Washington Commanders RB Brian Robinson Jr. Among Week 2 Next Gen Stat Leaders

The Washington Commanders got their first win, and registered some interesting measurements in the process.

Sep 15, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. (8) runs the ball during the third quarter against the New York Giants at Commanders Field. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

The Washington Commanders have some pretty obvious stats stemming from their Week 2 win against the New York Giants.

First and foremost, the stat line of 21-18 - the points the Commanders scored compared to the Giants' scoring production - is the most important.

Beyond that, however, the impact players Washington leaned on to get its first win of the year are clear and include some of the NFL's Week 2 leaders in specific NFL Next Gen Stats measured by Zebra Sports.

Sep 15, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. (8) runs the ball during the third quarter against the New York Giants at Commanders Field. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Take running back Brian Robinson Jr. for example. The third year back out of Alabama led the league in rushing yards over expected (RYOE) with 61. According to their measurements, 40 percent of his 133 yards on 17 carries went over their expected gains, tying him for 18th in the league in that category.

Teammate, quarterback Jayden Daniels, also sat near the top of the league, though his rankings had more to do with taking the short yards over the larger gains.

For the second straight week to open the season, Zebra Sports reported Daniels was among the leagues fastest throwers averaging 2.33 seconds to throw - third fastest - while his 4.3 yards average intended air yards was the third lowest. His 3.2 average air yards per completion was fifth lowest.

His conservative approach to passing the ball resulted in a completion percentage 6.8 percent above expected, the sixth highest from Week 2.

On the other side of that matchup Giants rookie receiver Malik Nabers had a solid day overall despite dropping a late pass on fourth down that could have set his team up for a win.

Targeted 18 times by New York quarterback Daniel Jones while running 26 routes, Nabers' 69.2 percent target rate was the highest in the NFL last weekend, and the highest target rate by any receiver with at least 15 routes run in a single game since next gen stats started being recorded in 2016.

With those targets, Nabers turned in a strong performance that included scoring one of three touchdowns the Giants registered on the day, but alas it wasn't enough as his team fell to 0-2 and Washington improved to 1-1. And we don't need deep analytics to know that's a positive outcome for the Commanders.

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