Jake Ferguson can make Cowboys history on Thursday Night Football

At 1-2, the Dallas Cowboys look to stop the bleeding against the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football. As expected, the conversation throughout the short week has centered on the performance of the team’s defense, which has lived up to the “hot garbage” billing assigned by Rex Ryan.

However, there’s a much more positive storyline out there that hasn’t gotten much attention at all. Tight end Jake Ferguson is on the verge of franchise history.

He enters the game with 99 receptions in 35 career games.

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One more and he joins Jason Witten as the only two tight ends in team history to haul in 100 catches in their first 36 games.

This is an impressive stat on its own, but more so for Ferguson, given his lack of targets as a rookie. In his first 16 games, he had just 19 receptions on 22 targets.

Witten, on the other hand, had 54 passes thrown his way as a rookie and caught 35 of them. He had 87 receptions in his second season, meaning he hit the 100-catch mark quicker than Ferguson, but it’s still elite company for the third-year pro.

Ferguson missed the Week 2 loss to New Orleans and just under half of their Week 1 win over Cleveland due to a knee injury. He returned in Week 3 and hauled in six passes for 95 yards.

He hasn’t had a ton of success against the Giants, with 11 receptions for 107 yards and one touchdown in four games. However, he’s never been shut out against them, meaning he’s likely to bring in at least one on Thursday.

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