Kaytron Allen — Week 2: Five Carries on the Final Drive
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Allen carried 5 times for 24 yards, all of them on Washington's last possession, which began with 3:01 left and the score 37–20; he was the only Commander to touch the ball on it. His nine-yard run on second and three was his one first down, and his last carry, three yards on third and five, was the game's final snap, in a 37–20 loss to the Cowboys.
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The full read
37 to 20, Cowboys, three oh one left. Washington took over at its own 43 and handed the ball to Kaytron Allen five times in a row: left end for seven to midfield; left tackle for nine and a first down at the Dallas 41; left tackle for one; left tackle for four; and, on third and five with 37 seconds left, left tackle for three to the 33. The game ended there. That drive is his whole day — no carry before it, no target, and nobody else touched the ball on it.
The line: five carries, 24 yards, one first down, three of the five successful, −2.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. Nearly all of the minus is the last carry: three yards on third and five reads as a failed third down, −2.6, even with the game decided. The other four were worth +0.5 together. Win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, moved by less than two tenths of a point on any of the five.
The split: Jacory Croskey-Merritt 12 designed runs, Rachaad White seven, Allen five, and one aborted snap charged to Jayden Daniels. Before halftime it was Croskey-Merritt eight and White six; after it, Allen five, Croskey-Merritt four, White one. Washington did not hand the ball off in the fourth quarter until Allen's drive; the possession before it was 10 straight passes.
Back in June the preview called Allen a deep-league dart — a sixth-round rookie, 180-seventh in April, behind Croskey-Merritt and White — and named goal-line work as the one door his size might open first. Week 1 was four carries, all after halftime, three of them on the final drive, the last to the one-yard line. Sunday was five carries, all on the final drive, none inside the Dallas 30. Nine carries in two games, none before halftime, and the context changed from a drive that needed a touchdown to one that needed nothing. That is a third back closing games, which is what the preview priced. Washington is home to the Seahawks on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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