Jake Ferguson — Week 2: Four Catches, Two Touchdowns
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Ferguson caught all 4 of his targets for 43 yards, three first downs and two touchdowns, 10 yards on first and ten in the second quarter and 12 on second and nine in the third. His 14-yard catch on third and eight with Dallas up 17–13 was the largest win-probability gain on any Cowboys play, and the play-by-play lists him as injured on a fourth-quarter run, in a 37–20 win over the Commanders.
When Jake Ferguson's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
The full episode, in writing
17 to 13, Cowboys, 11 26 left in the third quarter, third and eight at the Dallas 38. Washington had just kicked a field goal to get within four. Dak Prescott threw short right to Jake Ferguson, 14 yards to the Washington 48, eight in the air and six after the catch. +2.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 6.8 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest gain on any Dallas pass or run in the game. That drive ended in a field goal; his next target did not. Six 37 left in the third, second and nine at the Washington 12, two snaps after a Washington fumble: short middle, 12 yards, touchdown, and 27 to 13 with the extra point.
The line: four targets, four catches, 43 yards, two touchdowns, three first downs, +6.5 expected points on the targets, second in the game to CeeDee Lamb's +11.4. The first touchdown: first and 10 at the Washington 10, nine 59 left in the second quarter, up 10 to three, short middle, 10 yards, one snap after a George Pickens catch and a roughness penalty moved the ball there. The fourth catch was seven yards on first and 10 from the Dallas 17 with eight 58 left. Two snaps later, on Prescott's three-yard run on third and one, the play-by-play lists Ferguson as injured; it carries no return note, he was not targeted again, and this episode has no report on what it was. One target before halftime, three after. 29 air yards, 14 after the catch.
Four targets tied him with Javonte Williams for fourth on the team behind Lamb's nine, Pickens's eight and Ryan Flournoy's six. No other Dallas tight end was targeted; in Week 1 the tight-end targets went three ways. Both touchdowns came inside the 20, and his two targets there were the most on the team; Lamb, Pickens and Williams had one each.
Back in June the preview made no call on Ferguson — the thirteenth tight end off the board at pick one 12, with six targets a game as his identity and touchdowns as the least sticky part of his line — and named two things to watch: the September target rate and where he sits in the red-zone order behind Lamb and Pickens. Week 1 was two targets, six yards, and a stop at the one. Sunday was four targets and two scores. Six targets in two games is three a week against the six the preview named, so the volume number is still under the line. The touchdowns are the part the preview said to shrug at, in both directions. Dallas plays the Ravens on Sunday the 20-seventh at Maracana Stadium, a neutral site where the Cowboys are the listed home team.
_Data via nflverse._
When Jake Ferguson's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
Keep going