by Vincent Verhei

The most interesting statistical stories of Week 4 involved the NFL's best and worst wide receivers this past Sunday. The best was outstanding, but probably not as great as you'd think. The worst wasn't especially bad, but it was the latest in a string of very bad games in what is quickly becoming a very, very bad career.

Let's start with the biggest star of the weekend. Atlanta's Julio Jones ripped the Carolina Panthers to shreds this weekend for 300 yards receiving, just the sixth time in NFL history a wideout has gone for three bills in a single game. Only three of those games have come in the DVOA era (which goes back to 1989). Jones averaged 25.0 yards per catch and had an 80 percent catch rate, so surely he must have threatened to break some all-time single-game DYAR, right?

Well, no. Jones did not set a record for most DYAR in a game by a wide receiver. He was not in the top three. Or top five. Or ten, or 15, or 20. Surprisingly, Jones' effort against Atlanta was just the 25th-best regular-season game we have on record. Now, that's an outstanding game. We're going on 27 years of DYAR data now, so simple averages tell us this will quite likely be the best game any receiver has in all of 2016. And it would have been the best game in any of 12 other years in our database, including all games played from 2002 to 2005. So no, games like this don't come down the line every month, or even every year.

That said, it's still hard to believe that there have been 24 regular-season games better than this in less than three decades. How can that be? He wasn't perfect. He did have those three incompletions, two of which were failed third-down plays. He scored just one touchdown, which isn't a lot when you're talking about the greatest games on record. And though none of his catches were failed completions, he did have four catches that failed to gain first downs: a 5-yard gain on first-and-10, a pair of 9-yard gains on second-and-10, and an 18-yard gain on first-and-20. That's 14 percent of his yardage total on catches that still left the offense needing to convert another play to pick up a first down. Meanwhile, only eight of his catches gained first downs, which isn't an unusually high number at all. Tampa Bay's Mike Evans topped that with nine first-down catches in Week 3. Odell Beckham and Antonio Brown have also hit eight first downs in a game early in this season, and at least three other receivers have gone for seven.

So while it seemed that Jones was an unstoppable force for all 60 minutes on Sunday, there were brief stretches where he was… "silent" is too strong a word, so let's say he was quiet. Now, when he was loud, he was very loud. His eight first downs averaged 32.4 yards apiece, nearly double the average gain (16.5 yards) of all first down receptions this season. The other factor to take into consideration is opponent adjustments. The Panthers haven't been very good on defense this year, and Jones' day gets dinged accordingly. Take everyone's adjustments away, and Jones jumps from 25th to 16th. The following table lists all 100-DYAR games for wide receivers since 1989. Calvin Johnson, Chad Johnson, and Jerry Rice have three each; Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Amani Toomer, and Jimmy Smith each appear twice. Besides Jones, active players on the list include Kenny Britt, Antonio Brown, Eric Decker, Josh Gordon (sorta), T.Y. Hilton, Andre Johnson and Marvin Jones.

