Let's take a quick look at who Trent Green was targeting the most on Sunday, as well as examining the catch rate of each player.
Green's Targeting
Here's a breakdown of the 37 passes that Green threw (I know he threw 38, but one was intentional grounding) and who he targeted:
Chris Chambers: 11 targets (30%)
Jesse Chatman: 7 targets (19%)
Marty Booker: 6 targets (16%)
Ronnie Brown: 6 targets (16%)
Justin Peelle: 4 targets (11%)
David Martin: 3 targets (8%)
It's very interesting to me that Green checked down the the running back 35% of the time. That's very high. However, it's better he check down than he force the ball into coverage.
Receiver Success
There was a lot of talk last season, especially on Football Outsiders, that Chris Chambers had one of the worst seasons a receiver has ever had in terms of his success rate when targeted on a pass play. He caught only 39% of the passes which were intended for him, which was the 2nd worst percentage over the last 5 years. So all season long, I will also track the success rate of every Dolphins receiver. For those of you who are unsure how to get this rate, it's simply receptions divided by targets. Here's how it looks after week 1:
Ronnie Brown: 100%
Jesse Chatman: 86%
Chris Chambers: 55%
Marty Booker: 50%
Justin Peelle: 50%
David Martin: 33%
It's nice to see Chambers playing better than last year. Maybe he can quiet some of his critics for once. Also, it's no wonder Trent checked down so much in week 1 considering how successful the passes to the backs were. One thing we need to see, though, is better production out of David Martin. He dropped a sure first down last week and is being outplayed by the team's backup TE. That's certainly something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.