Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb, Eagles’ A.J. Brown bring gaudy stats, much different skill sets to pivotal ‘SNF’ game

When the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles square off on “Sunday Night Football” this week, it will be difficult for anyone to focus their attention on anybody but the quarterbacks. Dak Prescott and Jalen Hurts are two of the leading contenders for the 2023 MVP award. The result of this game will go a long way toward determining whether one of them can take home the hardware, and we know that much of the discussion coming out of the game will be about the relative merits of each player when it comes to chasing a Super Bowl title. 

But we shouldn’t allow the quarterbacks to overshadow everything else. And we should especially not let them outshine their top targets, because CeeDee Lamb and A.J. Brown are each putting together special seasons worthy of consideration for both the All-Pro first team and even Offensive Player of the Year (though Tyreek Hill may ultimately pull away in the latter race). 

Lamb and Brown are third and eighth, respectively, in catches, second and fourth in yards and tied for fifth in touchdowns leaguewide this season, and in the player-tracking-data-derived receiving rankings over at ESPN, Brown ranks as the NFL’s best this season while Lamb checks in third. 

Rec9081Tgt121118Yds1,1821,164TD77Tgt %28.1%26.6%Yds/Rec13.114.4Yds/Rte2.742.62YAC/Rec4.54.9AY/Tar10.5011.98Expl/Tgt25.6%20.3%1D/Tgt44.6%44.9%Success %57.9%53.4%

But despite roughly similar production, they’re actually used quite differently. While they have run nearly the exact same number of routes overall and have run an identical number of go routes, according to Tru Media, that’s pretty much where the similarities end. 

Brown lines up outside on nearly three-quarters of his routes. Lamb splits his time between the perimeter and the slot. (And since Dallas changed its offense philosophy in Week 6, that split has been almost exactly even.) Lamb goes in motion more than three times as often….

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys-ceedee-lamb-eagles-a-j-brown-bring-gaudy-stats-much-different-skill-sets-to-pivotal-snf-game/

Author : Jared Dubin

Publish date : 2023-12-08 16:51:23

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