Carnell Tate — Week 2: Five Targets, Twenty-Seven Yards
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Tate led the Titans with 5 targets and caught 3 for 27 yards, 15 of them with nine seconds left. Three of the five came on third down and none converted, and his targets were worth minus 3.5 expected points, the lowest figure for any Titan thrown to. Tennessee's two deep completions went to Elic Ayomanor and Calvin Ridley, in a 24–20 loss to the Eagles.
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17 to 17, 12 54 left in the fourth quarter, third and nine at the Tennessee 40, no huddle. Cam Ward threw short left for Carnell Tate, 15 yards in the air, and Riq Woolen broke it up. −1.4 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −3.9 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. It was the costliest Titans throw of the day by expected points, and Tennessee punted. Another of the day's costliest was also thrown to Tate: third and 11 on the game's opening drive, short middle, incomplete, −1.2, and a punt.
The line: five targets, three catches, 27 yards, no touchdown, one first down, 50 air yards, and −3.5 expected points on the five, the lowest figure for any Titan who was thrown to. Three of the five came on third down, needing 11, 10 nine. The one he caught, third and 10 at the Tennessee 16 with 11 minutes left in the third, went for six, and the Titans punted there too. The other two catches: six yards on second and 28 in the fourth quarter, after two penalties had wrecked the down and distance, and 15 yards to midfield with nine seconds left, down 24 to 20, his only first down. One target before halftime, four after. Woolen is the Eagle named in the play-by-play on three of the five — the tackle on two of the catches and the pass defended on third and nine.
Five targets led the team on a day Ward threw 20 times; Elic Ayomanor had three, and Tyjae Spears, Gunnar Helm and Calvin Ridley two each. 50 air yards also led the team. The yards went elsewhere: Ayomanor had 69 on three targets, Ridley 35 on two, Spears 29 on two.
Back in June the preview would not turn a draft slot into a stat line for Tate — the fourth pick in the draft, called the best receiver in it by his general manager — and it said to watch where the targets flowed in September. Week 1 was six targets, a tie for the team lead, the most air yards on the team, and two deep incompletions, and that episode said the thing to watch was whether one of the deep ones landed. Sunday two deep balls did land for Tennessee, 41 yards to Ayomanor and 25 to Ridley, and neither was his; all five of his targets are marked short. Two games: 11 targets, seven catches, 65 yards, and at least a share of the team lead in targets both weeks. The share has carried. The production has not followed it yet, and his targets have been the third-and-long ones. Tennessee is at the Giants on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
When Carnell Tate's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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