Pat Freiermuth — Week 2: A Direct Snap on Fourth and One
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Freiermuth took a direct snap on fourth and one from the Pittsburgh 39 and gained two, the Steelers' largest win-probability gain of the day, and caught four of five targets for 32 yards. Two nine-yard catches in the final 36 seconds of the half set up Chris Boswell's 56-yard field goal, Pittsburgh's only points in a 20–3 loss to the Patriots.
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10 to nothing, Patriots, 12 12 left in the second quarter, fourth and one at the Pittsburgh 39. The snap went directly to Pat Freiermuth, who went up the middle for two yards before Robert Spillane got him down. +2.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and +3.8 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest gain on any Pittsburgh play all day. It was his first carry of the season. The drive it extended reached the New England 22 before a third-down sack ended it.
The line: five targets, four catches, 32 yards, one first down, −0.3 expected points on the five; one carry, two yards, one first down. The catches went nine, nine, nine and five. The first was first and 10 with eight 16 left in the first quarter, short right to the Pittsburgh 35. The second and third came back to back inside the final 40 seconds of the half: nine on second and 10, then nine more on third and one to the New England 47, converted — Pittsburgh's other third-down conversion of the day, out of two. Those two catches set up Chris Boswell's 56-yard field goal with five seconds left, the Steelers' only points. The five-yarder came on second and 10 in the fourth quarter. The incompletion was third and six at the Pittsburgh 20 with 10 35 left in the first, deep left, 29 yards in the air — the deepest throw Aaron Rodgers attempted all day. One more throw his way does not count: third and three with two 59 left in the second quarter, incomplete, but a defensive pass interference flag gave Pittsburgh the first down.
Five targets put him fourth on the team, behind DK Metcalf's nine, Germie Bernard's eight and Roman Wilson's six. Four came before halftime, one after. Darnell Washington, the other tight end in the passing game, had two targets and one catch for seven.
Back in June the preview's read on Freiermuth was a band: five seasons of per-game scoring inside a three-point range, priced at the bottom of it, in an offense rebuilt by a play-caller with a history of throwing to tight ends — efficiency more than volume, with 3.6 targets a game last season. Week 1 was five catches on five targets for 46 yards and the offense's only touchdown. Sunday was five targets again. 10 targets in two games, nine catches, 78 yards. Five a game is above last year's pace and it has been the same number twice, which is as much as two games can say. Pittsburgh is home to the Bengals on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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