Mark Andrews — Week 2: Seven Targets, Three Third Downs
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Andrews caught 6 of 7 targets for 49 yards and four first downs, and converted three of his four third-down targets, including third and five on the opening touchdown drive and third and four on the drive that ended in a 49-yard field goal. Seven targets were second on the Ravens behind Rashod Bateman's nine, in a 24–17 loss to the Saints.
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14 to nine, Ravens, eight 50 left in the third quarter, third and four at the New Orleans 47. Lamar Jackson threw short left to Mark Andrews for seven yards and the first down. +1.4 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and five points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest single gain of his day. The drive went on to a 49-yard field goal and a 17 to nine lead, the last points Baltimore scored.
The line: seven targets, six catches, 49 yards, no touchdown, four first downs, +4.0 expected points on his targets. 47 air yards and nine after the catch; every one of the seven throws was labeled short. The catches went 10, five, five, eight, seven and 14. The one incompletion was his first target, third and six at the Baltimore 29 on the opening series, and Baltimore punted. After that he caught everything: 10 on first down and five on third and five on the drive that ended in Derrick Henry's touchdown; five on the two-minute drive before Rashod Bateman's score; eight and the seven in the third quarter; and 14 on third and three from the Baltimore 36 with 59 seconds left, down seven, to midfield. Four third-down targets, three caught, all three converted. A 10-yard catch in the third quarter came back on an ineligible-man-downfield penalty. Four targets before halftime, three after.
Seven targets were second on the Ravens to Bateman's nine, on 31 throws, one of which was a spike. Zay Flowers was inactive with a hamstring injury, per NBC Sports. In Week 1 Andrews had six targets, tied with Flowers for the team high, in a game Flowers did not finish, per Ryan Mink at BaltimoreRavens.com. The yardage was 49 both weeks.
Back in June the preview's read on Andrews was a four-year staircase down: a sixteenth-place tight end season held up by touchdowns and efficiency while the targets fell to about four a game, the profile it trusted least. Two games have turned that shape over. 13 targets, 10 catches, 98 yards, no touchdowns — volume without the scoring, the opposite of last year. The caution is who has been missing: Flowers has been off the field for three of those four halves. Six and seven targets a game would change the read if they hold once he is back. A long of 14 on Sunday says the role is the short middle, and that is what third down asked of him. Baltimore is the road team against the Cowboys on Sunday the 20-seventh, at Maracana Stadium.
_Data via nflverse._
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