Mike Washington — Week 1: Seven Carries, an Eighteen-Yarder
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Washington carried seven times for forty-one yards, thirty-five of them on four second-quarter carries, including an eighteen-yard run on second and two that set up Ashton Jeanty's first touchdown. Jeanty carried twenty-three times; Washington was the second back in a rotation of two, in a 27–13 win over the Dolphins.
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Mike Washington Jr.'s first regular-season game came down to one second-quarter drive. Second and two at the Miami 46, three 27 left in the half, Las Vegas up 10 to three: left guard, 18 yards to the Miami 28. The run was worth +0.9 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and +2.0 points of win probability, the chance of winning after the play against before it, the best figures of his day. It was the middle of three straight carries: eight up the middle from the Las Vegas 46 with four minutes left, the 18, then six around left end to the Miami 22. The drive ended with Ashton Jeanty's 13-yard touchdown catch on third and eight with one 12 left, 17 to three.
The line: seven carries, 41 yards, one first down, three of the seven successful, −0.9 expected points on the carries. The 18 was the longest. Four carries before halftime for 35 yards, three after for six, all four of the first-half carries in the second quarter. The first one was three yards behind the left tackle from the Miami 37 with 11 23 left in the half. After halftime the three carries were four yards on first and 10 at the Miami 40 with seven 37 left in the third, −1 on second and 10 at the Miami 10 with four oh seven left in the third, the drive that ended in a field goal instead of a touchdown, and three yards on third and 13 at the Las Vegas 44 with three 46 left in the game, up 14, a carry that was about the clock. That one was his only third-down carry, and it did not convert. His name appears on no pass play.
The split: Jeanty 23 carries, Washington seven, Kirk Cousins two, one of them a scramble, Connor Heyward one, Malik Benson one. Las Vegas ran 13 designed runs before halftime and 20 after, and threw 17 times and 13. Jeanty's 23 went for a hundred two yards; Washington's seven for 41. The second-half carries went 16 to Jeanty and three to Washington, and the seven fourth-quarter carries by a Raiders running back went six to Jeanty and one to Washington. Jeanty also had six targets; Washington had none.
Back in June the preview called Washington a handcuff price on an unusually interesting athlete — the fastest back at the combine at 228 pounds, pick one 89, behind a starter who had just handled the biggest rookie workload in football — and said the thing to watch was whether the rotation was two men or three. Sunday it was two: Jeanty and Washington took 30 of the 34 Raiders carries, and the other four went to the quarterback, Heyward and Benson. The seven carries are a handcuff's workload, which is what the preview priced. Las Vegas is at the Chargers on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
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