Thorman’s Snaps and Pace: Week 8

Welcome to the Week 8 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.

We have a nearly full Halloween slate marked by few matchups marrying up-paced offenses, a pair of promising divisional rematches, and the merciful absence of London games. There’s no shortage of pace-based nuggets to unwrap, so let’s dive right in.

As always, “situation neutral” is meant to provide context, refers to plays while the game is within seven points during the first three quarters (minus the final two minutes of the first half), and is derived via the intrepid RotoViz Pace Tool.

Up In Pace

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints

The Saints’ inclusion in this section highlights the lack of perfect matchup fits between solidly uptempo offenses (just wait until the next game). New Orleans has, however, shown recent signs of trending away from their well-earned tortoisian reputation. Prior to their bye, the Saints turned in the fastest situation-neutral pace of Week 5 during a wild win in Washington (21.4 seconds per snap). Prior to that, they had operated at the fifth-slowest pace (32.1 seconds). They passed against Washington at the third-highest rate of Week 5 (72.2%). Before that, they ranked dead last (46%). During Monday night’s rainstorm in Seattle, the Saints again deployed an elevated pace and pass rate — at least relative to expectation.