Gunnar Helm — Week 3: Four Targets, Fourth and Five
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Helm caught 2 of 4 targets for 14 yards, both first downs on the fourth-quarter touchdown drive: 5 yards on third and 4 and 9 to the Giants 21. His fourth-and-5 target at the New York 7 late in the third quarter fell incomplete and turned the ball over on downs, in a 12–7 loss to the Giants.
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12 to nothing, Giants, a minute 11 left in the third quarter, fourth and five at the New York seven. Cam Ward threw short left for Gunnar Helm, and it fell incomplete. −3.0 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −4.7 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. Only the interception at the end of the game cost more on any Titans pass or run by that measure. It ended a 12-play drive that had started at the Tennessee 25, and the Giants took over.
The line: four targets, two catches, 14 yards, two first downs, −1.9 expected points on the targets, 29 air yards. The two catches came with one snap between them on the fourth-quarter drive: third and four at the New York 38 with nine 20 left, down 12 to nothing, five yards short right and a first down at the 33; then second and seven at the 30, nine yards to the 21, another first down. That drive ended in Wan'Dale Robinson's touchdown. The other incompletion was third and 14 at the New York 41 with 50 seconds left in the half, short middle, one snap before Joey Slye's 59-yard field goal attempt went wide left. One target before halftime, three after. Two third-down targets, one caught and converted; one fourth-down target, not caught.
Tight ends were thrown to six times on the 35 Titans throws that had a receiver: Helm four, Daniel Bellinger two for 16 yards. Helm's four tied Tony Pollard for third on the team behind Robinson's 11 and Carnell Tate's nine.
Back in June the preview put Helm on the watchlist: the incumbent tight end after a rookie season of 3.4 targets a game, with the second-year volume his to prove. Week 1 was five targets, four of them after halftime. Week 2 was two, and that episode noted that seven in two games was the rookie baseline almost to the decimal. Sunday was four. 11 targets in three games is 3.7 a game, a hair above that baseline and not a new role. Tennessee is at the Ravens on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
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