FOX Sports Research
The ninth week of the NFL is nearly in the books, with just one game left to play. Several players had incredible performances, along with surprising results from multiple teams.
Arguably the most impressive performance of the week came from Derrick Henry, who rushed for 106 yards with two scores on the ground in the Ravens‘ 41-10 win over the Broncos.
Henry became the 10th player in NFL history with 100 career rushing touchdowns, and also became the only player in NFL history with a touchdown in each of his first nine games with a team. “King Henry” continues to climb up the ranks of several records, recording his 21st career game with 100+ rush yards and two or more rushing touchdowns— tied with Emmitt Smith for the third most such games in NFL history. Only Jim Brown (25) and LaDainian Tomlinson (25) have more.
This was also his 26th career game with two rushing touchdowns, the fourth-most in NFL history behind Tomlinson (38), Smith (36), Adrian Peterson (28), and Brown (27). He is on pace to be the fourth player in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to lead the NFL in carries, rush yards, yards per carry and rushing scores in the same season (Early Campbell, Walter Payton, O.J. Simpson).
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Henry’s dominant performance wasn’t the only spectacular thing to happen this weekend, and he also wasn’t the only Raven to show out. FOX Sports Research broke down ten more eye-opening nuggets for you. Let’s take a look.
1. Lovin’ Lamar
Lamar Jackson has been on an absolute tear this season, and didn’t slow down against Denver. The two-time MVP winner finished 16-of-19 for 280 passing yards and three passing scores— giving him a perfect passer rating (158.3). This was his fourth career game with a perfect passer rating, the most by any quarterback since 1950 (min. 15 pass attempts in each game). He broke a tie with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, and Ben Roethlisberger who each had three.
“Action Jackson” also became the fifth player since 1950 to have 20+ pass touchdowns and a 120+ passer rating in the first nine games of a season, joining Drew Brees (2018), Aaron Rodgers (2014, 2011), Manning (2013, 2004), and Brady (2007). Of those six instances, Brees was the only one to not win MVP that season.
This was also Jackson’s third game with three or more passing touchdowns this season; he never had more than three such games in any of his previous four seasons (2020-23). His stellar play along with Henry’s dominance has helped the Ravens to a 6-3 start— making them the only team to start 6-3 or better in the past six seasons.
Takeaway:
Baltimore continues to be a Super Bowl contender, and just might be the team to dethrone the Chiefs in the postseason.
2. Josh Allen owns Miami
There might not be a player that has dominated a single opponent more than Josh Allen has the Dolphins. With a win against them today, he’s now 13-2 against Miami in his career, and is the only quarterback in NFL history to average 270 pass yards per game and 40 rush yards per game vs a single team (including the playoffs). Buffalo is now 13-1 against Miami in their last 14 meetings, and the Dolphins have not won on the road there since 2016— before Allen was even in the league.
Allen finished the day with three passing touchdowns, giving him 23 games with three or more passing scores over the last five seasons— tied with Patrick Mahomes for the most such games in that span (as of Sunday night).
It’s also worth mentioning that Allen got his 13th career win against Miami thanks to Tyler Bass, who nailed a 61-yard game-winning field goal— setting the franchise record in the process.
Takeaway:
Josh Allen and the Bills have total control over the AFC East, and could lock up the division before Thanksgiving.
3. Captain Kirk continues to air it out
Allen wasn’t the only player to throw three touchdown passes, as Kirk Cousins did so as well in the Falcons‘ 27-21 win over the Cowboys. This was Cousins’ 21st game with three or more touchdown throws over the past five seasons, trailing only Allen and Mahomes (each with 23). For perspective, that’s more than Rodgers (20), Dak Prescott (20), Matthew Stafford (19), and Russell Wilson (15).
Since his first season as a full-time starter in 2015, he has 41 games with three passing scores— trailing only Tom Brady (45) in that span. “Captain Kirk” ranks in the top five of the league in passing yards (2,328) and passing touchdowns (17) through the first nine weeks of the season (as of Sunday night). His 145.4 passer rating over the last two weeks is the highest in a two-game span in Falcons history among quarterbacks with at least 20 pass attempts.
Takeaway:
Kirk Cousins has made the Falcons the favorite to win the NFC South. Will this finally be the year he sees serious playoff success?
4. Nix joins rare company
Despite the blowout loss against the Ravens, Bo Nix joined some rare company with his performance. On fourth-and-goal in the second quarter, Courtland Sutton threw a touchdown pass to Nix— giving him a receiving touchdown on the season. He joined Marcus Mariota (2015) and Kordell Stewart (1995) as the only quarterbacks since 1970 to have a receiving, rushing, and passing touchdown in their rookie seasons. Funnily enough, Nix actually has done this before— having caught a touchdown pass in his first year at Oregon in 2022. That season, he was the only player in FBS to record over 3,000 pass yards, 500 rush yards, and record a touchdown catch.
He also became the first Broncos quarterback to catch a touchdown since John Elway in the 1986.
