NFL stats and records, Week 9: Buccaneers QB Tom Brady passes Peyton Manning on path to 100,000 yards

11/07/2022

NFL Research offers the best nuggets from each week of games in the NFL. Here are the most eye-popping statistical accomplishments of Week 9 of the 2022 NFL season.

1) Tom Brady sets game-winning drive record on way to 100,000 pass yards

After turning the ball over on downs at the Rams’ 6-yard line with under two minutes remaining, it looked as though Brady and the Buccaneers were staring at a 3-6 start. Then, GOAT mode was activated. Brady led a six-play drive that resulted in a 1-yard pass touchdown to tight end Cade Otton. It was Brady’s 55th career game-winning drive, breaking a tie with Peyton Manning for the most in NFL history. Brady also tied Manning for the most fourth-quarter comebacks all-time, banking the 44th of his career. Tom Brady in Week 9 by drive:

First 12 drives: 31-52, 226 pass yards, 0 pass TD, 0 INT, 69.9 passer rating
Last drive: 5-6, 54 pass yards, 1 pass TD, 0 INT, 143.8 passer rating

During the game, Brady also became the first player in NFL history with 100,000 passing yards, including the playoffs.

2) Justin Fields sets modern QB record for rush yards in a game

Fields had a field day against the Dolphins, despite coming out on the wrong end of the scoreboard. The second-year quarterback had 178 rush yards in Week 9, the most by a QB in modern NFL history (since at least 1935). The previous record was held by Michael Vick, who had 173 yards against the Vikings in Week 13, 2002. Fields’ 408 rush yards since Week 6 trail only Travis Etienne (465), Derrick Henry (462), and Kenneth Walker (424).

Fields also hurt the Dolphins through the air and became the only player since at least 1950 with at least 150 rushing yards and three passing scores in the same game. As a team, the Bears rushed for at least 225 yards in their fourth consecutive game, the first team to do so since the 1976 Steelers.

3) Joe Mixon sets Bengals record with five touchdowns

Not 1. Not 2. Not 3. Not 4. But 5. Mixon had 211 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns in the Bengals’ 42-21 win over the Panthers in Week 9, the most by any player in Bengals franchise history. Mixon became the sixth player in the Super Bowl era to record 200 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns in a single game (Others: Jonathan Taylor, Jamaal Charles, Clinton Portis, Shaun Alexander, and Jerry Rice). Mixon is the first player in the Super Bowl era to record at least 150 rush yards, four rush touchdowns, 50 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the same game.

4) Austin Ekeler’s touchdown train continues

Ekeler has continued to prove that he was overlooked in 2017. The undrafted free agent has multiple touchdowns in four of his last five games, including two against the Falcons in Week 9. It was Ekeler’s 10th career game with at least one rush and one receiving score, tied with Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara for the most in a player’s first six seasons since 1950 (both are also in their sixth career season).

Ekeler leads the NFL with 30 scrimmage touchdowns since last season, six more than the next closest player (Joe Mixon, 24). He now has 55 career touchdowns, trailing only Arian Foster (65 from 2009-2014) for the most by an undrafted player in his first six seasons in NFL history.

5) Tyreek Hill & Jaylen Waddle: Greatest WR duo ever?

Moss and Carter. Rice and Owens. Harrison and Wayne. Bruce and Holt. Swann and Stallworth. The list of the best wide receiver duos in NFL history is not a long one, but there may be a new tandem to put atop that list: Hill and Waddle.

The NFL’s fastest wide receiver duo of all time has also been the most productive in their first season together. The duo has combined for 1,916 receiving yards, the most in a teammate duo’s first nine games in the Super Bowl era. Hill’s 1,104 receiving yards are the most in the first nine games of any season over the same span. They have combined for the most receiving yards per game (212.9) by a teammate duo in a single season, which is also the most by any duo to ever play at least eight games with each other.

The duo’s quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, has thrown for 300-plus yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in back-to-back games, the first Dolphins player to ever do so in consecutive games. Dan Marino is the only Dolphins player to even have three pass touchdowns against no picks in two straight games.

6) Patrick Mahomes makes another second-half comeback in historic game

Mahomes had 446 pass yards and a touchdown, along with 63 rush yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs’ 20-17 overtime win over the Titans. Mahomes is the first player in the Super Bowl era to record at least 400 yards and a touchdown passing and 60 yards and a touchdown rushing in the same game.

Mahomes won his fifth consecutive game when trailing at halftime, which is the second such win streak of his career. Peyton Manning is the only other player with two such streaks in his career since QB starts began to be tracked in 1950.

7) Derrick Henry begins late-season dominance

King Henry the XXII continues to dominate the NFL as the calendar turns. Henry has averaged 135.4 rushing yards per game in November and later since 2019. He put up 115 rush yards and two touchdowns in the Week 9 loss to the Chiefs.

It was his 17th game with 100-or-more yards and multiple touchdowns on the ground. Only five players in the Super Bowl era have more such games in their career: Jim Brown (25), LaDainian Tomlinson (25), Emmitt Smith (21), Shaun Alexander (19), and Walter Payton (18).

Henry leads the NFL in carries per game and rushing yards per game for the fourth consecutive season. Should he maintain that pace, he would break a tie with Hall of Famers Steve Van Buren (1947-1949) and Jim Brown (1963-1965). It would be Henry’s fourth-career season averaging 100-plus rushing yards per contest. The only players in NFL history with more are Brown (7) and fellow Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson (5).

Bonus: Justin Jefferson continues to rewrite the record books in his young NFL career. Jefferson had his 19th career game with 100-or-more receiving yards on Sunday. It’s not only tied for the most by any player in the NFL since Jefferson was drafted in 2020 (Davante Adams and Cooper Kupp), but it is also tied for the most in a player’s first three seasons in the Super Bowl era (Randy Moss and Odell Beckham Jr.). Jefferson leads the NFL with 3,883 yards through the air over his first three NFL seasons (since 2020).

Research shoutouts: Jack Andrade (@RealJackAndrade), Dante Koplowitz-Fleming (@DanteKopFlem), Matt Okada (@MattOkada), Cole Jacobson (@ColeJacobson32), Michelle Magdziuk (@BallBlastEm), Blake Warye (@bwaryeorblake)

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