NFL DFS Pace of Play: Week 5 (Fantasy Football)

Pace of play gives the prospective DFS player an opportunity to consider not just Vegas totals but how the game will be played out in a given week. Game flow is a tricky rabbit hole to jump down when you consider the endless scenarios that can play out in a game. Stacking up-tempo offenses who can keep the ball moving is crucial to gaining an edge in DFS. Even slight differentiations of team trends matters in a world where volume is king. Over the last three years, on average, teams ran a play 0.8 seconds per play slower in positive game scripts than they did in neutral game script.

Each week I’ll highlight five game environments factoring in their pace metrics, stacks to consider for tournaments, and five dart throws to shoot for the moon with.

A reminder on a simple metric I introduced last year: Game Pace Score (GPS). I liked the acronym to also give you a “compass” of how the game total and neutral pace statistics come together. These scores are ranked 1-5 with five indicating the pace of the play is everything you want for a DFS bonanza.

• 5– Back-and-forth shootout is looming. Both teams are pace up and both sport team implied totals of 25+.
• 4– An up-tempo spot worth game stacking in DFS in multiple ways. Consider multiple game scripts in play.
• 3– This game could go either way. Often, these are onslaught spots for teams with healthy implied totals or games that hit the under because two middling offenses collide.
• 2– Strong indications of a game you want to stay away from. Usually, the pace is dragged down by one team with an absurdly slow neutral pace or a team with a team implied total so low it drags the entire game environment through the mud.
• 1– This has all the makings of a plodder. These games have totals hovering UNDER 40 which gives you zero confidence in DFS.

For Week 5, I’ve split up each team’s implied totals, seconds per play, neutral situation pace, and combined that for a final GPS score.

Make sure to check out the DFS Podcast where Betz and I break down the main slate and highlight some of our favorite plays of the week.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Arizona Cardinals (+5)– O/U: 49.5

	Sec/Play	Neutral Sit. Pace	Pass Rate Over Exp.	Team Implied Total
Philadelphia Eagles	8	2	19	27.3
Arizona Cardinals	4	20	16	22.3

Despite this game being the highest total on the main slate, its game-pace score only came out to a 4. That’s a strong number but there are routes to this game hitting the under as Jason mentioned on Tuesday’s podcast. Arizona’s offense is just plain inefficient ranking dead last in explosive pass rate, 4th worst in 3rd down success rate and 3rd worst in turnovers per drive. They can’t sustain drives, especially in the 1st half of games. The Eagles, on the other hand, rank #1 in total yards per game and #2 in drive success rate.

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