When the Pittsburgh Steelers signed wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery prior to the start of the 2011 season, one of the things that got me excited about him was his ability to move the chains on third downs. Now that he’s gone, the Steelers have signed former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Lance Moore to assume his role and while we only have stats to go on, he might be even better on third downs than his predecessor was.
During his career, Cotchery has been targeted 263 times on third down and has caught 156 of those passes for a very respectable 59.3% completion ratio. Moore, however, has caught 86 of 158 passes thrown his way on third downs during his time with the Saints for an even better 65.8 completion ratio.
So how did those third down completions turn out for both players?
124 of Cotchery’s 156 third down receptions (79.5%) resulted in a first down. Moore, however, has converted 86 of his 104 third down receptions (82.7%) into first downs.
Now, the argument will be that Cotchery had to play several seasons with several sub par quarterbacks during his time with the New York Jets and I have already addressed that in a previous post. That’s why I was excited about his signing. Sub par quarterbacks on all, his 46% first down per third down target percentage was not bad considering the quarterbacks he played with. In case you are curious, Cotchery leaves the Steelers with a career 47.1% first down per third down target percentage, so you can see that playing with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger certainly benefited him.
Moore, on the other hand, has played his entire career with Saints quarterback Drew Brees and he enters 2014 with a 54.4% first down per third down target percentage.
So just how good as that 54.4% number?
Dating back to 2006, which was Moore’s first real year in the league, there have been 36 wide receivers targeted a total of 150 or more times on third downs. Moore not only has the highest completion percentage on third downs of those 36 players, he’s also tied with his former Saints teammate Marques Colston for the best first down per third down target percentage as well.
So, if the Steelers were trying to replace what Cotchery was able to provide the team on third downs, it looks like they have successful done that with the addition of Moore. At least thats what the stats tell us.
Sortable 2006-2013 Third Down Wide Receiver Targets – Minimum 150 To Qualify
| PLAYER | TARG | REC | REC % | YDS | TD | FD | FD/REC% | FD/TARG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marques Colston | 259 | 162 | 62.5% | 2422 | 19 | 141 | 87.0% | 54.4% |
| Lance Moore | 158 | 104 | 65.8% | 1343 | 11 | 86 | 82.7% | 54.4% |
| Hines Ward | 179 | 107 | 59.8% | 1246 | 17 | 96 | 89.7% | 53.6% |
| Reggie Wayne | 316 | 185 | 58.5% | 2687 | 18 | 164 | 88.6% | 51.9% |
| Wes Welker | 288 | 187 | 64.9% | 2117 | 14 | 147 | 78.6% | 51.0% |
| Greg Jennings | 221 | 135 | 61.1% | 2393 | 22 | 112 | 83.0% | 50.7% |
| Roddy White | 347 | 212 | 61.1% | 3104 | 18 | 174 | 82.1% | 50.1% |
| Anquan Boldin | 268 | 170 | 63.4% | 2283 | 14 | 133 | 78.2% | 49.6% |
| T.J. Houshmandzadeh | 196 | 125 | 63.8% | 1396 | 6 | 97 | 77.6% | 49.5% |
| Derrick Mason | 222 | 135 | 60.8% | 1670 | 11 | 108 | 80.0% | 48.6% |
| Donald Driver | 202 | 121 | 59.9% | 1753 | 15 | 98 | 81.0% | 48.5% |
| Jerricho Cotchery | 234 | 138 | 59.0% | 1702 | 10 | 112 | 81.2% | 47.9% |
| Dwayne Bowe | 248 | 144 | 58.1% | 2014 | 14 | 117 | 81.3% | 47.2% |
| Steve Johnson | 166 | 100 | 60.2% | 1331 | 9 | 76 | 76.0% | 45.8% |
| Jason Avant | 162 | 90 | 55.6% | 1238 | 4 | 74 | 82.2% | 45.7% |
| Randy Moss | 152 | 75 | 49.3% | 1236 | 22 | 68 | 90.7% | 44.7% |
| Andre Johnson | 248 | 145 | 58.5% | 1833 | 13 | 109 | 75.2% | 44.0% |
| James Jones | 178 | 96 | 53.9% | 1402 | 11 | 78 | 81.3% | 43.8% |
| DeSean Jackson | 153 | 83 | 54.2% | 1476 | 8 | 67 | 80.7% | 43.8% |
| Santonio Holmes | 239 | 122 | 51.0% | 2015 | 12 | 104 | 85.2% | 43.5% |
| Nate Washington | 231 | 125 | 54.1% | 1753 | 14 | 100 | 80.0% | 43.3% |
| Vincent Jackson | 240 | 118 | 49.2% | 2146 | 16 | 103 | 87.3% | 42.9% |
| Larry Fitzgerald | 278 | 145 | 52.2% | 1923 | 15 | 119 | 82.1% | 42.8% |
| Brandon Marshall | 327 | 181 | 55.4% | 2480 | 21 | 138 | 76.2% | 42.2% |
| Calvin Johnson | 306 | 146 | 47.7% | 2352 | 14 | 127 | 87.0% | 41.5% |
| Davone Bess | 238 | 146 | 61.3% | 1470 | 8 | 98 | 67.1% | 41.2% |
| Steve Smith | 273 | 141 | 51.6% | 2173 | 13 | 112 | 79.4% | 41.0% |
| Chad Johnson | 189 | 80 | 42.3% | 1175 | 10 | 77 | 96.3% | 40.7% |
| Michael Jenkins | 165 | 90 | 54.5% | 1118 | 11 | 67 | 74.4% | 40.6% |
| Braylon Edwards | 199 | 94 | 47.2% | 1405 | 12 | 80 | 85.1% | 40.2% |
| Nate Burleson | 161 | 82 | 50.9% | 1002 | 9 | 64 | 78.0% | 39.8% |
| Michael Crabtree | 165 | 97 | 58.8% | 1230 | 7 | 65 | 67.0% | 39.4% |
| Terrell Owens | 197 | 95 | 48.2% | 1476 | 12 | 76 | 80.0% | 38.6% |
| Lee Evans | 152 | 75 | 49.3% | 1327 | 10 | 56 | 74.7% | 36.8% |
| Santana Moss | 264 | 131 | 49.6% | 1668 | 12 | 94 | 71.8% | 35.6% |
| Bernard Berrian | 155 | 67 | 43.2% | 971 | 7 | 52 | 77.6% | 33.5% |
