Directional passing update for Week 12

During the NFL season, we’re going to use the Directional Passing Tool to break down how different offenses are utilizing their weapons all over the field. As the year goes on, patterns begin to emerge that will allow us to anticipate and exploit mismatches between a defense and an offense that we’re targeting. 

Short Passing

The short left zone seems to bring out most of the best wide receivers in the league. Cooper Kupp continues to lap the field in production within this zone. He’s over 100 yards beyond anyone else here. Najee Harris remains as the only running back in this zone. He’s turned -16 air yards into 201 receiving yards. Deebo Samuel is enjoying another breakout season and doing much of his damage here. 

Jaylen Waddle is being overshadowed in a lot of ways by some of the other young receivers, but he’s been excellent despite playing with multiple quarterbacks this season. DeVonta Smith and Ja’Marr Chase are two rookies who’ve also been enjoying breakouts of their own and thriving in the short right section of the field. We also see three tight ends make their way onto this list. 

Deebo Samuel is doing plenty of work over the middle of the field alongside teammate George Kittle. They’re the only teammates that make the top ten in this zone of the field. Again, we’re seeing plenty of tight ends over the middle of the field with Mark Andrews and Travis Kelce joining Kittle on the list. 

Here are some of the upcoming matchups in Week 12 for the more notable names on the lists above:

Deep Passing

Cooper Kupp continues to shine here. The variance associated with these lists, though, is apparent when you have all these wide receivers showing up with 10-17 targets and then Marquez Valdes-Scantling showing up with 155 receiving yards on just four plays in this zone. Just over 13% of his targets have come in this zone but those plays have accounted for nearly 60% of his total yardage on the season. Terry McLaurin also appears on this list at #8 and has been making the most of his sometimes-shaky opportunities. He leads the league in contested catches as well as created catches, per our Advanced Receiving Stats.

Marquise Brown is the only receiver to even see double-digit targets in this zone of the field. 

Deebo Samuel shows up yet again and has 21% of his yardage in this zone despite only seeing 8% of his target share. Michael Pittman is in the midst of a breakout of his own this season, as well.