Jaxon Smith-Njigba — Week 3: Ten Catches, Two Touchdowns
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Smith-Njigba caught 10 of 14 targets for 128 yards, two touchdowns and nine first downs, including the 11-yard score on second and five that tied the game at 24 in the fourth quarter, and three catches for 44 yards to open the drive that made it 33–31. A third-quarter throw intended for him was intercepted at the Seattle 42, and Washington scored three plays later, in a 33–31 loss to the Commanders.
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24 to 17, Commanders, 11 57 left in the fourth quarter, second and five at the Washington 11. Sam Darnold threw short left to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 11 yards and the touchdown, and the extra point tied it at 24. +2.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 12.9 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest gain in win probability on any pass or run by either team. Two snaps earlier, on first and 10 from the Washington 30, Smith-Njigba had been the passer: short right to George Holani for 14 yards.
The line: 14 targets, 10 catches, a hundred 28 yards, two touchdowns, nine first downs, +3.4 expected points on the targets. The catches: 11 from the Seattle 10 on his first target; 20 on second and 10; the one-yard touchdown on second and one with 13 31 left in the second quarter, down seven, two snaps after he drew a pass-interference flag at the three; three on second and 15; 12 on third and five in the third quarter, converted; the 11-yard touchdown; 26 on first and 10 from the Seattle 30 with four 30 left, down three, to the Washington 44, worth 11.3 points of win probability; and then, down nine after the interception return, 18, 11 15 on the first three snaps of the drive that ended in Cooper Kupp's touchdown. Five catches for 81 yards came in the fourth quarter. Six targets before halftime for 35 yards, eight after for 93. The misses: second and 14 in the second quarter; third and two at the Washington two before halftime, one of three straight incompletions from there that ended the drive on downs; second and nine in the third; and first and 10 at the Seattle 32 with 12 10 left in the third, down 17 to 10, short left and intercepted at the 42, −4.8. Terry McLaurin's 30-yard touchdown came three plays later. He was also flagged for two false starts.
14 of Darnold's 45 throws, 31 percent; AJ Barner was next with nine. His hundred 28 yards were the most in the game, 51 more than McLaurin's 77, on a hundred 51 air yards.
Back in June the preview split his league-leading season into two parts: the volume, a 37 percent target share it called sticky, and the altitude, 11 yards every time they threw at him, which it called the least repeatable part. Week 1 and Week 2 were 11 targets each, with Drew Lock throwing nearly all of them. Sunday was Darnold's first full game this season, and it was 14. Through three games he has 36 of Seattle's 96 throws, 37 and a half percent, and 405 yards, 11.3 a target. Both halves of last season are still here. Three games settle little. Seattle is home to the Chargers on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
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