James Jones!

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

Targets & Receptions

Jennings
115 targets
72 receptions
62.6%

Jones
86 targets
49 receptions
56.9%

Driver
77 targets
46 receptions
59.7%

Nelson
62 targets
43 receptions
69.4%

I read an article earlier this season saying that even when the ball is thrown away that they have to credit a wr as the target. I don't take a lot away from this particular stat.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I read an article earlier this season saying that even when the ball is thrown away that they have to credit a wr as the target. I don't take a lot away from this particular stat.

Where did you read that? I doubt that's the case. Even so, unless you think one WR is the target of more throwaway balls, then it probably evens out. Also, how often is a ball really thrown away? I actually think this is a great indicator, but you have to combine it with other stats (yards/completion, YAC, % of balls converted for first downs) and common sense (Jennings will get more attention from other teams than the other WRs, so he's going to get covered by the other team's best corner or doubled more often).

[Smidgeon]

Where did you read that? I doubt that's the case. Even so, unless you think one WR is the target of more throwaway balls, then it probably evens out. Also, how often is a ball really thrown away? I actually think this is a great indicator, but you have to combine it with other stats (yards/completion, YAC, % of balls converted for first downs) and common sense (Jennings will get more attention from other teams than the other WRs, so he's going to get covered by the other team's best corner or doubled more often).

I think I saw the NFC North ESPN blogger Kevin Seifert mention that in one of his stat rundowns.

[pbmax]

I think I saw the NFC North ESPN blogger Kevin Seifert mention that in one of his stat rundowns.

Yes, I think that is correct. If I remember, unless its intentional grounding, closest eligible receiver gets the target label even if it was heaved out of the end zone.

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

I also remember Jennings saying something similar earlier in the year. They asked him why his catches were down so much even though he had been targeted just as much as Finley and Driver (I think they all were target 33 or 34 times each at that time). He responded by saying that even though he has been "targeted" doesn't mean he had a chance to catch the ball. He even mentioned that a hail mary and a ball throw out of bounds counts as a target, but if the ball is not catchable is it really a target. The article was on packersnews months ago.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Don't buy it. Just don't see balls being thrown away often enough to make the stat irrelevant. I also can't see one guy having an abnormal amount of throwaways being charged as targets over others. They'd even out over the course of a season.

[Patler]

Don't buy it. Just don't see balls being thrown away often enough to make the stat irrelevant. I also can't see one guy having an abnormal amount of throwaways being charged as targets over others. They'd even out over the course of a season.

I don't necessarily believe the throw aways do even out. Driver or Nelson who work the middle more often will be less often the "target" of a throwaway than Jennings who works deep, or Jones who seems to show up along the sideline more often.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Still don't buy it. Do you have a link? It doesn't make sense that they'd give a target to a receiver on every pass (throwaways and spikes included). Now, I realize that some may be judgement calls on whether it's a throwaway or target, but I just can't see it. For what it's worth, target % excludes passes thrown away, not intended for a particular receiver, and spikes. Not sure why targets would be an different.

http://www.advancednflstats.com/2010/08/glossary.html

Target Percentage (Tgt%) – A receiver’s proportion of his team’s pass attempts targeted to him. Tgt% excludes passes thrown away, passes not intended for any particular receiver, and spikes.

Catch Rate (CR) – The proportion of passes targeted to a receiver that are caught.

Targets (Tgts) – The number of pass attempts directed at a particular receiver.

I also think these numbers match up with what I've seen on the season. There may be reasons for the percentages (e.g. Jennings is doubled, Driver was nicked up, etc.), but it seems like Jones was targeted a lot this season. He made big plays, but he had some negative plays too. He had drops. He had plays where he gave up on passes. He had plays where he wasn't on the same page as Rodgers. Of course, he made a lot of plays too, and overall had a solid year for a #3 receiver. He still drives me nuts with his inconsistency, and at this point I think he is what he is (decent #2, good #3 receiver).

[Patler]

Still don't buy it. Do you have a link? It doesn't make sense that they'd give a target to a receiver on every pass (throwaways and spikes included). Now, I realize that some may be judgement calls on whether it's a throwaway or target, but I just can't see it. For what it's worth, target % excludes passes thrown away, not intended for a particular receiver, and spikes. Not sure why targets would be an different.

Earlier this year in an article about Jennings, when his #s were way down, including his percentages caught, they reviewed all of his targeted pass incompletions and identified a bunch as throw-aways. It was in either the GBPG or the MJS after about the 4th or 5th game, or so.

[SkinBasket]

Turns out James Jones is still a fucking retard.

[Fritz]

How does one become "unretarded" anyway? Dimmy Dones needs some help.

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

He played bad today. No excuse for that drop.......but we need him esp. with Driver getting banged up at the end.

[gbgary]

He played bad today. No excuse for that drop.......but we need him esp. with Driver getting banged up at the end.

DD got banged up? missed this. what happened?

[MJZiggy]

DD got banged up? missed this. what happened?

He was on the bench in pain after his last catch. Don't know what the matter was.

[pbmax]

Still don't buy it. Do you have a link? It doesn't make sense that they'd give a target to a receiver on every pass (throwaways and spikes included). Now, I realize that some may be judgement calls on whether it's a throwaway or target, but I just can't see it. For what it's worth, target % excludes passes thrown away, not intended for a particular receiver, and spikes. Not sure why targets would be an different.

http://www.advancednflstats.com/2010/08/glossary.html

I also think these numbers match up with what I've seen on the season. There may be reasons for the percentages (e.g. Jennings is doubled, Driver was nicked up, etc.), but it seems like Jones was targeted a lot this season. He made big plays, but he had some negative plays too. He had drops. He had plays where he gave up on passes. He had plays where he wasn't on the same page as Rodgers. Of course, he made a lot of plays too, and overall had a solid year for a #3 receiver. He still drives me nuts with his inconsistency, and at this point I think he is what he is (decent #2, good #3 receiver).

There are multiple sources of numbers. The NFL's official numbers are from STATS Inc., but they are far from alone and they don't make it all public. So when GBPG or JSO/McGinn give you a number, its hard to know the source unless you have seen those numbers elsewhere. So STATs might give targets to every pass, other sites might not. NFLGSIS is the official record for the media.