NFL Research offers the best nuggets from each week of games in the NFL. Here are the most eye-popping statistical accomplishments of Week 7 of the 2022 NFL season.
1) Patrick Mahomes ... QB1
In Sunday's game Mahomes trailed by 10 points for the 17th time, including playoffs, since the start of the 2019 season. But after his Week 7 win at San Francisco, Mahomes is 12-5 (.706) in such games over that span. The only two quarterbacks with a higher actual win percentage since 2019 are himself (.790) and Aaron Rodgers (.733). Essentially, even when trailing by 10-plus points in a game, Mahomes is still better than your favorite quarterback.
For his career, Mahomes is 13-9 when trailing by double-digits in the game. He's the only quarterback to start at least 10 such games since 1950 and post a winning record in those games. He has the most pass yards per game (321.0) and the highest passer rating (100.1) in such games since at least 1950 (since game logs have been tracked).
2) Patrick Mahomes puts his name among Hall of Famers again
Mahomes leads the NFL in pass yards (2,159) and pass touchdowns (20) after putting up 423 yards and three scores against the 49ers in Week 7. It was Mahomes' eighth career game with at least 400 yards and three touchdowns through the air, the fifth-most by any player since at least 1950.
The only players with more are Drew Brees (12), Peyton Manning (11), Dan Marino (11), and Tom Brady (10). Those four have played a combined 1,120 career games, with Marino having the fewest with 242. Mahomes has reached the top 5 in 70 career games.
3) All Patrick Mahomes does is win
Speaking of his 70th career game, Mahomes recorded his 55th win in Week 7. He tied Hall of Famer Ken Stabler for the most wins in a player's first 70 career starts in the Super Bowl era. Mahomes had already set the records for the most pass yards and pass touchdowns over that span. His final tallies through 70 games: 55-15 record, 21,150 pass yards, 171 pass touchdowns... each are a record in the Super Bowl era.
4) Mecole Hardman & Chiefs wide receivers do work in Week 7
Hardman scored three touchdowns, and JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling each went over 100 receiving yards in Week 7 against the 49ers.
Hardman became the first wide receiver in the Super Bowl era with two rush touchdowns and a receiving touchdown in the same game. The hyphen heroes, Smith-Schuster and Valdes-Scantling, became the first pair of Chiefs wide receivers to hit the century mark in the same game in over 20 seasons.
Week 7 was the first time in the Mahomes era that the Chiefs had two players with 100-plus receiving yards and neither of them was Travis Kelce nor Tyreek Hill.
5) Cool Joe Burrow ices the Falcons
Burrow had 481 passing yards, three pass touchdowns and a rushing touchdown against the Falcons. It was the most pass yards by any player since Burrow threw for 525 against the Ravens in Week 16 last season. In fact, Burrow has three of the four single-game highs in pass yards since 2021 (also had 446 pass yards vs Chiefs in Week 17, 2021, fourth-most over that span).
Burrow now has five career games with 400 pass yards in his career, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Dan Marino for the most in a player's first three seasons. Burrow is the second quarterback since 1950 with at least 475 pass yards, three pass touchdowns and a rush touchdown in a win. The other was Norm Van Brocklin in Week 1, 1951 when he set a single-game NFL record with 554 pass yards.
Burrow recorded over 500 offensive yards and four total touchdowns, his second career game reaching each of those marks. He's the only player in NFL history with multiple such games in a career.
6) The Giants never say die in another comeback win
The New York Football Giants did it again. The Giants are one of eight teams to have trailed in all 7 games this season, but they are the only one of them with a winning record at 6-1. The other seven teams are a combined 18-30-1 in 2022.
The Giants are the only team to have each of their games decided by one score this season. However, the kicker is this: the Giants are the first team in NFL history to start 6-1 or better and have each of their first seven games decided by one possession.
The Giants are 6-1 or better through seven games for the fourth time since 1960, and the first time since 2008 -- the season after the team beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. The most recent instance prior to that was 1990, when the team started 7-0 and won Super Bowl XXV over the Bills.
7) Nick Chubb joins elite company in first five seasons
Chubb leads the NFL with 740 rush yards and eight rush touchdowns this season. He's the first Browns player with at least 700 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground in the first seven games of a season since Jim Brown in 1963.
However, it's the eight scores that put Chubb in Hall of Fame company. Chubb is the fifth player in NFL history with eight-or-more rushing scores in each of their first five NFL seasons. You probably know the other four: LaDainian Tomlinson (9), Jim Brown (7), Emmitt Smith (7), and Adrian Peterson (7).
8) Dallas defense dominates behind Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs
The Dallas defense dominated in Week 7, forcing five takeaways and recording five sacks in the team's 24-6 win over the Lions. It was the Cowboys' most takeaways in a game since Week 1, 2013 against the Giants (6), and it was the team's NFL-high fourth game with at least five sacks in 2022. The Cowboys lead the NFL with 29 sacks this season.
Parsons has 7.0 sacks in seven games this season, tied with Nick Bosa for the most in the NFL. Parsons recorded his 20th career sack, which passed DeMarcus Ware (19.5) for the most by a Cowboys player in his first 2 seasons.
Diggs has 17 interceptions in his career, tied for the most in the NFL since 2020. Over the last 25 years, only three players have more in their first three seasons: Hall of Famer Ed Reed (21), Richard Sherman (20) and Marcus Peters (19). Diggs averages 0.49 picks per game in his career, the highest average by any player to play at least 30 games since the 1970 merger.
Week 7 was the sixth game in which Diggs recorded an interception and Parsons recorded a sack since the start of last season, the most such games by any teammate duo in the NFL since 2021.
9) Running back quick-hitters
Josh Jacobs rushed for 143 yards against the Texans, with all three of his rushing touchdowns coming in the second half. Jacobs joined Hall of Famer Marcus Allen (Week 15, 1982) as the only Raiders with three such scores in the second half of a game.
Austin Ekeler had 127 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns against the Seahawks. It was Ekeler's ninth career game with at least one rushing and receiving touchdown, tied for the most in a player's first six seasons in the Super Bowl era.
Kenneth Walker had 168 rush yards and two touchdowns against the Chargers, the second rookie to hit 150 and two in a single game. The first was the original Curt Warner in Week 13, 1983. His 74-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter was the second-longest in the final frame in team history. Only Marshawn Lynch had a longer fourth-quarter rush touchdown with a 79-yarder in Week 16, 2014.
Bonus: Travis Kelce and George Kittle celebrated the fourth official National Tight End Day almost identically. Each had six receptions for 98 yards on Sunday. Kittle may have been the one celebrating in the end zone with a 15-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter, but it was Kelce celebrating in the locker room after the Chiefs' 44-23 win.
Research shoutouts: Jack Andrade (@RealJackAndrade), Dante Koplowitz-Fleming (@DanteKopFlem), Matt Okada (@MattOkada)
