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In the new wave offensive NFL we are seeing several long-standing offensive records being crushed on a weekly basis. Last week was no exception as when we gathered in our favourite pub, shared pints of our favourite brews and engaged in friendly trash talk, we saw more NFL history made.
Let’s go to New England first, where the Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completed 20 of 31 passes for 283 yards with two touchdowns in his team’s 27-13 road victory at the New York Jets.
Those yards pushed Brady to an astounding 79,416 total career passing yards and pushed him ahead of Peyton Manning for the most passing yards in NFL history. For those of you trying to wrap your head around that fantastic feat, get in your car and drive 45 miles or 72 kilometres; that’s how many yards Brady has passed for.
Over the years, a chunk of those yards made it into the hands of one of the NFL’s best tight ends ever, Rob Gronkowski. In that same game, “Gronk” had 56 receiving yards and a touchdown giving him 78 career TD receptions. That ties Gronk with Terrell Owens for the third-most TD catches by a player prior to turning 30 years old.
Moving on to Los Angeles, California where the city’s “second team” the Chargers and quarterback Philip Rivers is having a career year, another long-standing quarterback record was broken. Rivers lit it up, connecting on 28 of 29 passes for a shocking 96.6 percent completion rate, including his first 25 pass attempts. Those 25 consecutive completions are the most by any QB in any single game in NFL history and that 96.6 completion percentage is the highest in a single game with a minimum of 20 attempts.
One final mention regarding receivers goes to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles’ tight end Zach Ertz. Ertz, who has been battling injuries this season, had seven grabs for 91 yards and a TD in the Eagles’ 25-22 victory over the New York Giants. The Pro Bowl tight end now has 84 catches this season, the most by a tight end in Eagles history.
Elsewhere, the Cleveland Browns continued their rebound from their embarrassing record-setting 0-16 season with another win. In that game, the Browns took on former head coach Hue Jackson and the Cincinnati Bengals on the road where Browns rookie running back Nick Chubb ran for 84 yards and a TD and added three catches for 44 yards and another TD in his team’s lopsided 35-20 win.
In his game last week, Chubb rushed for 176 yards with a touchdown and had a touchdown as well to become one of four rookies in NFL history with both a rushing and receiving touchdown in consecutive games. Another rookie sensation, running back Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants accomplished that same feat this week. These two runners, along with the Detroit Lions’ Kerryon Johnson, are expected to become the leagues next superstar running backs trio over the next few years.
Those are some of the records that toppled this past week in the NFL, but the way the league is turning into an offensive eruption with many teams scoring 40 or more points in a single game, expect many more to fall throughout the rest of this season.
Tom Ferda is an NFL writer based in Los Angeles, California, USA. Follow him on Twitter @TomFerda.
