Key stat trends entering Week 9

Last week, this column looked at the average fantasy strength of schedule remaining for quarterbacks. This week, the running back position is featured in the same manner. This information -- the average fantasy points allowed to the running back position for each upcoming opponent -- is best used when trying to make a decision on whom to pick up, drop or make a trade for over the course of the rest of the NFL season. To make it even more relevant, not only is the overall average given, also provided are splits for Weeks 9-13 and 14-17.

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The Oakland Raiders have scored a league-worst 60 total fantasy points from the running back position, which is 15 fewer points than the next closest team, the Carolina Panthers. For the remainder of the season, the Raiders face the most difficult fantasy schedule for running backs. Sometimes, life just isn't fair or maybe this is a just reward for drafting Darren McFadden and/or Maurice Jones-Drew.

The aforementioned Panthers do catch a major break, as they face the easiest schedule for running backs the rest of the way and in both of the splits provided. You could do worse than to have DeAngelo Williams owned on your team right now.

Though it might be very difficult to do, trading for Le'Veon Bell might be the difference between just making your league's playoffs and taking home the crown. Bell's schedule in the fantasy playoffs is extremely favorable.

On target

Receiving yardage is the most variable form of yardage, which makes sense because so much of it is dependent on where the quarterback elects to throw the ball. Because of this, variations in the number of times a player is targeted by his quarterback can greatly change a player's value. So while your receiver may have scored 10 fantasy points in a given week, you need to know if it's reasonable to expect that he can repeat that type of performance on a routine basis. If he had one target that he turned into a 40-yard touchdown, you need to realize that he was one quarterback decision away from posting a goose egg. Conversely, if your wideout had 12 targets and finished with 108 receiving yards, his prospects for consistent fantasy production are significantly greater. In the chart below, you'll see all the players averaging six or more targets, the number of routes they average per game and their average depth of target.

Note: Targets are not an official NFL statistic. Based on the methodology that stat services use, the number of targets listed may be different than target values listed elsewhere. The philosophy of ESPN Stats & Information is to count a target when the analyst thinks the pass was actually intended for the player. Therefore, if a quarterback is obviously throwing a ball away, the analyst will not record a target for that pass. This gives a truer representation of what a target is -- i.e., a pass thrown to a particular player with the intent for that player to catch the ball -- and therefore should be more helpful to the fantasy community.

Fantasy insights based on Week 8

• Martavis Bryant might be a hot pickup this week, but he's not yet on my radar in re-draft leagues. Bryant put up good numbers during Ben Roethlisberger's historic day, but he ran only 21 routes on a day where the Pittsburgh Steelers attempted 49 passes. Wide receivers need to be running 25 or more routes per game to be reliable and it's unrealistic to expect the Steelers to continue to pass as much as they did Sunday.

• In the two games since Percy Harvin was traded to the New York Jets, Doug Baldwin is averaging 8.5 targets per game on 33 routes per game. That means he's effectively being used as much as Brandon Marshall and Keenan Allen.

• Allen Robinson is owned in just 33 percent of ESPN.com leagues. Since Week 5, only 16 wide receivers have scored more fantasy points than he has. He's getting consistent targets and needs to be owned in all formats.

• If Rueben Randle continues to get this many opportunities, a huge game is going to come sooner than later. In case you missed it, the Indianapolis Colts, his opponent this week, just surrendered 58 fantasy points to the Steelers' wide receivers.

• Since Week 4, Brandon LaFell has run 30 or more routes in each game. During that time period, he is the eighth-highest-scoring fantasy wide receiver. He's owned in only about half of ESPN.com leagues. Based on those metrics, his ownership should be 100 percent.

Big plays and up close

In Week 8, seven players totaled at least three rushes that gained 10 or more yards each: Mark Ingram (5), Matt Forte (4), Arian Foster (4), Michael Vick (3), Le'Veon Bell (3), Jerick McKinnon (3) and Eddie Lacy (3). That is one less than the number of players (eight) with at least three rushes of 10 or more yards as in Week 7.

Meanwhile, 10 players had at least two carries from the opponent's 5-yard line or closer: Giovani Bernard (3), Shane Vereen (2), Juwan Thompson (2), Jonas Gray (2), Joique Bell (2), Jeremy Hill (2), Chris Ivory (2), Ben Tate (2), Arian Foster (2) and Andy Dalton (2). From that group, Vereen, Gray, Bell and Hill each failed to score at least once from that range.

• The fact that Jonas Gray got 17 touches lends credence to the theory that he will be the power back used in the Patriots' offense similar to how Stevan Ridley was employed. In order to keep that role, he will need to be productive inside the 5, which is something he can't claim just yet.

• Jeremy Hill got an increased workload on Sunday after Giovani Bernard missed time due to an injured hip. He didn't impress, managing just 2.5 yards per carry. The lone bright side is that the Cincinnati Bengals' next game comes against the Jacksonville Jaguars, so if you are in a bind and Bernard misses the game, Hill becomes playable based on the matchup.

• Chris Ivory has more runs that have gone for 10 yards or more (nine) than Jamaal Charles has this season (seven).

• Through the first eight weeks of the 2013 schedule, Arian Foster led the league with 19 rushes that gained at least 10 yards. Through Week 8 this season, Foster has improved to 20 such runs, but he doesn't lead the league. DeMarco Murray owns that honor with 30 such runs. Putting that in perspective, Murray has 50 percent more big-play rushes than the next-closest running back.

Red zone play selection

Below is a list of all teams sorted by the number of offensive snaps they have had in the red zone. For the purpose of this analysis, pass plays are defined as all snaps that resulted in a pass attempt or sack, with all other snaps being classified as rushes.

• On Sunday, the Panthers became just the fourth team this season to have double-digit red zone opportunities and not come away with a touchdown on any of them. While that isn't good, it gets worse, as the Panthers totaled zero yards on those 10 plays. This was driven by two runs, one by Jonathan Stewart and the other by Cam Newton, where the Panthers lost 7 yards on each carry.

• The New England Patriots ran on 14 of their 22 red zone snaps against the Chicago Bears. They scored touchdowns on four of their eight pass plays.

• One more reason why LeSean McCoy isn't living up to his preseason billing: The Philadelphia Eagles have scored only nine red zone touchdowns this year. Only the Arizona Cardinals and Jacksonville Jaguars have fewer. Last season, the Eagles finished 11th in red zone touchdowns.

Until next week, thanks for reading.