Jermaine Kearse was pretty mediocre in the regular season. He dropped some balls, and he failed to come down with some contested catches – balls he was expected to catch. But he’s raised his game in the postseason.
Kearse didn’t have a great game against Green Bay (four balls thrown to him were intercepted) but he caught a 35-yard pass in overtime to win it, and he did so with a defensive back hanging all over him.
Kearse has now caught touchdowns in four straight playoff games.
He’s caught only one touchdown in his last 20 other games.
| KEARSE LAST FOUR PLAYOFF GAMES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opponent | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2013 | S.F. | 2 | 44 | 22.0 | 1 |
| 2013 | at Den. | 4 | 65 | 16.3 | 1 |
| 2014 | Car. | 3 | 129 | 43.0 | 1 |
| 2014 | G.B. | 1 | 35 | 35.0 | 1 |
And here are Kearse’s last 20 regular season games (15 in 2014, and 5 from the previous year).
| KEARSE LAST 20 OTHER GAMES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opponent | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2013 | Minn. | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2013 | N.O. | 2 | 26 | 13.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | at S.F. | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 |
| 2013 | at NYG | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 0 |
| 2013 | Ariz. | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 0 |
| 2014 | G.B. | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | at S.D. | 4 | 61 | 15.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | Den. | 2 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | at Wash. | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 1 |
| 2014 | Dall. | 3 | 62 | 20.7 | 0 |
| 2014 | at St.L. | 3 | 50 | 16.7 | 0 |
| 2014 | at Car. | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 |
| 2014 | Oak. | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | NYG | 3 | 70 | 23.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | at K.C. | 5 | 54 | 10.8 | 0 |
| 2014 | Ariz. | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | at S.F. | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | at Phil. | 3 | 37 | 12.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | S.F. | 5 | 78 | 15.6 | 0 |
| 2014 | at Ariz. | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 |
—Ian Allan