NFL

5 NFL Stats to Know From Week 10

The last unbeaten team in the 2019 NFL season fell in Week 10, as the San Francisco 49ers lost in overtime to their NFC West rival Seattle Seahawks. There is still one team without a win or tie this season, as the Cincinnati Bengals dropped to 0-9 after a thumping loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Patrick Mahomes broke two more records in Week 10, a week in which he saw his Kansas City Chiefs team lose despite his 446 yards and 3 touchdowns. After 25 games of his NFL career, Mahomes has 8,007 yards and 68 touchdown passes. Both of these marks are now the most for any player after only 25 starts in the NFL.

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas also set a new record as he went past the 400 reception mark for his career. Thomas recorded his 400th grab in his 56th NFL game, the fastest any player has ever reached this milestone. The previous best was 61 games and had been set by Odell Beckham. Thomas’s 407 receptions are the most by any player in their first four seasons in the NFL…and he still has seven games left to play in his fourth season.

Here are five other stats to know -- both traditional and via our advanced statistics -- from Week 10 of the season.

Lamar Jackson Was Perfect...Again

We are fast becoming accustomed to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson posting jaw-dropping numbers this season. He did so again on Sunday in his team's rout of the hapless (and still winless) Cincinnati Bengals.

Jackson completed 15 of his 17 pass attempts for 223 yards and 3 touchdowns on Sunday, adding another 65 yards and a touchdown on the ground. His passer rating was a perfect 158.3, making it the second time this season that Jackson has been perfect. Jackson also managed a 158.3 rating in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins. He is the first quarterback in NFL history to have multiple games with a perfect passer rating in the same season (minimum 17 attempts).

Jackson is one of only three quarterbacks to have three or more passing touchdowns, one or more rushing touchdowns and a perfect passer rating in a single game in the Super Bowl era. Joe Montana managed it during the 1989 season, while Aaron Rodgers achieved it back in Week 7.

Jackson's rushing touchdown came on an electrifying 47-yard run, the longest run by a quarterback since Cam Newton had a 62-yarder for the Carolina Panthers against the Minnesota Vikings in 2017. Sunday was Jackson's fourth consecutive game with a rushing touchdown and marked his sixth straight game with at least 60 yards rushing.

Only Christian McCaffrey has a longer current streak of games with a rushing score with seven. Nick Chubb has nine consecutive games of 60 or more yards on the ground and is the only player with a longer streak of such games than Jackson.

Jackson is a serious MVP contender, as he propels his team towards the AFC North title. The FanDuel Sportsbook currently has him as the joint favorite to take the award, with odds of +250 identical to those being offered on Russell Wilson.

Derrick Henry Rushed for 188 Yards

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill earned a bulk of the praise for his part in the Tennessee Titans upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs, thanks to his accounting for all 61 yards on the Titans game-winning drive. However, the real hero for the Titans was running back Derrick Henry, who did most of the heavy lifting throughout the Titans 35-32 victory.

Henry saw 23 rushing attempts against the Chiefs and amassed a whopping 188 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, at a hefty 8.17 yards per attempt average. It was Henry's second 100-yard game of the season and saw his second-highest carry total of the 2019 campaign. Henry had 27 attempts against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4.

Only Leonard Fournette has rushed for more yards in a game this season than Henry. Fournette had 225 yards for the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Denver Broncos in Week 4.

Sunday was the third time in Henry's career that he has rushed for 170 or more yards and scored at least 2 rushing touchdowns. Only four players have had more such games in the first four seasons of their NFL careers, putting Henry in some very exclusive company.

PlayerGames with 170+ Rush Yards and 2 TDs in First 4 Seasons
Jim Brown6
Eric Dickerson6
Earl Campbell5
Jamal Lewis4
Derrick Henry3

The Titans will no doubt be leaning on Henry again in Week 11 when they welcome Fournette and the Jaguars. Henry had 238 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground against the Jaguars last season, and in his seven career games against them, he has averaged 16 rushing attempts and almost 80 yards.

Christian Kirk Had Three Receiving Touchdowns

Coming into Week 10, Christian Kirk of the Arizona Cardinals had 34 receptions for 329, but had yet to score in the 2019 season -- giving him a total of 73.4 PPR points. Kirk had seen plenty of targets, with 11 or more targets in three of his six games. However, for one reason or another, the receptions and touchdowns were eluding him. They changed on Sunday.

