Isaac TeSlaa — Week 3: Forty-Nine Yards in a Tied Game
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
TeSlaa caught all 3 targets for a career-high 66 yards and three first downs, the most receiving yards on the Lions: a 49-yarder from the Detroit 35 with 4:06 left in a 24–24 game that set up the winning touchdown, and a 5-yard catch on fourth and two at the Jets 9 before halftime that set up another, in a 31–24 win over the Jets.
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24 all, four oh six left in the fourth quarter, first and 10 at the Detroit 35. The Jets had just tied it with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Jared Goff threw deep middle to Isaac TeSlaa, 19 yards in the air, and TeSlaa was brought down at the New York 16 after 49. +3.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 14.5 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. It was the longest pass or run of the game, and three snaps later Jahmyr Gibbs caught the touchdown that won it.
The line: three targets, three catches, 66 yards, three first downs, +6.3 expected points on the targets, the highest figure of any Lions receiver. The first catch was 12 yards on first and 10 from the Jets 40 with four 17 left in the second quarter. The second was the other one that mattered: down seven to three, one 47 left in the half, fourth and two at the Jets nine, short left to the four for the first down. Two snaps later Amon-Ra St. Brown caught the touchdown that put Detroit ahead, and the Lions did not trail again. Two targets before halftime, one after.
Three targets were fifth on the Lions, about a tenth of the 31 throws with a receiver, behind eight each for St. Brown and Gibbs and four each for Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta. The yardage was first: 66, one ahead of Gibbs. It is the most receiving yards of his career, past the 52 he had against the Steelers last December.
Back in June the preview's point on TeSlaa was a warning: 16 catches as a rookie and six of them touchdowns, on a small role in the red zone and special packages, which is the least repeatable shape a receiver's season can take. Week 1 was one target, incomplete. Week 2 was five targets, two catches, 26 yards, including 20 on fourth and 18 that kept Detroit's last touchdown drive alive. This week was three for three and 66. Three games: nine targets, five catches, 92 yards, no touchdowns, and two fourth-down conversions. The touchdowns the preview doubted have not come; the role has been small and pointed at big downs, and three games settle little. Detroit is at the Panthers on Sunday night, the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Isaac TeSlaa's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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