Malik Willis — Week 3: Twenty of Thirty-Six, No Sacks
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Willis completed 20 of 36 throws for 210 yards with no touchdown and one interception, was not sacked, and ran 9 times for 56 yards. He lost a fumble at the Kansas City 25 in the second quarter on a play the Chiefs won on challenge, the largest win-probability swing on any pass or run in the game, and one of his 10 throws of 20-plus air yards was caught, in a 24–10 loss to the Chiefs.
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14 to seven, Chiefs, three 16 left in the half, second and nine at the Kansas City 31. Malik Willis ran up the middle for three yards and was ruled down at the 28. Kansas City challenged, and the replay reversed it: the ball was out, and the Chiefs recovered at their own 25. −3.7 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −13.3 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. No pass or run by either team moved the game more.
The line: 20 completions on 36 throws, 210 yards, no touchdown, one interception, no sacks, −4.0 expected points on 36 pass plays, eighteenth of the 28 teams that have played this week, with the Rams, Broncos, Eagles and Bears still to play. Nine runs for 56 yards and two first downs, six of them scrambles for 43, and the lost fumble. 11 of 17 for a hundred 12 before halftime; nine of 19 for 98 after it. 10 throws traveled 20 or more yards in the air and one was caught, 42 yards to Greg Dulcich on the first drive of the second half. That drive reached the Kansas City 11; from the 14, a 14-yard touchdown to Malik Washington came back on an illegal shift, and Miami settled for a field goal. The interception was fourth and one at the Miami 48, down 24 to 10 with two-oh-three left, a throw behind the line for Ryan Miller. A second interception with 47 seconds left came back on a Kansas City penalty. On third down he had nine pass plays, six completions and five conversions, and two of his runs converted third downs as well.
The ball went 10 times to Washington, seven each to Chris Bell and Dulcich, four to Kevin Coleman Jr., three each to Miller and Ollie Gordon, one to De'Von Achane, who left injured in the first quarter, and one throw had no intended receiver. Bell's seven came out at +3.5 expected points; Washington's 10 at −3.5.
Back in June the preview called Willis a watchlist — a declared starter with six career starts behind him, the legs as the whole profile, and a passing efficiency from four relief games in Green Bay that had never been tested over a season. Week 1 was the legs and five sacks. Week 2 was four sacks and one long touchdown throw. Sunday there were no sacks at all, and the legs were back — 56 yards, his most of the three games — but the long throws landed once in 10, and the fumble was the costliest play of the game by win probability. Three games: 49 of 86, 627 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, 17 runs for a hundred one yards. Three games are not the season the preview was waiting on. Miami is at the Vikings on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
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