NFL stats and records, Week 16: Burrow airs it out

Connor Groel and the NFL Media Research team put together the best stats and records from the weekend’s slate of games. Here are the 10 most notable stats and records from Week 16:

1. Joe Burrow sets records with 525 passing yards against the Ravens

When the 8-6 Bengals hosted the 8-6 Ravens, control of the AFC North was up for grabs. The day belonged to Joe Burrow, who led the Bengals on seven consecutive scoring drives to start the game and never took his foot off the gas. Burrow finished with 525 passing yards, the 4th-most in a game in NFL history, along with 4 pass TDs and a 143.2 passer rating, which were both also career-highs.

Burrow’s only other career game with 400+ passing yards came in Baltimore in Week 7. He is now the only player in NFL history to have 2 games with 400+ passing yards against one opponent in the same season, and his 941 passing yards against the Ravens this year are the most by a QB against one opponent in a season.

2. Aaron Rodgers now stands alone atop Packers pass TD list

Aaron Rodgers entered Christmas Day with 422 career TD passes, tied with Hall of Famer Brett Favre for the most in Packers history. He didn’t waste much time sending Favre to second place, throwing 3 TD passes in the first half of a 24-22 victory, including an 11-yarder to Allen Lazard that broke the record. Rodgers now has 425 career pass TDs — only Tom Brady (541 with the Patriots) and Drew Brees (491 with the Saints) have more with a single franchise.

3. Josh Allen charts new territory as a dual-threat QB

The Bills got revenge on the Patriots and reclaimed first place in the AFC East with a 33-21 win in Week 16. Bills QB Josh Allen had 3 pass TDs and led the team with 64 rush yards. Now with career totals of 101 pass TD and 29 rush TD, Allen is the first player in NFL history with 100+ pass TD and 20+ rush TD in their first 4 seasons. Allen’s 130 pass + rush TD in his first 4 seasons trails only Hall of Famer Dan Marino‘s 144 from 1983-86.

4. Justin Jefferson breaks Odell Beckham Jr.’s old record against his new team

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson entered Week 16 needing just 17 receiving yards to pass Odell Beckham Jr. (2,755) for the most receiving yards by a player in their first 2 seasons in NFL history. That mark was child’s play for Jefferson, who had 116 receiving yards despite the Vikings falling 30-23 to OBJ’s new team, the Rams. With 2,851 career receiving yards and 2 games left on the schedule, Jefferson has a chance to surpass 3,000 receiving yards by the end of the season.

5. Trevon Diggs needs three hands to count his interceptions

Cowboys corner Trevon Diggs has taken over the NFL this season and recorded his 11th interception of the year against Washington on Sunday Night Football. It’s been more than 40 years since the last time someone hit that mark, and it just so happens to be another member of the Cowboys — Everson Walls, who had 11 INT in 1981. Does Diggs still have more in the tank? The Super Bowl era record for interceptions in a season is 13 by Lester Hayes for the Raiders in 1980.

6. Dak Prescott makes quick work of Washington with terrific first half

The Cowboys dominated Washington 56-14 and scored 42 of those points in the first half alone, tying a team record for most points scored in the first half of a game. Dak Prescott had 321 pass yards and 4 pass TDs in the first two quarters with those TDs all going to receivers who play different positions — RB Ezekiel Elliott, TE Dalton Schultz, OL Terence Steele and WR Amari Cooper.

Prescott is the first QB to throw a TD pass to a RB, WR, TE and OL in the same regular-season game. Hall of Famer Kurt Warner also accomplished this feat in the 1999 Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Vikings. Warner went on to win the Super Bowl that season, taking home both MVP and Super Bowl MVP honors along the way.

7. Zach Wilson takes flight for Jets in matchup of top draft picks

No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson and the Jets faced No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence’s Jaguars in Week 16 and came away with a 26-21 victory. Wilson got the Jets offensive rolling on their first possession of the game with a 52-yard rushing touchdown, the longest ever by a Jets QB. It was the longest rushing TD by any QB since Marcus Mariota’s 87-yarder in Week 13, 2015. Mariota, like Wilson, was a rookie No. 2 overall pick facing the Jaguars in that game.

8. Trey Hendrickson gets to the QB, just like he always does

Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson has been a menace all season long, and that continued in Week 16 against the Ravens with another sack, bringing his season total to 14.0. That’s the most sacks in a season by any Bengals player since individual sacks have been tracked officially (1982), but perhaps even more impressive is the consistency with which Hendrickson gets to opposing QBs. He has now registered at least half a sack in 11 straight games, tied with the Chiefs’ Chris Jones in 2018 for the longest streak within a season since 1982.

9. Mark Andrews hits triple digits and finds the end zone once more

It may have been a tough game for the Ravens overall, but Mark Andrews continued to dominate from the tight end position. He had 125 receiving yards and a touchdown and has now recorded 3 straight games with at least 100 receiving yards and a score. The only other tight end to do that? Jimmy Graham in September 2013. With two weeks left in the season, Andrews leads all TEs with 1,187 receiving yards.

10. The Chiefs’ “10 points or less” home defense strikes again

The Chiefs have clinched the AFC West for the sixth consecutive year and have won eight games in a row following a 3-4 start. A major reason why is the defense, which has allowed 10 or fewer points in five straight home wins. That’s tied for the 3rd-longest streak in the past 85 years, and the Bears are the only team to have a longer streak, with 7 such games in 1985 and 6 such games in 2005.

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