Isaiah Likely — Week 1: Eight for Eight, Two Touchdowns
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Likely caught all eight of his targets for 78 yards and two touchdowns — 15 yards on second and five with 0:25 left in the half, and two yards on second and two with 7:04 left in the third — converted all four of his third-down targets, and his targets were worth plus 11.0 expected points, the most of any receiver on either team, in a 28–20 win over the Cowboys.
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Seven to seven, 25 seconds left in the second quarter, second and five at the Dallas 15. Jaxson Dart threw short right to Isaiah Likely for the touchdown. +3.0 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 9.0 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, second among Giants pass plays only to the Malik Nabers catch three snaps earlier. 14 to seven at the half, and Dallas never tied it again.
The line: eight targets, eight catches, 78 yards, two touchdowns, six first downs, +11.0 expected points on the targets — the most by any receiver on either team — and a longest of 19. Five targets before halftime for five catches and 59 yards; three after for three catches and 19. The second touchdown was two yards short right on second and two with seven oh four left in the third quarter, up 14 to seven. The third-down list is the whole game in miniature: third and four for 13 to the Dallas three on the opening drive, third and 10 for 19 to midfield with four 14 left in the half, third and nine for 12 with four 30 left in the game, and third and three for five with two 16 left — the last two on the drive that ran out the clock. Four third-down targets, four conversions. Four targets inside the 20, two of them touchdowns. One catch, a seven-yarder with 28 seconds left in the first quarter, was a fumble the Giants recovered.
Eight targets were second on the team to Nabers's nine. Dart threw four each to Malachi Fields and Devin Singletary, two to Darnell Mooney, one each to Patrick Ricard and Theo Johnson; no throw was without a receiver. Among the tight ends it was Likely eight, eight, 78 two scores; Johnson one target, one catch, nine yards. 28 percent of the throws went to Likely, per the weekly stat file. 17 pass plays before halftime and 14 after; his targets went five and three.
Back in June the preview leaned overpriced on Likely — the eleventh tight end at pick one oh six, a starter's price for usage that had never existed — and named September targets per game as the test: five or more means a new identity, three means the old one. Sunday was eight, all caught, two in the end zone, and the most valuable set of targets on the field. The preview said in so many words that if the targets doubled the lean was wrong; one game is not a month, and the opponent was the league's 30-first pass defense a year ago. It is the first data point, and it is the one the preview said would change its mind. The Giants are at the Rams on Monday night the 20-first. The number to watch is five.
_Data via nflverse._
When Isaiah Likely's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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