Hunter Henry — Week 2: Five Targets Led the Patriots

Nothing to nothing, 12 oh two left in the first quarter, first and 10 at the New England 37, the Patriots' third snap of the day. Drake Maye threw deep left to Hunter Henry, 16 yards in the air, 29 gained, Henry pushed out at the Pittsburgh 34. +1.7 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and +5.8 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. The next snap was a Rhamondre Stevenson fumble that gave the ball away, so the 29 led to nothing.

The line: five targets, three catches, 40 yards, one first down, −2.9 expected points on the five — and the interception thrown his way is −4.1 of that. The catches went 29, four and seven. The four was second and 14 at the Pittsburgh 14 with 42 seconds left in the first quarter, down to the 10; a sack followed and New England kicked a 30-yard field goal. The seven was the first snap of the second half. The interception came three snaps later on that same drive: first and 10 at the Pittsburgh 33 with 12 59 left in the third quarter, deep left, 23 yards in the air, Patrick Queen at the 10, and Henry made the tackle at the 13. His last target was first and 15 at the Pittsburgh 34 with a minute 41 left in the third, incomplete. Two targets before halftime, three after, none on third down.

Five targets led the team, one more than Romeo Doubs's four, on 22 Maye throws; in Week 1 he had three of 33. New England ran three snaps that counted inside the Pittsburgh 20, all on one series: a sack, the four-yard throw to Henry, and another sack. So the offense's only red-zone target was his. Eli Raridon, the other tight end, who caught the red-zone touchdown in Week 1, had one target Sunday, a 30-yard catch down to the six. New England did not snap a play that counted from inside the 10. A.J. Brown is on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, per Nick Shook at NFL.com.

Back in June the preview's read on Henry was volume as identity: 87 targets last season, a norm of 5.1 a game across his career, with the seven touchdowns the part expected to come down, and September targets against that five-a-game norm named as the thing to watch. Week 1 was three targets and a red-zone touchdown that went to the other tight end, and that episode called it the first note against the June read. Sunday was five targets, the norm to the digit, and the team lead. Eight targets through two games, with Brown missing most of the second half in Week 1 and all of Sunday. The volume question looks better than it did a week ago; the touchdown question has had almost no red-zone snaps to work with. New England is at the Jaguars on Sunday the 20-seventh.

_Data via nflverse._