Darnell Mooney — Week 1: Two Targets, Two First Downs
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Mooney was targeted twice and caught both for 27 yards: 18 yards deep right to the Dallas 20 with 0:35 left in the half, on the touchdown drive, and nine yards on second and eight with 9:55 left in the third. Malik Nabers had nine targets and Malachi Fields four, in a 28–20 win over the Cowboys.
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Seven to seven, 35 seconds left in the second quarter, first and 10 at the Dallas 38. Jaxson Dart threw deep right to Darnell Mooney, who ran out of bounds at the 20. 18 yards, +1.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 1.8 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. Two plays later Isaiah Likely had the touchdown that put the Giants ahead for good. That was the first of Mooney's two targets, and the two were a half apart.
The line: two targets, two catches, 27 yards, two first downs, +2.4 expected points on the targets, and a longest of 18. The second was nine yards short middle on second and eight with nine 55 left in the third quarter, up 14 to seven, on the drive that ended with Likely's second touchdown. One target each side of halftime; nothing on third down, nothing inside the 20, and nothing after the nine 55 catch, a stretch in which Dart threw 11 more times. 25 of the 27 yards were in the air.
Two targets were fifth on the team. Dart threw nine times to Malik Nabers, eight to Likely, four each to Malachi Fields and Devin Singletary, two to Mooney, one each to Patrick Ricard and Theo Johnson; no throw was without a receiver. Among the receivers it was Nabers nine targets, six catches, 69 yards; Fields four, two, 25; Mooney two, two, 27. Seven percent of the throws went to Mooney, per the weekly stat file. 17 pass plays before halftime, 14 after; his targets went one and one, and both were caught.
Back in June the preview put Mooney on the watchlist — the 80-second receiver at pick two 10, a proven target floor on a one-touchdown season, a buy-low shape that needed a second-year quarterback and a role he had to win — and named the September target share and the split of the non-Nabers looks as the things to watch. Sunday was two targets of 29, seven percent, behind Nabers, Likely, Fields and a running back. Both were caught and both moved the chains, and neither was the volume the call needed. One game does not settle a share; it did show where the non-Nabers looks went, and it was not mostly to him. The Giants are at the Rams on Monday night the 20-first. The number to watch is two against four.
_Data via nflverse._
When Darnell Mooney's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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