Two of the NFL's most productive tight ends will take the field Sunday when the Steelers host the Dallas Cowboys.
But they aren't the household names some might expect in today's NFL.
This was supposed to be the year of the tight end, as an influx of good, young players at the position – paired with some older stars who had still been very productive – had some thinking we were entering a golden age of tight end play.
But though four weeks, some of the established stars at the position haven't been all that productive, while many of the young, emerging players have gotten off to slow starts.
That brings us to Pat Freiermuth of the Steelers and Jake Ferguson of the Cowboys.
While Philadelphia's Dallas Goedert leads all NFL tight ends with 24 receptions entering Week 5, Freiermuth isn't far behind with 17 catches in the Steelers' first four games.
And he's been the most consistent producer in the league at the position. Freiermuth is the only tight end to have at least four receptions in each of his team's games this season.
Considering he was just the second tight end in NFL history to record 60 or more catches in each of his first two seasons before injuries limited him to 32 receptions last season, it's not a surprise a healthy Freiermuth is off to a good start.
Meanwhile, Ferguson has 16 receptions in the three games in which he's played, having missed one game due to injury.
In a season in which stars at the position such as Baltimore's Mark Andrews has no receptions in his past two games and Travis Kelce has 15 receptions in Kansas City's first four games, Freiermuth and Ferguson have been much more consistent producers.
They'll have the Sunday night stage all to themselves.
"He's a hell of a player," said Freiermuth of Ferguson, the grandson of former Wisconsin head coach and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez. "I've watched a lot of film of other tight ends and he's one of them. I definitely respect his game a lot. We go all the way back to the Big Ten when he was at Wisconsin, so it's been cool to see what he's done in the league."
The two have more in common than just being a couple of former Big Ten tight ends – Freiermuth is a Penn State product. They also both happen to be the No. 2 targets on their respective teams.
Freiermuth's been the No. 2 option for the Steelers behind George Pickens, while Ferguson is the second option in Dallas behind CeeDee Lamb.
"Pat is a big part of every (game) plan, and it goes back to sometimes how the game is going," said Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. "You know, when you have some of those early games and the way it was going and we were more run-heavy, your target is obviously going to go down. Pat is a huge part of every week, and some of it too is just the reps with the quarterback, the trust between player to player. That's going to naturally happen. You certainly saw that last week."
Freiermuth had five receptions for 57 yards and a touchdown last week against the Colts.
Both of those top receivers figure to get plenty of attention Sunday, which could mean that the tight end who has the better game could factor into which team wins this matchup.
The Steelers have allowed just 13 completions on 20 targets for 90 yards to opposing tight ends this season, though they have given up two touchdowns to the position.
Dallas, meanwhile, has allowed 11 completions on 14 targets to opposing tight ends for 114 yards.
"I'm excited to go compete against him," said Freiermuth. "Obviously, I hope I have a better stat line at the end of the game and get the W."
• Throws to tight ends, especially those that line up at the end of the line of scrimmage, are some layup completions, especially with so many teams playing Cover-2 with their safeties deep.
Goedert has his 24 receptions on 28 targets. Bowers has 20 receptions on 24 targets. For Freiermuth, it's 17 catches on 20 targets.
Chicago's Cole Kmet has 18 in just 20 targets. Ferguson has 16 receptions on 23 targets.
Now, those throws aren't deep downfield. Freiermuth, after all, is averaging 9.2 yards per catch. Kmet is at 9.0, while Ferguson is at 9.2.
Goedert is at 12.4 yards per catch, but he had a long catch-and-run play a couple of weeks ago.
Many of the tight ends who are recording more consistent catch numbers this season are the ones who are working the middle of the field as opposed to those that line up detached from the line of scrimmage to run more wide receiver-type routes.
"They're playing Cover-2, but they're having some more guys down in the box to try to stop the run," Freiermuth said. "Defenses are getting creative. They're adjusting to the game of being in Cover-2 and having a bunch of holes. I've just got to keep working. I can't worry about the rest of the league."
As is usually the case with the tight end position, injuries also have played a factor. For example, Jacksonville's Evan Engram and Cleveland's David Njoku, who represented the AFC at the Pro Bowl games last season when Kelce opted out because of the Super Bowl, both have already missed multiple games this season.
Freiermuth has been very cognizant of his health, especially after being limited by a hamstring injury himself last season.
"It's a long season," he said. "I'm just focused on staying healthy, making sure I play all 17 games this year and being a reliable target for this offense."
But because of what is asked of tight ends, the position can lend itself to more injuries than some other positions. On one play, a tight end might be asked to block a defensive lineman. On the next, he's going over the middle into traffic to make a catch and take hits from linebackers and safeties.
"It's part of the game. You're obviously going to be dealing with some bumps and bruises at this point in the season," Freiermuth said. "But it's just being smart. I've learned to speak up on certain things, not try to hide them, so they don't become bigger issues. I've tried to stay focused and keep my body healthy. It's also being smart on the field.
"That's part of growing up in the league. It's knowing when to take hits and when to protect yourself. I think I've gotten more comfortable that when I'm getting wrapped up and I see more people coming, I protect myself as opposed to fighting for one or two more yards."
• Are the Steelers running the ball too much on first down, when they average just 2.9 yards per carry?
Perhaps they had been doing so, running the ball 61.3 percent of the time on first down.
But last week against Indianapolis, the Steelers ran the ball on first down 13 times. They threw it on first down 17 times.
Now, some of that came in the second half when the Steelers were trying to come back. But eight of those first-down passing attempts came in the first half, 10 if two first-down sacks are included.
Smith obviously sees opponents run blitzing on first downs and is adjusting how he attacks.
