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With just three weeks of regular season action remaining, NFL history buffs are scanning all available statistics looking for records that could be broken in the final few games.
In this article, we combine modern football analysis with historical milestones to find more advanced record chases.
You won’t find Myles Garrett’s pursuit of the sack record here, even though it is a very impressive feat. We dig deeper.
PFF’s massive data set spanning the past two decades will have plenty of modern NFL records up for grabs in the coming weeks.
Passing touchdowns on blitz
Stafford has been excellent against the blitz this season, tying himself with Lamar Jackson’s all-time record after an admirable Thursday Night Football showing in Week 16. Despite his proven success in these situations, opponents simply can’t afford to sit back all game and rush just four plays.
One of the only ways to negate Stafford’s effectiveness is to force him to move around and take advantage of the 37-year-old’s lack of mobility.
But it’s hard to do this without sending in additional rushers.
Stafford has twice as many touchdowns against the blitz as the next few quarterbacks, and his Week 17 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons (the second-toughest defense in the NFL) offers a great opportunity to tie a record that has stood for six seasons.
Missed tackles forced into runs
Marshawn Lynch claimed this record in 2013 when he forced 75 missed tackles on rushing plays. A year later, Lynch rewrote the books again when he forced 88 missed tackles – more than twenty more than any figure not in Beast Mode.
The record, which really suited Lynch, looked completely invincible, sitting eight seasons ahead of Josh Jacobs’ stellar 2022 season.
Bijan Robinson should have made at least 80 missed tackles by the end of the season, joining an exclusive group of just Lynch, Jacobs and Nick Chubb (2022).
It would take a whopping seven missed tackles per game to end the season for Robinson to take the crown for himself, but he’s already done that three times so far, including when he made the Vikings defense miss 12 times in Week 2.
Yards per route run
This is our first rate-based metric that isn’t just about pure volume. It’s also one of the best measures of wide receiver play available.
No one who played at least 50 snaps in a season came close to Steve Smith’s historic 2008 season until Tyreek Hill tapped him on the shoulder in 2023 with 3.82 yards per route yardage.
Now we have not one, but two chances to see this record shattered, with Nacua and Smith-Njigba having record-breaking seasons at the same time.
They faced off in Week 16, and Nacua raised his profile by amassing 225 receiving yards and a 5.00 yards per route average.
Most snaps without a sack allowed (OTs)
- Current record: 2008 Ryan Clady (1,064 photos)
- In pursuit: Garett Bolles (937 photos)
Despite the addition of a 17th game to the schedule four seasons ago, no offensive tackle since has amassed more than 1,050 snaps in a season without being responsible for at least one sack.
Former Broncos tackle Ryan Clady did that in his rookie year and kept his place over the next seven seasons in Denver. It would be fitting if his eventual successor, Garett Bolles, were to claim the record in his ninth season with the Broncos.
Bolles must play 128 snaps over the next three weeks to claim the title. Averaging 66 snaps per game, he is on track to comfortably take the crown, provided he can keep the likes of Josh Hines-Allen and George Karlaftis at bay.
It should be noted that the Broncos could potentially hold onto the AFC’s No. 1 seed on Christmas Day and rest Bolles in the final week of the season if desired.
Team Pass Blitz Speed
Under Brian Flores, the Vikings have been flirting with this record for a few years. But maybe they’ll finally address it this season when they throw the kitchen sink at their opponents and have nothing left to play for.
Minnesota’s defense is by far the blitziest unit in the league, with no other team blitzing more than 45% of the time.
The PFF record books feature a healthy share of teams in the high 50% range — nearly one per year over the past two decades — but Flores is just a little more determined to blitz than everyone else who came before him.
Interestingly, the second most blitz-heavy defense of the PFF era is the 2019 Ravens (60.2%), the same unit that Lamar Jackson faced every day in practice on his way to throwing a record number of touchdowns against the blitz. Full circle!
Bonus: average point hangtime
- Current record: 2006 Matt Turk (4.76 seconds)
- In pursuit: JK Scott (4.77 seconds)
Finally, this one is for all the true special teams enthusiasts.
The change to the NFL’s kickoff schedule means undrafted Broncos depth safety Devon Key could take the single-season special teams record, and Titans rookie Chimere Dike will likely post a top-three season in kick return yards.
The real special teams record at stake, however, is the illustrious punt hangtime, which JK Scott is about to beat.
Matt Turk’s record has stood for almost twenty years and has been equaled (to one decimal place) twice: by Matt Bosher in 2014 and by JK Scott himself a few years ago.
Will the Chargers “hang up” the banner for their record-breaking punter? Probably not, but we’ll definitely crown Scott the newest king of NFL heaven if he hangs in there.
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