Ryan Flournoy — Week 2: Six Targets, Eight Air Yards

Seven to nothing, Cowboys, five 52 left in the first quarter, third and 10 at the Washington 11. Dak Prescott threw deep right for Ryan Flournoy, and Washington intercepted it six yards deep in the end zone. A defensive offside wiped the play out — no play, no target in his line, third and five instead — and Dallas kicked a field goal two snaps later. None of the six targets that did count traveled more than seven yards downfield.

The line: six targets, five catches, 23 yards, two first downs, +0.2 expected points added on the targets — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. Three of the five catches came on consecutive snaps of the second-quarter touchdown drive, from 12 33 to 11 25: six short middle, 10 short right on second and four for a first down, two short left. The others: five on third and four at the Dallas 47 with 36 seconds left in the third, converted, worth 1.1 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it; and no gain on second and four on the second snap of the fourth quarter. The incompletion was second and five at the Washington 21 in the first quarter. Four targets before halftime, two after. The six throws traveled eight yards in the air combined, and 16 of his 23 yards came after the catch.

Six targets were third on the team behind CeeDee Lamb's nine and George Pickens's eight, ahead of four each for Javonte Williams and Jake Ferguson. That is 19 percent of the throws, per the weekly stat file, up from 13 percent in Week 1.

Back in June the preview leaned underpriced on Flournoy — the 70-second receiver off the board at pick one 87, a floor call built on last year's 56 targets repeating, with a 10 percent target share as the baseline — and it said the one path to a ceiling ran through somebody else's absence. Week 1 was four targets and a 17-yard catch on third and 10 that was the most valuable play Dallas ran. Sunday was six targets with both lead receivers healthy and drawing 17 between them. 10 targets in two games clears the baseline; 23 yards on six of them says what kind of targets they were. No look inside the 20 in either week. Two games settle little. Dallas plays the Ravens on Sunday the 20-seventh at Maracana Stadium, a neutral site where the Cowboys are the listed home team.

_Data via nflverse._