Thorman’s Snaps and Pace: Week 10

Welcome to the Week 10 edition of Snaps & Pace, where we examine trends in play volume and game pace. It is meant to be a 30,000-foot view of upcoming contests, with the goal of identifying which matchups will – and which will not – be played on fertile fantasy soil. For a primer on why this is important, click here.

Week 9 was the season’s second-highest scoring week, with a 52.9 average game total and 12 teams posting at least 30 points. In terms of play volume, however, it was the slowest week yet — continuing the downward trend after a voluminous first month. The average combined snaps fell to 126.8, with nine teams posting 58 or fewer plays. Projected point totals are again mostly elevated for Week 10, but let’s see if we can sniff out those snaps sweet spots.

Up In Pace

Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Rams

The Seahawks continued their pass-happy ways in Buffalo, and they are still throwing at the league’s highest situation-neutral rate (64%). Yet it’s fair to wonder if Pete Carroll will rethink Seattle’s enormous shift in offensive approach. After dropping two of their last three games, with Russell Wilson cooking up seven turnovers in the pair of losses, the siren song of “protect the defense” must be playing somewhere in Carroll’s 69-year-old head. Let’s hope Carroll and handoff aficionado Brian Schottenheimer don’t lose their nerve and revert to the antiquated tortoisian strategy that held back the Seahawks offense for years.