Romeo Doubs — Week 2: Three Catches, Ninety-Six Yards
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Doubs caught three of four targets for 96 yards, including a 63-yard catch from the New England 8 with 2:12 left in the third quarter, the longest play of the game, and a 29-yarder on third and five. His 96 yards were nearly half of Drake Maye's 208. In Week 1 he had no catches on three targets. New England beat the Steelers 20–3.
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10 to three, Patriots, two 12 left in the third quarter, first and 10 at the New England eight. Drake Maye threw deep right to Romeo Doubs, 47 yards in the air, and Doubs took it 16 more before he was pushed out at the Pittsburgh 29. 63 yards. +4.0 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and +7.9 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. It was the longest play of the game by either team and the most valuable New England play by expected points. The drive ended in Andy Borregales's 45-yard field goal, 13 to three.
The line: four targets, three catches, 96 yards, two first downs, +5.6 expected points on the four. 76 air yards, 26 after the catch. The first catch was four yards on second and five with three 35 left in the first quarter, caught two yards behind the line; the ball came loose at the end of it and went out of bounds at the Pittsburgh 43, so New England kept it. The second was third and five at the New England 38 with 13 43 left in the third quarter, deep right, 25 yards in the air, 29 gained to the Pittsburgh 33, +3.0. The next snap was Maye's interception. The third was the 63. The fourth target was third and nine at the Pittsburgh 48 with 10 oh four left in the game, incomplete, and New England punted. Two third-down targets, one caught and converted. One target before halftime, three after.
96 of Maye's 208 passing yards went to Doubs. His four targets were second on the team to Hunter Henry's five, and nobody else had more than two on a day Maye threw 22 times. A.J. Brown is on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, per Nick Shook at NFL.com.
Back in June the preview's read on Doubs was the steadiest profile in the room — three straight seasons within two tenths of a point per game of each other, on five-and-change targets a game — with one question, whether Brown's arrival squeezes that volume. Week 1 answered oddly: no targets through three quarters, then three in the fourth after Brown left hurt, none caught and one intercepted. That episode said the number to watch was targets before the fourth quarter. Sunday three of his four came before the fourth quarter, and his first catches as a Patriot went for 96 yards. That reverses the Week 1 picture. It does not yet answer the June question, because Brown was not there to squeeze anything, and four targets is still under his own norm. Seven targets in two games. New England is at the Jaguars on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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