4 Fantasy Football Splits That Matter for Week 1
San Francisco 49ers Defense at Home
The San Francisco 49ers spent the offseason replacing their entire coaching staff for the third consecutive year. There's reason for hope with offensive guru Kyle Shanahan now in charge, but a particular trend has remained constant as head coaches and coordinators have fluctuated in and out of the Bay Area over the past three seasons -- their defense at home than on the road. Like, by a good margin.
| Location | Carries | Rush Yds | Y/A | Rush TD | Pass Att | Pass Yds | Y/A | Pass TD | QBR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 687 | 2,889 | 4.2 | 18 | 830 | 5,304 | 6.3 | 34 | 83.7 |
| Away | 767 | 3,383 | 4.4 | 34 | 792 | 6,263 | 7.9 | 46 | 96.8 |
As highlighted above, the 49ers have astonishingly limited opposing quarterbacks to 959 fewer yards despite seeing 38 more passing attempts in their last 24 games at home. The results are even more drastic if we look at their production over the past two seasons, which is illustrated in the table below.
| Location | Carries | Rush Yds | Y/A | Rush TD | Pass Att | Pass Yds | Y/A | Pass TD | QBR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 501 | 2,134 | 4.2 | 16 | 563 | 3,718 | 6.6 | 21 | 88.4 |
| Away | 551 | 2,526 | 4.5 | 29 | 508 | 4,302 | 8.4 | 30 | 104.4 |
San Francisco has held opposing quarterbacks to 6.6 YPA at home the past two seasons, which would've ranked 27th overall among play-callers in 2016. The results remain absolutely porous on the opposite end of the spectrum as that skyrockets to 8.4 on the road — only Matt Ryan averaged a higher YPA (9.3) among quarterbacks last season.
This very well could be disastrous for the 49ers when traveling this season, but their Week 1 matchup at home against the Carolina Panthers may not be as lopsided as it seems.
