percyhoward
Research Tool
- Messages
- 17,062
- Reaction score
- 21,861
These are broken down by target distance -- the distance traveled by the ball in flight from the line of scrimmage to the receiver's hands. YAC doesn't count in determining the target distance, but does count in the receiver's yardage totals, yards per target, and pass rating. I looked at only the five players with the most targets at each distance over the last two seasons. With one exception, I didn't include players no longer with the team, but Austin had 10 targets at 10-19 yards, and Harris had 3 at 20+ yards. Murray's 126 targets at <10 yards are too many to ignore.
The first number in each row is that player's share of the targets at that distance (among the 5 players), so they add up to 100%. For example, 24.4% of the passes to the five most-targeted players at less than 10 yards went to Witten. His catch rate at that distance was 75%, meaning that the QB's completion percentage was 75% on Witten's targets. Witten's 6.5 yards per target is just the QB's yards per attempt on passes to Witten at that distance. Finally, the 100.1 rating is the QB's passer rating on Witten's targets at that distance.
Short (<10 yards)
25.3% Bryant 114 of 141 80.9% 973 yd 6.9 ypt 11 td 2 int 115.5
24.4% Witten 102 of 136 75.0% 880 yd 6.5 ypt 6 td 2 int 100.1
22.6% Murray 114 of 126 90.5% 791 yd 6.3 ypt 1 td 0 int 95.5
18.1% Beasley 77 of 101 76.2% 801 yd 7.9 ypt 4 td 2 int 103.6
9.6% Williams 36 of 54 66.7% 334 yd 6.2 ypt 6 td 1 int 112.7
Intermediate (10-19 yards)
46.6% Bryant 52 of 101 51.5% 905 yd 9.0 ypt 9 td 3 int 99.6
23.5% Witten 35 of 51 68.6% 599 yd 11.7 ypt 4 td 1 int 126.2
22.6% Williams 32 of 49 65.3% 561 yd 11.4 ypt 4 td 3 int 105.9
4.1% Escobar 6 of 9 66.7% 97 yd 10.8 ypt 2 td 1 int 102.5
3.2% Beasley 5 of 7 71.4% 64 yd 9.1 ypt 1 td 0 int 139.3
Deep (20+ yards)
44.8% Bryant 21 of 56 37.5% 782 yd 14.0 ypt 9 td 3 int 102.7
31.2% Williams 17 of 39 43.6% 592 yd 15.2 ypt 6 td 0 int 130.1
18.4% Witten 8 of 23 34.8% 209 yd 9.1 ypt 3 td 0 int 108.5
3.2% Escobar 3 of 4 75.0% 62 yd 15.5 ypt 3 td 0 int 156.3
2.4% Beasley 1 of 3 33.3% 24 yd 8.0 ypt 1 td 0 int 102.8
Bryant gets the largest share of the passes at every distance. At <10 yards, don't read anything into his 6.9 yards per target compared to Beasley's 7.9, because on 14 of Dez's catches, the end zone was what kept him from getting more than 7 yards. The pass rating rewards him for that, however. By the same token, at 20+ yards, don't make too much of his rating being more than 50 points worse than Escobar's. Bryant's 102.7 rating on passes of 20+ yards is a big part of what makes Escobar's rating at that distance possible. The guys not named Bryant combined for 13 TD with 0 INT on their deep targets over the last two seasons.
It should also be noted that Dez's catch rate of 37.5% at 20+ yards for the last two seasons hides the difference between his 22.2% in 2013 and his league-leading 53.6% in 2014. That huge jump was mainly an effect of opposing defenses having to respect a run threat.
The first number in each row is that player's share of the targets at that distance (among the 5 players), so they add up to 100%. For example, 24.4% of the passes to the five most-targeted players at less than 10 yards went to Witten. His catch rate at that distance was 75%, meaning that the QB's completion percentage was 75% on Witten's targets. Witten's 6.5 yards per target is just the QB's yards per attempt on passes to Witten at that distance. Finally, the 100.1 rating is the QB's passer rating on Witten's targets at that distance.
Short (<10 yards)
25.3% Bryant 114 of 141 80.9% 973 yd 6.9 ypt 11 td 2 int 115.5
24.4% Witten 102 of 136 75.0% 880 yd 6.5 ypt 6 td 2 int 100.1
22.6% Murray 114 of 126 90.5% 791 yd 6.3 ypt 1 td 0 int 95.5
18.1% Beasley 77 of 101 76.2% 801 yd 7.9 ypt 4 td 2 int 103.6
9.6% Williams 36 of 54 66.7% 334 yd 6.2 ypt 6 td 1 int 112.7
Intermediate (10-19 yards)
46.6% Bryant 52 of 101 51.5% 905 yd 9.0 ypt 9 td 3 int 99.6
23.5% Witten 35 of 51 68.6% 599 yd 11.7 ypt 4 td 1 int 126.2
22.6% Williams 32 of 49 65.3% 561 yd 11.4 ypt 4 td 3 int 105.9
4.1% Escobar 6 of 9 66.7% 97 yd 10.8 ypt 2 td 1 int 102.5
3.2% Beasley 5 of 7 71.4% 64 yd 9.1 ypt 1 td 0 int 139.3
Deep (20+ yards)
44.8% Bryant 21 of 56 37.5% 782 yd 14.0 ypt 9 td 3 int 102.7
31.2% Williams 17 of 39 43.6% 592 yd 15.2 ypt 6 td 0 int 130.1
18.4% Witten 8 of 23 34.8% 209 yd 9.1 ypt 3 td 0 int 108.5
3.2% Escobar 3 of 4 75.0% 62 yd 15.5 ypt 3 td 0 int 156.3
2.4% Beasley 1 of 3 33.3% 24 yd 8.0 ypt 1 td 0 int 102.8
Bryant gets the largest share of the passes at every distance. At <10 yards, don't read anything into his 6.9 yards per target compared to Beasley's 7.9, because on 14 of Dez's catches, the end zone was what kept him from getting more than 7 yards. The pass rating rewards him for that, however. By the same token, at 20+ yards, don't make too much of his rating being more than 50 points worse than Escobar's. Bryant's 102.7 rating on passes of 20+ yards is a big part of what makes Escobar's rating at that distance possible. The guys not named Bryant combined for 13 TD with 0 INT on their deep targets over the last two seasons.
It should also be noted that Dez's catch rate of 37.5% at 20+ yards for the last two seasons hides the difference between his 22.2% in 2013 and his league-leading 53.6% in 2014. That huge jump was mainly an effect of opposing defenses having to respect a run threat.
