Travis Etienne — Week 3: Thirteen Carries, Four First Downs
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Etienne carried 13 times for 57 yards and four first downs, converting both third-and-one carries, and caught both targets for 13 yards. His 16-yard run on the first snap after a recovered Raiders kickoff fumble set up the touchdown that made it 27–16, and he did not carry again after that, in a 35–27 loss to the Raiders.
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20 to 16, Saints, six 33 left in the third quarter, first and 10 at the Las Vegas 32, the first snap after New Orleans recovered a fumbled Raiders kickoff return. Travis Etienne went off right tackle and was pushed out at the 16, 16 yards, his longest run and the longest designed run of the day by a Saint. +1.0 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. On the next snap Noah Fant caught a 16-yard touchdown, and the Saints led 27 to 16 after the extra point.
The line: 13 carries, 57 yards, no touchdowns, four first downs, seven of the 13 successful, +1.3 expected points; two targets, two catches, 13 yards, one first down. The carries went two, three, two, four, four, −1, six, three, four, four, four, six, 16. Two came on third and one, and both converted: two yards in the first quarter and four in the second. Two came near the goal line: second and one at the Raiders one in the first quarter, stopped for a loss of one, the snap before Juwan Johnson's touchdown on third down; and four yards from the seven to the three late in the second, two snaps before Fant's first touchdown. 10 carries before halftime for 31 yards, three after for 26, and none after the 16-yarder. The catches, seven yards on second and six and six more, both came on the Saints' first possession of the second half.
New Orleans had 27 designed runs: Etienne 13, Alvin Kamara nine, Kendre Miller four, C.J. Donaldson one. Kamara had one before halftime and eight after; Etienne had 10 three. Etienne had two targets to Kamara's one.
Back in June the preview kept Etienne on the watchlist — a touchdown-flagged rebound season in an offense he had never played in — and leaned on reporting that he, not Kamara, projected as the lead back. Week 1, without Kamara, was nine carries and nine targets in a split with Miller. Week 2 contradicted the reporting: Kamara nine carries to Etienne's eight and six targets to his two. Sunday went back the other way, 13 carries to nine, until the second half belonged to Kamara and Miller. Three games, 30 carries, a hundred 28 yards, no touchdowns, and no game yet in which the backfield was his alone. Three games settle little, and the shape so far is a committee. New Orleans is home to the Falcons on Monday the fifth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Travis Etienne's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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