tackling machine Luke kuechly to keep his reign of terror alive, however Kuechly suffered a concussion in the first game of the season and hasn’t seen the field since.
Clayton went with Lavonte David who has racked up 430 tackles in his first 3 seasons. He is having a good year thus far and is on pace for 132 tackles but he is gonna need a strong stretch to catch D’Qwell Jackson who is on a blistering pace looking at 188 tackles for the season.
Sacks
Jeff’s pick- Justin Houston 18.5 sacks
Clayton’s pick- Justin Houston 19 sacks
We both went with the sack artist Justin Houston here. He started off with 3 sacks in his first 2 games but has been held without a sack the last 2 weeks. He is currently on pace for a disappointing (for him) 12 sacks, but I have to believe he will turn it on and put pressure on the ageless Demarcus Ware who is on pace for 18 sacks.
Interceptions
Jeff’s pick- Vontae Davis 8 INT’s
Clayton’s pick- Desmond Trufant 7 INT’s
Jeff went with Vontae Davis to really take advantage of his limited targets and snag 9 INT’s however he currently has 0 picks through 4 games so it is not looking good for him.
Clayton surprised Jeff with this one and took Trufant from Atlanta. The risk here is Trufant has emerged as the next true shutdown corner and won’t see many throws his way and that has been the theme this year as Trufant has 0 picks but saw an Eli Manning team that didn’t target him once and many other QB’s shy away from his man all season. The current leader Josh Norman is on a blistering pace of 1 pick per game which we have to assume will slow down as QB’s fear his ball hawking skills and look elsewhere.
