Week 13 games aren't over yet, so maybe the title of this article is a little misleading. It should read something like The 20 Best Offensive Players From the Thursday and Sunday Games in Week 13.
That just doesn't flow all that well.
As you know, we like math here at numberFire. Our algorithms help tell a better story about sports -- they're able to dig through the nonsense, helping us look at things that matter on the court, field or rink.
With football, we love our Net Expected Points (NEP) metric, which measures the number of points a player adds (or loses) to his team versus what he's expected to add. Rather than counting statistics like yards, touchdowns and receptions, NEP looks at down-and-distance situations and field position and relates these instances to history. When a player outperforms what's happened in the past, he sees a positive expected points value on the play. When he doesn't, his expected points gained on the play is negative. All of these little instances add up, then, to be a player's Net Expected Points total.
You can read more about NEP in our glossary.
Using a formula that compares individual single-game performance to history, the numberFire Live platform takes this Net Expected Points formula and assigns a rating to a player's performance. Each week, that's what we'll show here -- the 20 best ratings from the Thursday and Sunday games.
Here are Week 13's results:
| Player | Position | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Alvin Kamara | RB | 100 |
| Tyreek Hill | WR | 100 |
| Josh McCown | QB | 99 |
| Nelson Agholor | WR | 97 |
| Alex Smith | QB | 97 |
| Rob Gronkowski | TE | 97 |
| Rex Burkhead | RB | 96 |
| Jermaine Kearse | WR | 96 |
| Derrick Henry | RB | 94 |
| Blake Bortles | QB | 94 |
| Stephen Anderson | TE | 93 |
| Alex Collins | RB | 92 |
| Philip Rivers | QB | 91 |
| Keenan Allen | WR | 88 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | WR | 87 |
| Jamaal Williams | RB | 87 |
| Trent Taylor | WR | 87 |
| Russell Wilson | QB | 87 |
| Evan Engram | TE | 84 |
| Robby Anderson | WR | 84 |
- Alvin Kamara racked up 126 total yards on just 14 touches and had 2 rushing touchdowns, as well, in a home win over the Carolina Panthers. He also outsnapped backfield mate Mark Ingram 37-36, the third straight week he's won the snap battle. Despite not clearing 17 touches in a week this season, Kamara remains one of the most productive players in the league.
- Tyreek Hill totaled 185 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 16.69 Reception NEP on 9 targets, as the Kansas City Chiefs gave the New York Jets all they could handle. Of Hill's 185 yards, 119 (and both touchdowns) came on passes traveling at least 16 yards downfield. Alex Smith threw for 366 yards and 4 touchdowns and added a 70-yard rush, doing all he could to get the Chiefs a win. Ultimately, they fell short and are just 1-6 since staring 5-0.
- On the opposite side of that game, Josh McCown racked up 20.76 Passing NEP, highest of the week, while accounting for 331 yards and just a single passing touchdown. Both Jermaine Kearse (157) and Robby Anderson (107) topped 100 yards. Between those two and Hill, this game accounted for three of six 100-yard wide receivers in Week 13 (entering Monday Night Football).
- Nelson Agholor got over 100, too, as he racked up 141 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets in a road loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Eight of his 12 targets were at least 16 yards downfield, and 110 of his yards came on those deep passes this week. He accrued 13.65 Reception NEP.
- Both Rob Gronkowski and Rex Burkhead showed up well for the New England Patriots in Week 13. Gronk tallied 147 yards on his 11 targets and racked up 13.38 Reception NEP. Burkhead found the end zone twice and turned 12 carries into 78 yards. He also had 25 yards through the air in the second-best running back outing of the week.