If you feel as though the 2014 season has been a little less pass-oriented and a little more run-oriented, you're not mistaken. Through nearly three complete weeks of NFL action, and specifically the first 47 scheduled games of the season, the numbers support it. Consider this position-by-position breakdown of fantasy production through 47 games:
QB: 1,408 FPTS, down 6.6 percent from 2013 and 3.4 percent from the 2011-13 seasons combined.
RB: 1,555 FPTS, up 13.8 percent from 2013 and 7.1 percent from 2011-13.
WR: 1,821 FPTS, down 9.3 percent from 2013 and 7.3 percent from 2011-13.
TE: 679 FPTS, down 6.5 percent from 2013 and 5.7 percent from 2011-13.
Much of it has been the disappointing performances of several big-name quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers has 46 fantasy points to rank eighth at the position thus far, Drew Brees has 49 fantasy points to rank seventh, Matthew Stafford has 45 fantasy points to rank 10th and Cam Newton has missed a game and has 30 fantasy points to rank 27th. They were selected second, third, fifth and sixth among quarterbacks in the preseason. But perhaps that's less a trend than a buy-low opportunity?
• Speaking of Rodgers, this wasn't what fantasy owners were expecting when they made him a first-round selection, on average, in ESPN leagues this preseason. Through three weeks, his 46 fantasy points has him on a seasonal pace of 245.
Let's stave off Rodgers panic: Rodgers' 46 fantasy points certainly aren't the fewest he has scored in a three-game span in his career. In fact, twice during the first half of 2013 alone, he scored that few or fewer fantasy points during a three-game span, tallying 46 from Weeks 7-9 and 41 from Weeks 3-6 (the Green Bay Packers had a Week 4 bye). And in 2012, Rodgers scored just 41 fantasy points in the first three weeks of the season, a good omen because he finished that season with 329, the 16th-highest single-season fantasy point total by an NFL quarterback.
• Speaking of players heating up after slow starts, let's consider single-season leaders only using statistics accrued from Week 4 forward. Five players in history scored 300 fantasy points in the season's final 14 weeks, and all five of them did so in what were record-setting campaigns:
LaDainian Tomlinson, 366 in 2006 (410 total): He's the all-time, single-season record holder for fantasy points, as well as for touchdowns (31).
Aaron Rodgers, 319 in 2011 (385 total): He set, at the time, the record for fantasy points by a quarterback in a season.
Peyton Manning, 316 in 2013 (406 total): He set the NFL record for passing touchdowns, with 55, and passing yards, with 5,477.
Tom Brady, 308 in 2007 (378 total): He set, at the time, the NFL record for passing touchdowns, with 50.
Drew Brees, 304 in 2011 (380 total): He set, at the time, the NFL record for passing yards, with 5,476.
What that tells you is that all-time great campaigns tend to start as such, so while any 0-3 fantasy football team can most certainly rally, carry-your-team-on-his-back type players tend to already have begun making their statements by now.
• Through three weeks -- pending Monday night's action -- Andrew Luck is your leader in fantasy points, with 74. That's the worst three-week total by the NFL's leader since 2009, when Peyton Manning held the lead with a mere 63 points.
Five players managed at least 74 fantasy points through three weeks in the previous four seasons combined, for a total of seven instances: Manning, with 90 in 2013 and 76 in 2010; Brady, with 85 in 2011; Robert Griffin III, with 77 in 2012; Brees, with 76 in 2011; and Michael Vick, with 75 in 2010 and 74 in 2013.
• Brady's season-opening struggles have been a topic in this space previously, and now, through three games, he has just 31 fantasy points. It's actually not his worst start to a season; he scored just 29 fantasy points through three weeks in 2003. That was the year that Brady finished with 206 fantasy points, his worst single-season total in any of his 11 years in which he started all 16 New England Patriots games.
Brady scored 34 fantasy points through three weeks of 2006, 41 through three weeks of 2013, and 42 fantasy points through three weeks of both 2005 and 2009. It's that 2009 campaign that offers even the slightest glimmer of hope: That was the year he finished with 261 fantasy points to rank seventh among quarterbacks, meaning he scored 219 in his final 13 games, a total exceeded by only Rodgers (269), Brett Favre (234) and Tony Romo (220) during that time span.
• Thanks to the Atlanta Falcons' (28 fantasy points) and Indianapolis Colts' (17) defense/special teams performances in Week 3, we saw something that we hadn't in the NFL in nearly 40 years. If you recall, both the Falcons and Colts scored negative fantasy points from their defense/special teams in both Weeks 1 and 2, making this only the second time since 1960 that two defense/special teams managed 15-plus fantasy points in a week directly following two consecutive weeks with a negative score; the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots did it in Week 5 of the 1975 season.
The Falcons, in fact, by scoring 28 fantasy points, matched the single-game record for a D/ST that had negative scores in each of the previous two weeks. Care for an eerie coincidence? One of the teams with a share of that record -- and the most recent one to do it -- was the 1984 Washington Redskins, who entered Week 3 with a total of minus-7 -- that's identical to the Falcons' Weeks 1-2 total this season -- and promptly scored 28 fantasy points in Week 3. Oh, in addition, the Redskins scored their 28 in a home game against a division rival, in this case the New York Giants; you'll recall that the Falcons hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past Thursday.
Believers in the Falcons' D/ST -- and there are precious few of you, judging by their 7.9 percent ownership as of Monday morning -- might be happy to hear this: That 1984 Redskins team went on to score 195 fantasy points for the season, earning the No. 4 ranking among defense/special teams units that year.