Harold Fannin — Week 3: Seven Catches, Two Touchdowns

18 to 13, Panthers, one 55 left, third and 10 at the Carolina 14. Deshaun Watson, on his second snap back from an injury that cost him one play, threw short left to Harold Fannin for 14 yards and the touchdown. +3.4 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 22.6 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest swing of any play in the game. Watson's two-point throw to Denzel Boston made it 21 to 18, and that was the final. Earlier on the same drive Fannin had caught seven yards on second and 10 from the Cleveland 48, the snap before Watson's 21-yard scramble on third and three.

The line: nine targets, seven catches, 51 yards, two touchdowns, three first downs, +7.2 expected points on the targets, the most of any player thrown to in the game. The catches went 13, eight, two, one, six, seven and 14. The first touchdown was fourth and two at the Carolina two with a minute 43 left in the half, Cleveland up three to nothing, short right, and it made it 10 to nothing after the kick; a holding flag on Carolina was declined. That one was worth +4.3 expected points, the most of any Browns play. The 13 was second and five from the Cleveland 25 in the first quarter. The two incompletions: a deep middle ball 47 yards in the air on Cleveland's first possession, and first and 10 from the Cleveland 48 on the winning drive. Four targets before halftime, five after. Two third-down targets, both caught: six yards on third and 15, short of the sticks, and the winner.

Nine targets tied KC Concepcion for the most on either team, 30 percent of the 30 Browns throws that named a receiver. 51 yards led the Browns, ahead of Boston's 41. In 16 games as a rookie last season he never caught more than one touchdown in a game.

Back in June the preview's case for Fannin was a 72-catch rookie season, built while sharing the position with David Njoku, and a room that now belonged to him, with the quality of Cleveland's offense as the cap. Week 1 was three targets, two of them with the Browns down 31. Week 2 was six, all with the game within 10. Sunday was nine, and the two scores came on a fourth down and a third down. Three, six, nine: the targets have climbed every week, and three games is still a short line. 18 targets, 14 catches, a hundred 26 yards and two touchdowns so far. Cleveland is home to the Steelers on Thursday the first.

_Data via nflverse._