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Rams ready to turbo-charge Todd Gurley?

St. Louis Rams running back Todd Gurley (30) is hit by Arizona Cardinals strong safety Deone Bucannon (20) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Welcome to Snaps, Pace, and Stats, which examines trends in snap totals and no-huddle usage. This year I’ll be looking at individual players on Fridays in Advanced Matchup Plays, and it will appear both here and on RotoGrinders. Before that, however, it is helpful to take a 30,000-foot view of the upcoming games, in the hope of finding out which ones will be played on fertile fantasy soil.

 

Rank Week 7 Snaps 2015 Snaps/Game Opponent Wk 7 Snps 2015 Opp Snps/Gm
1 New Orleans (83) Houston (76.0) Indianapolis (83) Carolina (71.2)
2 Philadelphia (81) San Diego (71.6) Carolina (80) Indianapolis (69.6)
3 San Diego (80) New Orleans (70.7) Oakland (80) N.Y. Giants (69.3)
4 Houston (78) Atlanta (69.9) Miami (78) Philadelphia (69.3)
5 BUF / MIN (74) Philadelphia (68.1) JAX / DET (74) Jacksonville (69.0)

 

San Diego at Baltimore

This is an interesting matchup. Almost all of the snap and pace trends, not to mention the projected 51-point over/under, point to a high-volume game – and it probably will be. But there may be a couple flies in the ointment. The Chargers rank second in plays per game (71.6) and the Ravens are seventh (67.6). San Diego uses the sixth-most no-huddle (19.2 percent), and Baltimore ranks 11th (10.8 percent). The Ravens (26.3; fifth-lowest seconds-per-snap) and Chargers (27.4; 11th-lowest) rank among the NFL’s fastest-paced offenses.

The Chargers even allow the most points-per-snap in the league (0.5), and the Ravens surrender the ninth-most (0.41). But with a combined 3-11 record, and all three wins of the nail-biting variety, we haven’t seen either team write the game script they want. The Ravens are on a short week, but the Chargers have to cross the country for a 1pm game. If Baltimore leverages its eighth-ranked run blocking (+4.5) against San Diego’s league-worst run defense (-42.7) the game’s anticipated snap volume might get muted.

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Pat Thorman is a Lead Writer for PFF Fantasy and was named 2013 Newcomer of the Year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. You can follow him on Twitter at @Pat_Thorman

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