Tyjae Spears — Week 1: Five Touches, Three on the Last Drive
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Spears had three carries for twelve yards and two catches on four targets for twelve, and three of those five touches came on the Titans' final drive with the score 23–3. Before it, his day was a one-yard run in the first quarter, a one-yard run in the fourth, and two incompletions, one of them third and three at the Tennessee thirty-nine that ended a drive, in a 23–10 loss to the Jets.
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Tyjae Spears's game Sunday mostly happened after it was decided. Three of his five touches, and two of his four targets, came on the Titans' last drive, which began at the Tennessee 35 with five minutes left and New York up 23 to three: four yards on a short throw on first and 10 from the New York 43, eight yards on another from the 29, 10 yards up the middle on second and two from the 21 for a first down, and the drive ended with Elic Ayomanor's touchdown. The 10-yard run was worth +0.5 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and it was his only carry that gained what the down asked.
The other two carries were a yard each: right end on first and 10 from the Tennessee 37 in the first quarter, and up the middle on first and 10 from the 16 early in the fourth. Three carries, 12 yards, one first down, −0.5 expected points. The targets were four, all after halftime, two caught for 12 yards, −2.0 expected points on the four. The one that cost the most was third and three at the Tennessee 39 with eight 55 left in the third, Titans down 17 to three: short right, incomplete, and Tennessee punted. −1.6 expected points, 3.2 points of win probability. The other incompletion was second and eight at the New York 42 late in the third, short left, and a sack on the next play ended that drive too.
Tony Pollard carried seven times to Spears's three, and Cam Ward scrambled four, on a day Tennessee ran 14 times and threw 35. Spears's four targets were fourth on the team behind Carnell Tate and Wan'Dale Robinson at six and Gunnar Helm at five, and two of the four were on the last drive. The pass-catching share the preview wanted to see was there; the catches were two.
Back in June the preview had Spears on the watchlist — ranked fiftieth, a coach on record calling him half the backfield, nine missed games in two years, and a 90-percent catch rate in a Brian Daboll passing game. Sunday's half of the backfield was three carries to Pollard's seven, and the catch rate was two of four. One game in a blowout does not say what the split is when the score is close, and it cannot say anything about the missed games. Tennessee is home to the Eagles on Sunday the twentieth. The number to watch is touches before the fourth quarter.
_Data via nflverse._
When Tyjae Spears's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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