Kirk caught 6 of his 10 targets against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a career-high 138 yards. Three of his receptions were touchdowns, making him the first Cardinals wide receiver to register three or more touchdowns in a single game since his teammate Larry Fitzgerald claimed a hat trick against the Chicago Bears in Week 2 of the 2015 season.

Kirk's deeds brought him a total of 37.8 PPR points. This was the 12th best score by a Cardinals wide receiver in team history and was the most since Anquan Boldin had 38.0 in Week 2 of the 2008 season. Boldin had 6 receptions for 140 yards and 3 scores against the Dolphins.

Kirk has developed a healthy chemistry with rookie quarterback Kyler Murray this season, with Murray averaging 8.37 adjusted yards per attempt when targeting Kirk. This is Murray's most efficient connection so far. However, Murray and Kirk may find it tough to make such sweet music again in Week 11, when the Cardinals take on the San Francisco 49ers. Last time the two sides met, Kirk was held to a season-low eight yards on two receptions.

Darius Slayton Scored 34.1 PPR Points

A largely forgettable 2019 campaign for the New York Giants took another downward turn on Sunday, as they were beaten by their tenant New York Jets 34-27 in Giants Stadium. The loss dropped them to 2-8 and was hardly a game replete with positives for Big Blue. But, they can at least take some solace from the performance of rookie wide receiver Darius Slayton.

Two weeks after scoring twice in a loss to the Detroit Lions, Slayton was able to post another multiple-touchdown outing against the Jets. Slayton saw a career-high 14 targets and converted these looks into 10 receptions for 121 yards along with his 2 scores. These numbers gave Slayton 34.1 PPR points, easily the best outing by a Giants wide receiver this season. This tally was the fifth-most by a Giants wide receiver since 2010, with the four higher marks since then all held by Odell Beckham.

Like Kirk and Murray in the desert, Slayton has developed an efficient partnership with his rookie quarterback for the Giants. Daniel Jones boasts an adjusted yards per attempt mark of 9.98 when sending the ball in the direction of Slayton this season, two and a half yards more than the next best receiver on the team. The Giants are heading into a Week 11 bye, but that is no reason why Slayton should not be added to fantasy rosters with the fantasy playoffs looming. Slayton is on the waiver wire in almost 87% of ESPN fantasy leagues. With doubts surrounding the health and availability of Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard, Slayton could be in for a few more big weeks before the season is out.

Jared Goff Averaged -0.44 Passing NEP per Drop Back

It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the 2019 Los Angeles Rams offense hasn't lived up to the same standards as last season. They did little on Sunday to suggest that a corner had been turned, as they ran into a buzzsaw in the form of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Rams averaged -0.38 Offensive Net Expected Points (NEP) per play on Sunday, the lowest mark of any team in Week 11. This "production" was led by a woeful showing by Rams quarterback Jared Goff. Before the Rams Week 9 bye, Goff had enjoyed his most efficient game of the season at Wembley Stadium against the Bengals. Goff averaged a robust 0.71 Passing NEP per play against the Bengals. But the Steelers defense had far more teeth than their AFC North counterparts. Goff completed just 22 of his 41 pass attempts for 243 scoreless yards, along with 2 interceptions. He was also sacked four times.

These numbers contributed to his posting an average of -0.44 Passing NEP per drop back, the second-lowest among all quarterbacks with at least 10 passing attempts in Week 10. Only rookie Ryan Finley of the Bengals had a lower mark with -0.65. -0.44 was the second-lowest mark by a quarterback against the Steelers so far in 2019, trailing only Andy Dalton, who managed -0.48 for the Bengals back in Week 4.

Goff will have a hard time getting his and the Rams mojo back in their next game, as the Rams welcome the Bears to LA. Goff had a miserable time of it when he played against the Bears in 2018, completing 20 of 44 pass attempts for 180 yards, with no touchdowns against 4 interceptions. He was also sacked three times. The 2019 Bears have only allowed one 300-yard passer while not allowing more than one touchdown pass in seven games. It could be another long day for Goff and the Rams offense.