Strength in Numbers: Actionable Stats From Wild Card Weekend

We’re going to get a lot of stuff wrong, but sifting through usage metrics can help us work through what matters and what doesn’t. That’s the goal of this article: to break down the most actionable takeaways from each week in a concise, numbers-filled format and work through what’s important. Note: From this point on, we will only focus on teams that are still alive for the Super Bowl. Let’s get right to it:

1. Colston Loveland led Bears pass catchers with 49 routes on 54 dropbacks, and he torched the Green Bay defense with eight catches for 137 yards. The rookie TE had a 33.3% target share, meaning his last three target shares are as follows: 33.3%, 39.4%, and 24.4%. The 10th overall pick has emerged as a legitimate stud for this Chicago offense at the perfect time.

2. Rome Odunze only caught two of six targets (13.3% target share), but he played 69.2% of snaps and ran 39 routes on 54 dropbacks in his return from a stress fracture — both solid numbers given it was his first game back. Odunze out-routed Luther Burden III 39-35, and his role should theoretically grow as he gets healthier. It’s unlikely he ever regains the role he had early in the year, given Loveland and Burden’s ascensions, but running a route on 72.2% of dropbacks in his first game back seems pretty strong.

3. Davante Adams was off the injury report by the end of the week and ran 38 routes on 47 Matthew Stafford dropbacks. His 13 targets on 42 attempts earned him a 31.0% target share. Adams looks fully healthy entering the Divisional Round. Xavier Smith (24 routes) was the WR3 for the Rams, not Konata Mumpfield (seven), which makes sense given Los Angeles practically outright stated that Mumpfield was the Adams replacement when he went down. Mumpfield will also likely play more if the Rams get in massively positive script, given his ability as a run blocker.