NFC Team-By-Team Notes, Targets and Looks

Note: Going forward, I will be rotating from doing NFC and AFC Depth Chart Notes on a week-by-week basis. This way, I have the time to present you with deep, in-depth notes for 16 teams a week.

This will also allow me the time to work on other features on the site. As always, if you are curious about something you see here or have a question about an AFC team (should it be a week I’m focusing on the NFC, for example), feel free to email me at [e-mail], leave a comment, or shoot me a tweet @FDC_MikeClay .

Through 2 weeks of the NFL season, some trends are noticeable. Whether they will keep up is debatable in some cases, but one number that jumps out at me that is unlikely to sustain itself is the rise in the calling of pass plays.

Teams are passing on 56 percent of their snaps this season, 2 percent higher than in 2008 and the highest mark in the last five years…by far.

Although interceptions and yards per completion have been pretty consistent from last year to this year, a higher percentage of passes are going for touchdowns.

Receivers are also catching the ball at a 62 percent clip—1 percent more than in 2008 and the highest mark in five years.

On the flip side, the league yard-per-carry mark has been steady, but rushing touchdowns are down. Overall, yards-per-touch is up, but touchdowns-per-touch is down.

Some teams need to return to running the ball more and it is likely that they will. Within a few weeks, I suspect that 56 percent number will return to a figure closer to the anticipated 54 percent.

That all being said, for each team this week, I will first list their pass percent, followed by their league rank (1 is pass-heaviest team, 32 is run-heaviest team). In my team analysis, I will discuss that percentage’s impact on the team.

Dallas: 51% (24)

Dallas is running the ball less than only 8 teams and Marion Barber is getting 60% of the carries. He is expected to miss week 3, but Dallas is likely to keep running the ball with Felix Jones and Tashard Choice in the waiting.

Injuries aside, the platoon is going as expected. Jones has been responsible for 25% of the team’s carries, while 8% have gone to Choice.

At wide receiver, 23% of Tony Romo’s targets have gone to Patrick Crayton, but Roy Williams is not far behind, seeing 20% of the looks.

Jason Witten leads the team in that department, with 25% of Romo’s targets headed his direction. Sam Hurd? Miles Austin? Nope, reserve TE Martellus Bennett has quietly been the team’s fourth receiving option.

His six targets rank fourth on the team and if you combine his two catches with the 10 by Witten, the tight end duo has caught as many balls as the team's entire wide receiving crew.

New York: 54% (18)

Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw are splitting the carries in New York at a much closer rate than most had anticipated. Jacobs has taken care of 56 percent of the carries and 37 percent have gone to Bradshaw.

The bigger story has been the hype over the team’s top two wide receivers: Steve Smith and Mario Manningham. Smith has been targeted 21 times (32% of the team’s targets), while Manningham isn’t far behing at 17 targets (36%).

Smith has a slightly higher catch percent, but has a lower yards-per-reception mark and 1 less score. Manningham is the more valuable option.

No one else on the team has been targeted more than 9 percent of the time. This includes pass-catching RB Bradshaw and tight end Kevin Boss.

Philadelphia: 60% (11)

Philadelphia is actually passing 1% more than they did last year, but so many other teams are passing the ball a ton, that Philly ranks just 11th in this department. Most teams will regress, but the Eagles will stay right around 58-60%.

That bodes well for tight end Brent Celek, who is quietly becoming extremely relevant. 23% of the team’s passes have gone his way and he has caught 14 of them for 141 yards.

DeSean Jackson (20%) is the top wide receiver being targeted, and Kevin Curtis (16%) isn’t far behind.

The marks of Jason Avant (11%), Brian Westbrook (11%), and LeSean McCoy (10%) are further proof that the Eagles love to spread the ball around. 49% of the team’s carries have gone to Westbrook, while McCoy has carried it 26% of the time.

Washington: 53% (19)

Clinton Portis is and will continue to be the focal point of the Redskins offense. He’s been responsible for 65% of the team’s carries, a number that would be higher if not for the eight carries by Jason Campbell (15%).

Ladell Betts has been on the field more in 2009, but has carried it only 11% of the time and has been on the receiving end of 5% of Campbell’s passes. Chris Cooley has seen a team-high 27% of the team’s passes come his way.

Antwaan Randle El is the wide receiver who has seen the most balls thrown his way, with 24% of the team’s passes headed his way. Santana Moss (18%) and Malcolm Kelly (11%) have also contributed.

Chicago: 60% (12)

Chicago is another team who is passing more than they did last year and the signing of Jay Cutler is a part of the reason. The struggles of Matt Forte probably add to it as well.

Forte has carried it 28 times in 2 games, which works out to 78% of the team’s carries. Cutler is actually 2nd on the team in carries with 5 (10%). Garrett Wolfe (6%) and Adrian Peterson (6%) haven’t been relevant so far.

Earl Bennett saw just two week 2 targets after seeing 13 in week 1. Despite still leading the team in targets, Johnny Knox is the man to watch.

He is just behind Bennett, seeing 18% of the team’s targets. Devin Hester saw more balls in week 2 and has 15% of the team’s passes thrown to him.

Greg Olsen (16%) saw six balls each week so far and that should continue. Some thought the injury to backup TE Desmond Clark meant more balls for Olsen. Not so much.

Kellen Davis stepped in and was targeted six times on Sunday. Regardless of what other sites tell you, Chicago will continue to split production between their top two tight ends, with about 60% going to Olsen.

Detroit: 55% (17)

Kevin Smith has carried the ball 72% of the team’s run plays, but hasn’t been very productive. They’ve also made him a big part of the passing game.

He’s been targeted on 19% of the team’s pass plays, second only to Calvin Johnson (31%). Bryant Johnson was only targeted once in week 2, but still has had 14% of the team’s passes thrown to him.

Dennis Northcutt (9%) and Brandon Pettigrew (8%) have also seen a few passes thrown their way. Pettigrew wasn’t involved at all in week 1, but seems to be relevant after a respectable week 2 performance.

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