All 100-plus-DYAR Games, Wide Receivers, Regular Season, 1989-2016 Rank Year Player Team Total DYAR Rec DYAR Rush DYAR Pass Rec Yds TD Runs Yds TD Wk Def 1 1989 Flipper Anderson LARM 160 160 0 20 15 336 1 0 0 0 12 NO 2 2000 Jimmy Smith JAC 141 141 0 21 15 291 3 0 0 0 2 BAL 3 1995 Jerry Rice SF 136 124 12 16 14 289 3 1 10 0 16 MIN 4 2006 Chad Johnson CIN 133 137 -4 12 11 260 2 1 0 0 10 SD 5 2000 Terrell Owens SF 131 133 -2 22 20 283 1 1 5 0 16 CHI 6 1989 Henry Ellard LARM 130 130 0 15 12 230 3 0 0 0 2 IND 7 2001 Randy Moss MIN 129 112 16 13 10 171 3 1 18 0 10 NYG 8 2010 Kenny Britt TEN 127 127 0 10 7 225 3 0 0 0 7 PHI 9 1994 Andre Reed BUF 122 114 8 19 15 191 2 1 4 0 12 GB 10 1995 Kevin Williams DAL 122 104 18 11 9 203 2 3 21 0 17 ARI 11 2011 Calvin Johnson DET 118 118 0 17 11 244 1 0 0 0 17 GB 12 2013 Josh Gordon CLE 117 117 0 17 14 237 1 0 0 0 12 PIT 13 2006 Reggie Wayne IND 116 116 0 11 10 138 3 0 0 0 8 DEN 14 2013 Eric Decker DEN 115 115 0 12 8 174 4 0 0 0 13 KC 15 2001 David Patten NE 115* 47 25 5 4 117 2 1 29 1 6 IND 16 2015 Antonio Brown PIT 115 115 0 18 16 189 2 0 0 0 15 DEN 17 2007 Terrell Owens DAL 114 114 0 11 8 173 4 0 0 0 11 WAS 18 2013 Andre Johnson HOU 112 112 0 13 9 229 3 0 0 0 9 IND 19 2011 Wes Welker NE 112 100 12 20 16 217 2 1 19 0 3 BUF 20 1998 Derrick Alexander KC 111 111 0 8 5 173 1 0 0 0 12 SD 21 2013 Calvin Johnson DET 111 111 0 17 14 329 1 0 0 0 8 DAL 22 2009 Marques Colston NO 110 110 0 8 8 166 1 0 0 0 6 NYG 23 1990 Jerry Rice SF 110 110 0 20 13 225 5 0 0 0 6 ATL Rank Year Player Team Total DYAR Rec DYAR Rush DYAR Pass Rec Yds TD Runs Yds TD Wk Def 24 1999 Isaac Bruce STL 109 109 0 6 5 134 4 0 0 0 5 SF 25 2016 Julio Jones ATL 107** 107 0 15 12 300 1 0 0 0 4 CAR 26 1994 Irving Fryar MIA 107 107 0 8 5 211 3 0 0 0 1 NE 27 2013 T.Y. Hilton IND 107 107 0 6 5 140 2 0 0 0 5 SEA 28 2009 Roddy White ATL 105 105 0 10 8 210 2 0 0 0 5 SF 29 2002 Amani Toomer NYG 104 104 0 12 10 204 3 0 0 0 16 IND 30 2002 Plaxico Burress PIT 104 104 0 13 9 253 2 0 0 0 10 ATL 31 2009 Wes Welker NE 104 94 10 17 15 192 0 1 11 0 11 NYJ 32 2011 Calvin Johnson DET 104 104 0 14 9 214 2 0 0 0 15 OAK 33 1993 Jerry Rice SF 104 104 0 11 8 172 4 0 0 0 11 TB 34 1998 Randy Moss MIN 104 104 0 6 5 190 2 0 0 0 5 GB 35 2013 Marvin Jones CIN 103 103 0 8 8 122 4 0 0 0 8 NYJ 36 2008 Antonio Bryant TB 103 103 0 10 9 200 2 0 0 0 14 CAR 37 2004 Chad Johnson CIN 103 103 0 12 10 161 2 0 0 0 13 BAL 38 1989 John Taylor SF 102 102 0 13 11 286 2 0 0 0 14 LARM 39 2001 Marvin Harrison IND 102 102 0 12 9 174 3 0 0 0 9 MIA 40 2003 Derrick Mason TEN 101 101 0 7 6 177 3 0 0 0 6 HOU 41 1993 Michael Irvin DAL 101 101 0 8 7 155 1 0 0 0 5 GB 42 1990 Eddie Brown CIN 101 101 0 13 10 178 2 0 0 0 2 SD 43 2007 Chad Johnson CIN 101 101 0 16 11 209 2 0 0 0 2 CLE 44 2010 Malcom Floyd SD 101 101 0 10 8 213 1 0 0 0 5 OAK 45 2000 Amani Toomer NYG 101 101 0 8 8 193 1 0 0 0 17 JAC 46 1999 Jimmy Smith JAC 101 101 0 11 9 220 1 0 0 0 11 NO * Includes 43 DYAR for one pass attempt, a 60-yard touchdown to Troy Brown. ** Accurate as of Week 4. Will change throughout season as opponent adjustment and league-wide baselines fluctuate.

