The Footballguys IDP Matchup Spreadsheet is used to track trends around the league to help with evaluating IDP matchups. I’ll use this article to call out some interesting numbers in the data each week.
You can find the Microsoft Excel tool HERE
SCHEDULE TAB
I’ve added in a new Schedule tab this year to try and quickly identify favorable matchups each week. I pulled in some key metrics for the defense as well as the offense they are facing this week.
When I look at matchups for this week, these are the matchups that look MOST FAVORABLE from a tackling perspective (with some notes if the matchup is particularly unfavorable for run vs pass):
- WASHINGTON (vs Philadelphia) – Eagles generating 56 tackle opps/game (33 rush attempts)
- MIAMI (vs Cleveland) – Browns generating 55 tackle opps/game (33 rush attempts)
- LA RAMS (vs Arizona) – Cardinals generating 55 tackle opps/game (27 pass completions)
- SAN FRANCISCO (vs LA Chargers) – Chargers generating 53 tackle opps/game (29 pass completions)
- HOUSTON (vs NY Giants) – Giants generating 53 tackle opps/game (32 rush attempts)
In contrast, these matchups look LEAST FAVORABLE from a tackling perspective (with some notes if the matchup is particularly unfavorable for run vs pass):
- ATLANTA (vs Carolina) – Panthers generating 42 tackle opps/game (17 pass completions)
- NY GIANTS (vs Houston) – Texans generating 46 tackle opps/game
- INDIANAPOLIS (vs Las Vegas) – Raiders generating 46 tackle opps/game (21 rush attempts)
- DENVER (vs Tennessee) – Titans generating 46 tackle opps/game (13 pass completions)
- CLEVELAND (vs Miami) – Dolphins generating 47 tackle opps/game (21 rush attempts)
You may also want some help picking out matchups for pass rushers. These are some that look MOST FAVORABLE to me from a pass-rush perspective:
- LAS VEGAS (vs Indianapolis) – Colts allow 3.9 sacks/game (including 9 in week 9)
- DETROIT (vs Chicago) – Bears allow 3.7 sacks/game
- ARIZONA (vs LA Rams) – Rams allow 3.5 sacks/game
- LA RAMS (vs Arizona) – Cardinals allow 2.9 sacks/game (17 over last 4 combined)
- HOUSTON (vs NY Giants) – Giants allow 3.1 sacks/game
Continue reading this content with a ELITE subscription.
An ELITE subscription is required to access content for IDP (individual defensive players) leagues. If this league is not a IDP (individual defensive players) league, you can edit your leagues here.
In contrast, here are some matchups that look LEAST FAVORABLE from a pass-rush perspective:
- SAN FRANCISCO (vs LA Chargers) – Chargers allow 1.3 sacks/game
- KANSAS CITY (vs Jacksonville) – Jaguars allow 1.3 sacks/game (0 allowed in 5 of 8 games)
- GREEN BAY (vs Dallas) – Cowboys allow 1.5 sacks/game (3 in last 3 games combined)
- SEATTLE (vs Tampa Bay) – Buccaneers allow 1.6 sacks/game
- CHICAGO (vs Detroit) – Lions allow 1.6 sacks/game
STAT CREW GRADES
In week 9, the Lions crew had a very high TVO with a value of 1.402. This is the highest number seen in any game this year and a clear outlier from the other 4 home games in Detroit previously. They handed out 70 solo tackles and 59 assists for 129 combined tackles on just 92 tackle opportunities. The AVO of 64.1% (59 assists on 92 opportunities) was 20 points higher than their 2nd highest game (44.6% back in week 2). Historically, the Detroit crew has ranked among the least generous in the league when it comes to awarding assists so we will need to see if this trend repeats during a 3-game home stand starting in week 12.
The lowest TVO game this week was 1.153 and came in Arizona in a game against Seattle. The stat crew awarded 94 solo tackles and 34 assists for 128 combined tackles on 111 tackle opportunities. Arizona has had one of the lowest assist ratios in the league for at least the past 3 years and that trend has remained consistent through all 5 home games this year.
There are some crews at the top where you can likely expect more tackles to be awarded on average for each opportunity. These are stadiums which you may want to focus on with some of your IDP matchups as they will tend to inflate the number of IDPs who are involved in each play.
Home STADIUMS with MOST GENEROUS (tackle per opportunity) stat crews this week include:
- Pittsburgh (vs New Orleans) – 1.29 tackles/opp
- LA Rams (vs Arizona) – 1.27 tackles/opp
- NY Giants (vs Houston) – 1.26 tackles/opp
- Tennessee (vs Denver) – 1.26 tackles/opp
Home STADIUMS with LEAST GENEROUS (tackles per opportunity) stat crews this week include:
- San Francisco (vs LA Chargers) – 1.17 tackles/opp
- Tampa Bay (vs Seattle) – 1.17 tackles/opp
- Las Vegas (vs Indianapolis) – 1.17 tackles/opp
- Kansas City (vs Jacksonville) – 1.18 tackles/opp
Some leagues may place a premium on SOLO TACKLES and award more points for them than two assisted tackles. In that case, you’d want to focus on matchups played in STADIUMS that award a high percentage of solo tackles. This week that would include:
- Buffalo (vs Minnesota) – 86% solos
- Tennessee (vs Denver) – 84% solos
- NY Giants (vs Houston) – 81% solos
In other cases, you may not want to differentiate between a solo or an assist and want to just focus on total tackles. HOME CREWS this week that tend to award the highest percentage of ASSISTS per opportunity are:
- Pittsburgh (vs New Orleans) – 56% assists
- LA Rams (vs Arizona) – 51% assists
- Carolina (vs Atlanta) – 50% assists
- NY Giants (vs Houston) – 45% assists
Hopefully this helps give you some useful information for creating your lineups this week. Please reach out with any questions or feedback.
Email: rudnicki@footballguys.com
Twitter: @a_rudnicki