Chris Godwin — Week 3: An Eighty-Five-Yard Score Erased
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Godwin caught 3 of 4 targets for 25 yards and no first downs. An 85-yard touchdown on third and 29 from the Tampa Bay 15 in the third quarter, down 17–13, came back on offensive holding. His 9-yard catch on third and 16 in the fourth set up a 54-yard field goal, in a 23–16 loss to the Vikings.
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17 to 13, Vikings, four oh three left in the third quarter, third and 29 at the Tampa Bay 15. Baker Mayfield threw deep right to Chris Godwin, and Godwin went 85 yards for a touchdown. It did not count: holding on Tampa Bay's Luke Goedeke, and the seven-yard penalty made it third and 36 from the eight. Third and 29 had itself come from a chop block that wiped out a 15-yard Bucky Irving catch on third and 15. Tampa Bay ran once more and punted. The Buccaneers never led in this game, and that play would have put them ahead.
The line: four targets, three catches, 25 yards, no first downs, −1.5 expected points added on the targets — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. The catches: 13 yards on third and 17 at his own 33 in the second quarter, four short, the snap after an incompletion his way on second and 17; three on second and five late in the third; and nine on third and 16 at the Minnesota 45 with nine 46 left in the fourth, down 17 to 13, to the 36, seven short, and Chase McLaughlin kicked the 54-yard field goal that made it 17 to 16. Two targets before halftime, two after. Two third-down catches, neither a conversion.
Four targets tied Bucky Irving for fourth on the team, behind nine to Emeka Egbuka, six to Cade Otton and five to Kenneth Gainwell.
Back in June the preview's read on Godwin was a proven top receiver coming off back-to-back lower-leg injuries, with an open door after Mike Evans left: health first, then target share. Week 1 was four catches on four targets for 40 yards; Week 2 three for three and 46. Sunday brought his first incompletion of the season and the longest play of his season, which does not count. Three games: 11 targets, 10 catches, a hundred 11 yards. He has played all three, and the targets have stayed at three or four a game. Mayfield left late with a dislocated right thumb, per NFL.com, which puts a quarterback question next to the target one. Tampa Bay is home to the Packers on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Chris Godwin's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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