Last August, the Falcons signed Jones to a five-year, $71 million extension, and so far the wide receiver has lived up to his price tag. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, almost a year to the day after Jones signed his deal with Atlanta, the Rams inked their own young wideout to a big money deal, getting Tavon Austin's name on a four-year, $42 million deal -- about 25 percent less than Jones got, per season, but still a healthy hunk of change. "Tavon has been an integral part of our offense and special teams since we drafted him in 2013," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said in a statement at the time. "It is important to our organization to retain players we've drafted and invested in, and Tavon is an example of that. We're excited for him to continue his career with the Rams." How has Austin rewarded his coach and his team for making that investment?

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In Week 1 against San Francisco, he caught four of 12 targets for 13 yards. He was the lowest-ranked wide receiver in Quick Reads.

In Week 2 against Seattle, he caught five of nine targets for 50 yards. He was among the bottom 20 wide receivers in DYAR.

In Week 3 against Tampa Bay, Austin had his best day of the season, catching five of eight targets for 82 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown. He finished in the top 10 receivers in DYAR and was originally listed in our top receivers in Quick Reads, though that was due to a glitch in our compiling system. Once we fixed the glitch, Austin fell out of the top five.

In Week 4 against Arizona, Austin followed up on his big day by catching two of six targets for just 14 yards. As you can see below, he had the worst DYAR of any wideout in the league for the second time in just four weeks.

Put it all together and Austin currently has minus-93 DYAR on the year. This is worst among wide receivers by a good margin. Kevin White, the second-lowest ranked receiver, is closer to sixth-worst Torrey Smith than he is to Austin. In fact, over 16 games, Austin's total projects to minus-371 DYAR, which would shatter the record of minus-297 set by Chris Chambers in 2006. As a receiver, Austin has combined an abysmal catch rate of 46 percent with an anemic 9.9 yards per catch -- both in the bottom ten out of 81 qualifying wideouts this season. Only three wide receivers in DVOA history have qualified for our end-of-season tables with a catch rate so low and less than 10 yards per catch: Az-Zahir Hakim with the Lions in 2003, David Patten with the Redskins in 2005, and Eddie Royal with the Broncos in 2011. Hakim and Patten finished last in both DVOA and DYAR in those seasons. Royal was last in DVOA, and third-to-last in DYAR. Regular Quick Reads readers (Quick Readers?) will recognize that Austin's name at the bottom of our rankings is nothing new -- he was last in receiving DYAR last year too, and he just missed the bottom 10 in 2013. In between, he had positive DYAR in 2014, though he didn't see enough targets to qualify for our main tables. That's a three-year total of minus-134 DYAR, and that's very bad -- 27th-worst from 1989 to 2015, if we don't use a minimum number of targets. But that was before 2016 began. Four games into this season, Austin has been so bad that he has passed twenty-three of the worst wide receivers of the past quarter-century. At this exact moment, Austin has minus-227 DYAR, a total matched by only three other wideouts: Bryan Gilmore (minus-232), Greg Little (minus-235), and Dez White (minus-312). If he can't get things turned around quickly, Austin could fall behind White and claim the title of Worst Wide Receiver of the DVOA Era by Halloween.

