5 NFL Stats to Know Through Week 7

The Browns Lead the League With 17 Interceptions Thrown

Cody Kessler saw his first action of the season in Week 7 and quickly joined DeShone Kizer and Kevin Hogan as a Cleveland Browns quarterback to throw an interception this season. Kessler still has a long way to go to catch up to either Hogan's 5 or Kizer's league-leading 11 interceptions, but his turnover made the Browns the first team to throw at least 17 interceptions in their first seven games of a season since the 1999 Arizona Cardinals. And you'll have to go back to when they were called the Phoenix Cardinals in 1989 for the next most-recent team to accomplish this unwanted feat.

No other team this season has thrown more than 10 interceptions through the first seven weeks, and the Browns current average of 2.43 interceptions per game puts them on pace for 38.86 interceptions over a full 16-game season. That would rank them sixth all time on the list of most interceptions thrown in a season, and make them just the third team since the year 2000 to have more than 30 passes intercepted in a single season.

The Browns are averaging the fourth-most (39.0) passing attempts per game, which obviously increases the opportunity for interceptions, but none of the teams ahead of them have thrown more than 8 interceptions. Even with the high-volume passing attack, Cleveland is averaging the 12th-fewest (212.6) passing yards per game and the fifth-fewest (7.0) passing touchdowns. That efficiency, or lack thereof, has them ranked dead last in the league with -0.15 Adjusted Passing NEP per play.

Despite Kessler throwing just 2 interceptions and averaging 0.14 Passing NEP per play in nine games last season, the Browns will once again give the start in Week 8 to Kizer, who leads the NFL with 11 interceptions in just six games this season.