According to Smith, the Steelers adjusted to what the Colts were bringing against their run game in the second quarter when Cordarrelle Patterson was in the game as opposed to Najee Harris. Patterson rushed for 56 yards on five carries.
"Some of the things they were doing, they brought a little more pressure than they have," Smith said. "They had been bringing a lot of edge pressure, and people change it up. That's the game plan. Dallas will do the same thing. They'll have something for us just like we do every week. I didn't think we were as clean early in the run game. There's multiple things that can happen. Multiple things can be true on one play. I thought as the game wore down, it was really the backed up drive, and C.P. happened to be in there. There's usually an adjustment that happens, depending how the game starts.
"I thought we got rolling there. You know, we've got a strong commitment to the run game. Clearly Naj has been the lead carrier so far in the season. So as we get going in this thing and as you are mix-and-matching O-linemen, there's a rhythm to the run game as well."
To Smith's point, Patterson's only other carry in the game before leaving with an ankle injury after his final rushing attempt came in the first quarter when he had a first-down run for minus-3 yards.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
The Steelers did adjust to how the Colts were attacking the line of scrimmage early and figured some things out.
Might some of those adjustments also include more first-down passes?
Perhaps. Early in Ben Roethlisberger's career, the Steelers would throw the ball early to be able to run it late. They were still a run-heavy team, but knowing that opposing teams were aware of that, they would have Roethlisberger throw early in games to build a lead and soften up the defense.
Perhaps now that Justin Fields has four games under his belt and has shown he can take care of the football, the Steelers will open some of that up for him.
"It's just opportunities," said Smith. "That's why it's so critical to stay in drives, if you get first down on early downs or if you are winning third down. We've been overall pretty good on third down. We haven't turned the ball over or given it to the other team, but we've had some plays that knock us off track, and that would certainly change it.
"When you are in second-and-18, you are trying to get back on track, that can affect it. There's nothing that's on the call sheet in which you don't have confidence. I wouldn't put it on there. It's growth week to week. I promise you we're not trying to not open the offense up early in the games. We just have to do a better job overall."
• As strange as it sounds, the Steelers and Cowboys have played just two times in their history in prime time regular season games.
As good as these two teams have been over the years, they have played each other in the Super Bowl more often – three times – than they have in regular season prime time games. That will change Sunday.
And that included the first game in the series, a Week 1 game in 1960 won by the Steelers, 35-28. That also happened to be the first game in Dallas Cowboys' history.
The other meeting in prime time came in Week 1 of 1982, when the Steelers beat the Cowboys, 36-28, in a strike-shortened season.
Now, the Steelers and Cowboys have just once every four seasons for most of that period, but it's hard to believe it's been more than 40 seasons since these two franchises played in prime time, especially considering the Cowboys with 189 and the Steelers with 166, have played the most prime time games in the NFL since the 1970 NFL merger.
But for a long time, the TV networks that owned the rights to broadcast NFL games could protect a certain number of games and keep them in prime positions on their network. A Steelers-Cowboys matchup was certainly one that garnered a lot of eyeballs and was, as such, protected by whichever network happened to have the game.
Those rules have loosened in recent years with additional outlets now broadcasting games. So that will give us our first prime time matchup between the Steelers and Cowboys in more than 40 years on Sunday.
• Last Monday night's semi-stand-alone games saw a total of 39 accepted penalties. Unfortunately, that has been nothing new in the NFL this season.
Four weeks into this season, we've seen an average of 6.61 penalties called per team per game. Last season, that number was at 5.67 penalties per team per game, an increase of a full penalty per team per game. It was 5.55 in 2022 and 5.86.
In fact, you have to go back to 2019 to find a season in which NFL teams averaged more than 6 penalties per game. That season, teams were penalized 6.69 times per game, slightly higher than this season's totals.
That season was not an outlier in the decade. In 2018, teams drew an average of 6.68 penalties per game. In 2017, it was 6.60.
Those seasons had some real outliers, however. For example, in 2017, Seattle averaged 9.25 penalties per game. Miami was at 8.56.
Most teams finished closer to 5 to 6 penalties, with the outliers pushing the totals up.
This season, three teams - Houston, Baltimore and Miami - are averaging more than nine penalties per game. Four teams - Tampa Bay, Las Vegas, Arizona and New England – are averaging fewer than 5 penalties per game.
So what's the difference? Are Texans, Ravens and Dolphins so much more undisciplined than the Bucs, Raiders, Cardinals and Patriots?
Perhaps.
But a deeper look shows it's about the crews who have officiated their games.
Carl Cheffers' crew has worked three games this season and has called just 24 penalties. Not surprisingly, Cheffers' crew has officiated games that included the Buccaneers and Patriots.
Scott Novak's crew is second in terms of fewest penalties called per game at just over 10. Novak's crew has worked games involving the Raiders and Patriots.
Clete Blakeman's crew is calling 18.5 penalties per game, including 19 combined in the Steelers' Week 2 game at Denver, not including two separate flags that were declined and four that offset. Blakeman's crew also worked the Monday night game between Miami and Tennessee, which saw 18 flags, not including one that was declined.
The crew of Ron Torbert also have been especially flag happy, averaging 18 per game. And that doesn't include the incredible 12 penalties that Torbert's crew has called that have been declined and six others that have offset – in just three games.
Add those into Tortbert's crew's total penalties, and you're at a ridiculous 68 penalties in three games, more than 22 per game.
For Sunday night's game between the Steelers and Cowboys, Shawn Hochuli's crew has been assigned the game. Hochuli's crew has called an average of 12.67 penalties per game thus far this season, one of the lower numbers in the league.