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It's quite possible, though, that Austin will turn things around. His numbers would almost certainly go up if the Rams ever give up on Case Keenum and turn to Jared Goff, who just a few months ago they drafted ahead of Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott, Jacoby Brissett, Cody Kessler, or any other player in the 2016 class. And we know that with the ball in his hands, Austin can change games on one play -- witness his 8.1-yard average on 103 career runs, and his three punt return touchdowns. That talent makes him a valuable asset even if he's not catching passes. Even this week, when he was the worst wide receiver in the league, his 47-yard punt return (and a 15-yard facemask penalty on Arizona) set the Rams up in the red zone. Five plays later, Los Angeles scored what proved to be the winning touchdown. Every team in the league could use a lightning-in-a-bottle threat like Austin on their roster. But if the Rams are going to get value out of their $42 million investment, they need to find a way to make him a consistent threat in the passing game, not a "secret" weapon only to be used a few times a game.

Quarterbacks Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp 1. Ben Roethlisberger PIT 22/27 300 5 0 2 195 195 0 KC Roethlisberger's first pass was a 47-yard completion to Sammie Coates, but then he went into a funk. His next five dropbacks resulted in two completions, no first downs, one sack, and 5 total yards. And then his next three throws all went for touchdowns, of 31, 4, and 38 yards. He completed all six of his third-down throws, gaining a total of 104 yards and five first downs, including two scores, though a seventh third-down play did end in a sack. A Chiefs defense that intercepted six passes one week ago was powerless to stop Roethlisberger's deep ball -- he went 6-of-7 for 183 yards and three touchdowns on passes that traveled more than 15 yards past the line of scrimmage. 2. Matt Ryan ATL 28/37 503 4 1 3 192 185 7 CAR Only ten of Ryan's completions failed to gain first downs, and only five were failed plays. On third downs, he went 7-of-9 for 122 yards and six conversions, including a touchdown. He completed each of his first nine passes for a total of 139 yards and seven first downs, including a touchdown. His tenth pass also went for a touchdown, but it was Carolina's, not Atlanta's. 3. Sam Bradford MIN 26/36 262 1 0 0 113 114 -1 NYG Bradford played well when the Vikings were able to keep him in manageable yardage. With 7 yards or less to go, he went 10-of-13 for 90 yards and nine first downs, with a DPI for 6 yards and another first down. Only six of his other 16 completions went for first downs. 4. Russell Wilson SEA 23/32 309 3 0 2 112 121 -9 NYJ Not counting an end-of-half kneeldown, the Seahawks had two drives in the second quarter. On those two drives, Wilson went 8-of-8 for 165 yards. One of those completions was a 4-yard gain on first-and-10. Each of the other seven picked up a first down, including two touchdowns. He threw five passes that traveled more than 20 yards past the line of scrimmage and completed them all, for 158 total yards. 5. Brian Hoyer CHI 28/36 302 2 0 2 109 109 0 DET Hoyer set a career high by completing 78 percent of his passes against the Lions. He was most effective up the middle, going 7-of-8 for 134 yards and six first downs. Even with opponent adjustments only at 40 percent, they had a huge effect on Hoyer's DYAR, because Detroit's pass defense has been a complete dumpster fire thus far, giving up 12 touchdowns with only one interception. 6. Dak Prescott DAL 23/32 245 2 0 2 108 109 -1 SF Prescott, like Bradford, played best in short yardage. With 6 yards or less to go for a first down, he went 7-of-12 for 59 yards and two sacks, with every completion going for a first down. Only four of his other 16 completions resulted in first downs. 7. Derek Carr OAK 25/35 199 4 0 0 99 99 0 BAL Carr has always had a knack for finishing drives. Since he was drafted in 2014, he is one of 23 quarterbacks with at least 100 passes in the red zone. None of those quarterbacks can match Carr's touchdown rate of 36.2 percent. Carr got a chance to flex his red zone muscles against Baltimore, completing all four of his passes inside the 20 for 25 yards and three scores. He also had a 23-yard touchdown. 