Takeaway:
Bo Nix has shown flashes of being the future of the Broncos franchise, but he’ll need to put on a more consistent passing display this season to cement that notion.
5. Daniels leads red-hot Commanders
Jayden Daniels has arguably been one of the best stories of the season with his incredible play this year. He’s led the Commanders to a 7-2 record— their best start to a season since 1996— and has nine touchdown passes, which tied the Washington franchise rookie record for the team’s first nine games of the season (Jack Scarbath also had nine in 1953). He only has two turnovers on the year, which is the fewest by a quarterback through their first nine career starts since at least 1991. The Heisman trophy winner is also the first rookie quarterback since at least 1950 to start and win two games vs the Giants.
His 2,404 total yards (passing + rushing) is the third most in the NFL this season, trailing only Jackson and Geno Smith (as of Sunday night). Arguably the most impressive thing about him has been his clutch play. Daniels ranks first or tied for first among all quarterbacks with at least four starts in fourth quarter completion rate (75.9%), touchdown-to-interception ratio (4-0), passing yards per attempt (10.0), and passer rating (130.1).
Takeaway:
Daniels has all but locked up the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Caleb Williams will need to improve quickly to make it a contest.
6. Drake Maye continues to impress
The Patriots lost in overtime to the Titans, but Drake Maye was the reason why they even made it to overtime in the first place. The rookie quarterback threw an incredible game-tying touchdown pass while on the run as time expired to tie the game up at 17 apiece. He finished with 95 rushing yards, which is the third-most by a New England quarterback ever. Only Steve Grogan (103 vs Jets in 1976) and Babe Parilli (96 vs Oilers in 1964) have had more.
Maye is also the first Patriots rookie quarterback to have seven or more passing + rushing touchdowns after his first four career starts.
Takeaway:
Maye just needs more reps. In a short amount of time, he’s shown he has the tools to be a franchise quarterback.
7. Can’t stop Zay
If you thought Jackson and Henry were the only Ravens to ball out, you were mistaken. Zay Flowers had a fantastic day, following up on what has been a career year for him. He finished the day with 127 receiving yards and two touchdown catches, the former being the second-most he’s ever recorded in a game. In fact, the top four receiving totals of his career have all come this season. Four of his five career 100-yard receiving games have come in 2024:
ZAY FLOWERS
RECEIVING YARDS
CAREER HIGHS
132 yards (Week 6)
127 yards (Week 9)
115 yards (Week 8)
111 yards (Week 5)
106 yards (Week 17 of 2023)
He is on pace to be just the third Ravens receiver to record 1,000 receiving yards in the last eight seasons, joining Mark Andrews and Hollywood Brown who both did so in 2021.
Takeaway:
Flowers is yet another piece that makes the Ravens serious Super Bowl contenders.
8. Unique win for Panthers and rare loss for Saints
The Panthers recorded their first home win since Week 15 of last season, and Bryce Young also snapped a six-game losing streak of his own in the process (was the longest active losing streak among all quarterbacks). The win was a peculiar one, as the Saints rushed for 150+ yards, out-gained the Panthers by 150+ yards, and won the turnover battle. New Orleans became the first team since 2003 to lose a game while recording all of those statistics, and just the sixth team in the Super Bowl era to do so.
Takeaway:
The Saints really needed this win against one of the worst teams in the league. It might get ugly quickly if Dennis Allen and Derek Carr don’t figure it out soon.
9. Career day for Kam Kinchens
The Rams got the win in overtime against the Seahawks and much of that had to do with Kam Kinchens having a breakout game. The rookie third-round pick out of Miami had two interceptions on the day— the first takeaways of his career— with one being returned for a 103-yard touchdown.
It is the longest pick-six in Rams history and tied for the third-longest interception return for a touchdown in NFL history:
LONGEST INTERCEPTION RETURNS FOR A TD
NFL HISTORY
Ed Reed (2008): 107 yards vs Eagles
Ed Reed (2004): 106 yards vs Browns
Kam Kinchens (Today): 103 yards vs Seahawks
Aquib Talib (2017): 103 yards vs Cowboys
Louis Oliver (1992): 103 yards vs Bills
Vencie Glenn (1987): 103 yards vs Broncos
Takeaway:
Much of the talk about the Rams heading into the season was how young their defense was. Kinchens and Co. will need to continue this level of play to stay alive in a highly contested NFC West division.
10. Lions continue to cruise
Detroit is 7-1 for the first time since the 1956 season. Jared Goff is completing 82.8% of his passes with a 140.1 passer rating over the Lions’ six-game win streak, which are both the highest marks of any quarterback all-time over a six-game span. The win on the road against the Packers this Sunday also made it three straight wins at Lambeau Field for Detroit, the first time they’ve accomplished that since doing so from 1986 to 1988.
Takeaway:
Detroit is likely the best team in the NFC. How long can Jared Goff continue this unreal level of play? As long as he does, they have Super Bowl written all over them.
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