The Alliance of American Football's first weekend slate of games went off without a hitch and we here at Pro Football Focus were back at it, grading every single player on every single play of every single game. While we sift through our grades, one of the products of our grading system is an advanced set of statistics and data that you can't find anywhere else.
Coupled with our PFF Elite subscription, here are the beyond-the-box-score stats to know from Week 1 of the AAF.
[Editor's note: The stats mentioned in this article can be found with a PFF Elite subscription. Join now for every game of the AAF season!]
Most targeted receivers
As with the NFL, the AAF will likely showcase the importance of the passing game in today's football. As stated in the Monday Morning Takeaway, each team who won did so on the back of plus-grades from their quarterback while each team who lost did so with an uninspiring performance of well-below average grades from their signal-caller. Every quarterback needs reliable receivers and here are the most-targeted receivers from opening weekend:
Mekale McKay, San Antonio: 11
Quinton Patton, Birmingham: 9
Greg Ward Jr., San Antonio: 7
Francis Owusu, San Diego: 7
Rashad Ross, Arizona: 7
Seantavius Jones, Atlanta: 7
Brian Brown, San Diego: 6
Malachi Jones, Atlanta: 6
Alton ‘Pig' Howard, Memphis: 6
De'Mornay Pierson-El, Salt Lake: 6
Richard Mullaney, Arizona: 5
Chris Thompson, Orlando: 5
Charles Johnson, Orlando: 5
Alonzo Moore, San Antonio: 5
Ervin Phillips, Atlanta: 5
Amba Etta-Tawo, Birmingham: 5
Most receptions from receivers:
Being targeted is one thing, but hauling in those passes is another. Here are the leaders in receptions at the wide receiver position after Week 1:
Richard Mullaney, Arizona: 5
Greg Ward Jr., San Antonio: 5
Rashad Ross, Arizona: 5
Mekale McKay, San Antonio: 5
Brian Brown, San Diego: 5
Chris Thompson, Orlando: 4
Charles Johnson, Orlando: 4
Justin Thomas, Atlanta: 4
Alton ‘Pig' Howard, Memphis: 4
Quinton Patton, Birmingham: 4
Most receiving yards
Only two receivers went over 100 yards despite some seeing some heavy targets from their respective quarterbacks, and here are the leaders in receiving yards among receivers after Week 1:
Quinton Patton, Birmingham: 107
Rashad Ross, Arizona: 103
Mekale McKay, San Antonio: 80
Alonzo Moore, San Antonio: 78
Brian Brown, San Diego: 66
Greg Ward Jr., San Antonio: 65
Charles Johnson, Orlando: 60
Richard Mullaney, Arizona: 57
Dontez Ford, San Diego: 56
Jalin Marshall, Orlando: 51
Most carries
Bellcow may be a term of old as more and more teams across the landscape are employing multiple running backs to share the load out of the backfield. Still, a lot can be learned by the amount of carries a running back gets out of the backfield and here are the leaders after Week 1 in carries:
Trent Richardson, Birmingham: 23
Jhurell Pressley, Arizona: 18
Joel Bouagnon, Salt Lake: 16
Kenneth Farrow II, San Antonio: 14
Tarean Folston, Atlanta: 12
Zac Stacy, Memphis: 12
Akeem Hunt, Orlando: 10
David Cobb, San Antonio: 9
Ja'Quan Gardner, San Diego: 8
Branden Oliver, Salt Lake: 8
Most targets from the backfield
Pass-catching running backs are the wave of today's pro football realm and the AAF saw some big target numbers from running backs in Week 1:
Ladarius Perkins, Birmingham: 7
Raijon Neal, Memphis: 5
Tarean Folston, Atlanta: 4
Branden Oliver, Salt Lake: 3
Ja'Quan Gardner, San Diego: 3
Most snaps
While receiving targets and carries are good in their own right, players have to see the field before they can tally such numbers. With our player grading process, we also track how many times a player lined up on offense across any of the positions, and here are those snap count leaders for various positions on offense in Week 1:
Running back
Trent Richardson, Birmingham: 48
Jhurell Pressley, Arizona: 41
Kenneth Farrow II, San Antonio: 36
Tarean Folston, Atlanta: 33
Joel Bouagnon, Salt Lake: 29
Ja'Quan Gardner, San Diego: 27
Akeem Hunt, Orlando: 27
Branden Oliver, Salt Lake: 25
Ladarius Perkins, Birmingham: 25
Terrence Magee, Memphis: 21
Zac Stacy, Memphis: 21
Wide receiver
Seantavius Jones, Atlanta: 60
Mekale McKay, San Antonio: 59
Malachi Jones, Atlanta: 58
Kenny Bell, Salt Lake: 54
Reece Horn, Memphis: 50
Quinton Patton, Birmingham: 47
Brian Brown, San Diego: 44
Greg Ward Jr., San Antonio: 44
Tobias Palmer, Birmingham: 44
Kayaune Ross, Memphis: 43
Tight end
Busta Anderson, Birmingham: 52
Charles Standberry Jr., Atlanta: 45
Connor Hamlett, Arizona: 43
Gavin Escobar, San Diego: 41
Evan Rodriguez, San Antonio: 41
Thomas Duarte, Arizona: 40
Nick Truesdell, Salt Lake: 39
Cole Hunt, San Antonio: 38
Connor Davis, Birmingham: 35
Scott Orndoff, Orlando: 35
Anthony Denham, Salt Lake: 35
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