8. Kirk Cousins WAS 21/27 183 3 1 3 64 64 0 CLE Technically, Cousins did not complete a pass that traveled more than 10 yards downfield, but that does not mean the deep pass was not effective for Washington -- Cousins' two deepest passes resulted in DPIs of 50 and 21 yards. 9. Tyrod Taylor BUF 27/39 246 1 0 2 64 63 1 NE 10. Case Keenum LARM 18/30 266 2 0 2 57 52 6 ARI Whatever success Keenum had against Arizona, it did not come when throwing to his left. To that side of the field, he went 4-of-10 for 17 yards, with nary a first down to be found. 11. Andy Dalton CIN 22/31 296 1 0 1 51 78 -28 MIA Dalton only threw five passes that went more than 10 yards downfield, but he completed all of them for 157 total yards. 12. Paxton Lynch DEN 14/24 170 1 0 1 46 46 0 TB Lynch took over for Trevor Siemian, who had 12 DYAR on 5-of-7 passing for 68 yards and a touchdown, with three sacks and two DPIs for 14 more yards, before getting injured. Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp 13. Blaine Gabbert SF 16/23 196 1 1 1 35 45 -10 DAL First quarter: 7-of-9, 109 yards, five first downs. Rest of game: 9-of-14, 87 yards, three first downs, one interception, one sack. 14. Blake Bortles JAC 19/33 207 2 0 3 31 19 12 IND Add Bortles to the list of passers who functioned best in short yardage. 5 yards or less to go: 6-of-9 for 57 yards, with every completion going for a first down, plus a seventh first down on a 12-yard DPI. Anything longer than that, he only gained six first downs in 13 completions. 15. Carson Palmer ARI 23/36 288 1 1 3 30 30 0 LARM Palmer struggled throwing to his right (6-of-12, 85 yards, three first downs, one interception) and up the middle (6-of-8, 64 yards, only two first downs), but he had a great day throwing to his left (11-of-15 for 139 yards, 10 first downs). 16. Philip Rivers SD 28/43 321 2 1 3 17 17 0 NO It wasn't all his fault, but Rivers' last six dropbacks were a total disaster: sack-fumble, completion-fumble, sack, fumbled snap, incompletion, interception on fourth-and-22. And somewhere in there Melvin Gordon lost a fumble too. 17. Cody Kessler CLE 28/39 223 1 1 1 16 19 -3 WAS 18. Cam Newton CAR 14/25 165 1 0 1 14 9 4 ATL Note to everyone: attack the middle of Atlanta's defense. Newton went 4-for-4 for 69 yards and four first downs up the middle. And Derek Anderson went 2-for-2 for 20 yards and another first down. 19. Eli Manning NYG 25/45 261 0 1 0 11 11 0 MIN Third and fourth downs: 5-of-12, 34 yards, one interception, only one first down. 20. Brock Osweiler HOU 26/37 254 2 2 1 10 2 8 TEN 21. Drew Brees NO 23/36 207 2 2 2 9 9 0 SD Yet another short-yardage specialist. 5 yards or less to go: 10-of-12, 101 yards, 10 first downs, including two scores. He had only five first downs on his other 13 completions. 22. Derek Anderson CAR 17/23 172 2 2 0 7 7 0 ATL Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp 23. Jacoby Brissett NE 17/27 205 0 0 3 -1 24 -26 BUF Brissett did not have a single pass in the red zone. On Buffalo's half of the field, he went 6-of-12 for 37 yards with two first downs and a sack. On third and fourth downs, he went 3-of-7 for 21 yards with two first downs and a sack. 24. Marcus Mariota TEN 12/28 192 0 1 1 -4 -6 2 HOU 25. Joe Flacco BAL 32/51 298 1 0 2 -11 -18 8 OAK Throwing to his left, Flacco went 4-of-14 for 16 yards and no first downs. Seriously. 26. Alex Smith KC 30/50 287 2 1 4 -31 -28 -3 PIT 27. Andrew Luck IND 27/41 237 2 1 6 -45 -50 5 JAC 28. Drew Stanton ARI 4/10 37 0 2 0 -54 -54 0 LARM 29. Ryan Fitzpatrick NYJ 23/41 261 1 3 4 -91 -91 0 SEA 30. Matthew Stafford DET 23/36 213 0 2 2 -101 -105 4 CHI Third downs: 4-of-10, 42 yards, three first downs, one interception. 31. Jameis Winston TB 17/35 179 0 2 5 -126 -140 15 DEN Third downs: 6-of-12, 63 yards, five conversions, but also three sacks and two interceptions. 32. Ryan Tannehill MIA 15/25 189 1 1 5 -131 -131 0 CIN Tannehill only threw for five first downs against the Bengals, and none of them came on Cincinnati's side of the field. In fact, Tannehill only had three plays across the 50: a 6-yard completion, a sack, and an interception. On third and fourth downs, he went 4-of-9 for 48 yards and two conversions, with two sacks and a fumble.

Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Total) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Matt Jones WAS 22 117 1 2/2 21 0 50 40 10 CLE Some weird splits here. In the first half, Jones had 11 carries for 38 yards and three third downs, and his longest carry gained only 7 yards. Then he didn't get a single carry in the third quarter. But in the fourth quarter, he had 11 carries for 79 yards and six first downs, including gains of 25, 16, 15, and 11 yards. He had three more first downs another first down as a receiver. 2. Isaiah Crowell CLE 15 112 1 3/4 22 0 50 41 9 WAS Eight first downs in only 15 carries, including five runs for 10 yards or more, with only one stuff for a loss. 3. Ezekiel Elliott DAL 23 138 1 1/1 19 0 37 31 6 SF Eight first downs on the ground, including gains of 10, 17, 23, and 26 yards, with only two stuffs for no gain or a loss. 4. Christine Michael SEA 18 58 0 5/6 32 1 32 17 15 NYJ Five stuffs for no gain or a loss and only four rushing first downs, but he gets extra credit for conversions on second-and-1, third-and-1, and third-and-2. He also had a short-yardage conversion as a receiver, with a 9-yard gain on second-and-3. 5. Le'Veon Bell PIT 18 144 0 5/6 34 0 32 24 8 KC Bell had four 10-plus-yard runs, but only two of them went for first downs -- he had a 14-yard gain on third-and-29, and a 12-yard gain on third-and-17. He was stuffed for no gain or a loss three times.

Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Rushing) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Isaiah Crowell CLE 15 112 1 3/4 22 0 50 41 9 WAS 2. Matt Jones WAS 22 117 1 2/2 21 0 50 40 10 CLE 3. Jerick McKinnon MIN 18 85 1 3/5 10 0 26 35 -8 NYG First downs on gains of 25 and 10, plus a 10-yard gain on second-and-11, with three stuffs for no gain or a loss. 4. Ezekiel Elliott DAL 23 138 1 1/1 19 0 37 31 6 SF 5. Le'Veon Bell PIT 18 144 0 5/6 34 0 32 24 8 KC

Worst Running Back by DYAR (Total) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Charles Sims TB 15 28 0 2/3 7 0 -64 -58 -6 DEN Sims had no first downs, a long gain of just 6 yards, two stuffs, and a fumble. None of his completions gained a first down either.

Worst Running Back by DYAR (Rushing) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Charles Sims TB 15 28 0 2/3 7 0 -64 -58 -6 DEN

Five Best Wide Receivers and Tight Ends by DYAR Rk Player Team Rec Att Yds Avg TD Total

DYAR Opp 1. Julio Jones ATL 12 15 300 25.0 1 108 CAR Jones' four longest catches gained more than 200 yards. Marvin Jones is the only other receiver this year with even 200 yards in a game. 2. A.J. Green CIN 10 12 173 17.3 1 68 MIA Six first downs, including gains of 51, 43, and 21 yards. 3. Antonio Brown PIT 4 5 64 16.0 2 52 KC All four of Brown's catches went for first downs, including two third-down conversions. 4. Demaryius Thomas DEN 6 7 94 15.7 1 50 TB Five of Thomas' completions resulted in first downs. The other was a 9-yard gain on first-and-10. 5. Eddie Royal CHI 7 7 111 15.9 1 44 DET Royal had five first downs, includng two third-down conversions.