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.

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SCHEDULE TAB

The Schedule tab was a recent addition to try and help someone 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 ones that look MOST FAVORABLE from a tackling perspective (with some notes if the matchup is particularly unfavorable for run vs pass):

• MIAMI (at Philadelphia) – Eagles offense generating 59 tackle opps/game (33 rush att)
• INDIANAPOLIS (vs Cleveland) – Browns offense generating 57 tackle opps/game (33 rush at)
• MINNESOTA (vs San Francisco) – Vikings defense allowing 58 tackle opps/game
• WASHINGTON (at NY Giants) – Giants offense generating 55 tackle opps/game

In contrast, these matchups look LEAST FAVORABLE from a tackling perspective (with some notes if the matchup is particularly unfavorable for run vs pass):

• CLEVELAND (at Indianapolis) – Browns defense allowing 38 tackle opps/game (14 completions)
• LA RAMS (vs Pittsburgh) – Steelers offense generating 44 tackle opps/game
• ATLANTA (at Tampa Bay) – Buccaneers offense generating 47 tackle opps/game
• SAN FRANCISCO (at Minnesota) – Vikings offense generating 48 tackle opps/game (19 rush att)
• PHILADELPHIA (vs Miami) – Eagles defense allowing 47 tackle opps/game (18 rush att)

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:

• NY GIANTS (vs Washington) – Commanders allowing 5.7 sacks/game
• WASHINGTON (at NY Giants) – Giants allowing 5.5 sacks/game
• LAS VEGAS (at Chicago) – Bears allowing 4.2 sacks/game
• INDIANAPOLIS (vs Cleveland) – Browns allowing 3.6 sacks/game

In contrast, here are some matchups that look LEAST FAVORABLE from a pass-rush perspective:

• ATLANTA (at Tampa Bay) – Buccaneers allowing 1.0 sack/game
• LA CHARGERS (at Kansas City ) – Chiefs allowing 1.0 sack/game
• PHILADEPHIA (vs Miami) – Dolphins allowing 1.0 sack/game
• NEW ENGLAND (vs Buffalo) – Bills allowing 1.5 sacks/game

STAT CREW GRADES

This tab keeps track of tendencies for each stat crew. Each home stadium typically has their own group of stat keepers that are responsible for assigning tackle details (solo vs solo/assist vs assist/assist) on each play. The table at the top keeps track of Tackles vs Opportunity and compares total tackles awarded (solos plus assists) divided by tackle opportunities (rush attempts plus pass completions plus sacks). This gives you an idea of which crews tend to be more generous or less generous in comparison to everybody else.

For week 6, there wasn’t anything too unusual to call out but I will use several examples to illustrate the impact it can have. In Tampa Bay, their stat crew awarded 1.3 tackles for every opportunity in the game for the highest ratio of the week. There were several crews that were much lower, but let’s use the Chargers game on Monday night as a comparison where they awarded 1.15 tackles for every opportunity.

For Detroit at Tampa, there were 37 rush attempts (excluding kneels), 49 completions, and 4 sacks for a total of 90 tackle opportunities. The crew awarded 73 solo tackles (81%) and 44 assists in the game for a total of 117 tackles.

For Dallas at the L.A. Chargers, there were 47 rush attempts (excluding kneels), 43 completions, and 6 sacks for 96 tackle opportunities. The crew here awarded 87 solo tackles (91%) and 23 assists in the game for a total of 110 tackles. So, there were 6 more opportunities for a tackle in this game but 7 fewer combined tackles handed out.

Most plays end in a solo tackle or two assists, but there are occasions where a solo AND an assist are given out and that is where most of the added value can come from since those plays wind up creating more fantasy points. I counted 10 such plays in the Tampa game but only 4 in the Chargers game. We see some crews are more likely to award a single solo tackle vs two assists on any given play, but we also see some crews more willing to give out a solo plus an assist and that’s worth paying attention to given the boost it can have on some games just depending on where they are played.

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*:

• Indianapolis (vs Cleveland) – 1.27 tackles/opp
• NY Giants (vs Washington) – 1.27 tackles/opp
• Baltimore (vs Detroit) – 1.27 tackles/opp
• Tampa Bay (vs Atlanta) – 1.27 tackles/opp

Home STADIUMS with LEAST GENEROUS (tackles per opportunity) stat crews this week include:

• Philadelphia (vs Miami) – 1.19 tackles/opp
• Denver (vs Green Bay) – 1.20 tackles/opp
• Minnesota (vs San Francisco) – 1.20 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:

• Minnesota (vs San Francisco) – 81% solos
• Kansas City (vs LA Chargers – 81% solos
• Chicago (vs Las Vegas) – 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. STADIUMS this week that tend to award the highest percentage of ASSISTS per opportunity are:

• New Orleans (vs Jacksonville) – 50% assists
• Indianapolis (vs Cleveland) – 50% assists
• New England (vs Buffalo) – 49% assists
• NY Giants (vs Washington) – 49% assists
• Tampa Bay (vs Atlanta) – 49% assists

Hopefully this helps give you some useful information. Please reach out with any questions or feedback.