Samaje Perine — Week 3: Five Third Downs, One Conversion
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Perine carried 3 times for 9 yards and caught 1 of 3 targets for 5, and five of those six plays came on third down: a 5-yard run to the Pittsburgh 3 set up Ja'Marr Chase's first-quarter touchdown, and the other four, three of them third and two, did not convert. His targets came out at minus 4.2 expected points, the lowest of any player thrown to, in a 30–27 loss to the Steelers.
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Seven to nothing, Steelers, six 38 left in the first quarter, third and two at the Pittsburgh eight. Samaje Perine went behind the left guard for five yards to the three. +1.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and on the next snap Joe Burrow found Ja'Marr Chase for the touchdown that tied it. It was the only one of Perine's five third-down plays that moved the chains.
The line: three carries, nine yards, one first down; three targets, one catch, five yards, and −4.2 expected points on the targets, the lowest figure of any player thrown to on either team. The other four third downs: third and nine at the Pittsburgh 37 in the second quarter, a short catch for five, four short, and Cincinnati kicked a 50-yard field goal; third and two at the Pittsburgh 42 in the third quarter, tied at 17, incomplete short middle, and Chase caught the fourth-down conversion on the next snap; third and two at the Pittsburgh 25 on the second snap of the fourth quarter, down four, left tackle for no gain, and Mike Gesicki caught the fourth-down touchdown; and third and two at the Cincinnati 49 with seven 51 left, tied at 27, incomplete short middle, and the Bengals punted. His other carry was four yards on second and seven in the second quarter. He also returned the game's second kickoff 26 yards to the Cincinnati 27, and was hurt on a Cincinnati kickoff return late in the third quarter; the play-by-play has him back for the third and two early in the fourth.
Three of Cincinnati's 16 designed runs were his, to Chase Brown's 13, and three of Burrow's 37 throws. Cincinnati converted six of its 12 third downs; Perine was the ball carrier or the target on five of them and converted one.
Back in June the preview made no call on Perine: receiving-down value on one side, a tenth-year aging curve and a roster-bubble question on the other. He made the team, and the first two games were a small third-down job done well — three third-down touches, three first downs. Sunday the job got bigger and the results did not come with it: five third-down plays, one first down, and the three third and twos after the first quarter all missed. Three games: 10 carries for 35 yards; five catches on seven targets for 51. It is still a small role, and one afternoon in it settles little. Cincinnati is home to the Jaguars on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
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