How sporadically has Dotson been targeted? 

He’s played 329 offensive snaps.

Has 17 targets.

No other NFL wide receiver this year has played more and been targeted less.

And when you only get about 1 ½ passes thrown your way per game, you do everything that’s humanly possible to make a play. Because it might be another week or two until you get another chance.

So when Dotson got clobbered as hard as he’s ever been clobbered in the third quarter of the Lions game after catching a 17-yard pass from Jalen Hurts, there’s no way he was going to drop the ball.

“For me, in my situation, I don’t get a lot of opportunities,” Dotson said at his locker Thursday. “So when those opportunities arise, you’ve got to make the most of them. 

“A coach once told me it’s way better to take the hit and make the catch than to take the hit and not make the catch and don’t have anything to show for it at all. So it’s just my mentality. Make the play no matter what.”

The Eagles were up 13-6 when Dotson had that 34-yard catch on the right sideline. Lions slot Brian Branch hit Dotson so hard he was called for unnecessary roughness and he got himself hurt.

“I honestly had no idea that guy that hit me was even there,” Dotson said. “Usually, I try to take a pre-snap picture before I’m catching the ball to see where I can turn up field. 

“Honestly, I didn’t even see him. But he caught me pretty good. But it was nothing that was going to make me let go of that ball. I was just trying to make a play for the team.”

While Branch was being helped to the visiting sideline at the Linc, Dotson just bounced up and ran back to the huddle. 

“I was good, honestly,” he said. “Getting up, all I could think about was, ‘Just don’t stumble, whatever you do.’”

It’s been an odd season for Dotson, who has receptions of 17, 24, 34, 40 and 51 yards but has just five other catches.

He ranks 111th in the NFL in targets but eighth in yards per target and fifth in yards per reception.

Howie Roseman gave up a 2nd-round pick for the former 1st-round pick, and he’s been playing a lot – 33 snaps per game – but the football just doesn’t go his way.

He doesn’t deal with it by tweeting enigmatic Biblical scriptures or complaining on Janky Rondo’s podcast. 

He just keeps working.

“It’s really tough,” he said. “It never gets easier. It truly is extremely tough. But at the end of the day, it’s bigger than me. 

“I don’t get many opportunities, so if I do happen to get one, I’m trying to make the most of it. And that’s every chance I get, whether it’s practice field, game field. Whenever my opportunities come, I’m going to be a guy who takes it upon myself to really come through for the team to make a play. 

“That’s what I hold myself on, that’s what I pride myself on, that’s what I do.”

It can’t be easy to be ready when the ball rarely comes your way, but think back to the Eagles’ second drive in the Super Bowl nine months ago. 

On a 2nd-and-11 from the Chiefs’ 28-yard-line, Dotson got literally his first target since wild-card weekend and he caught a deep ball down the right sideline that was initially ruled a touchdown before being changed to a 27-yarder that set up the Eagles’ first touchdown.

The rout was on.

“Yeah, and going through games, zero targets,” he said. “I think the Giants (second game) is a perfect example going through the entire game, even with A.J. down. I didn’t have a single target until my big catch (40-yard touchdown) at the end of the game. 

“It’s just like this mentality. Whenever the ball’s in the air and it’s coming to me, I’m going to go get it, and I’m going to come down with it. 

“I try to relay that with Jalen, to have that trust in me. I do this. It’s truly what I do. You can have full faith in me.”