NFL Research offers the best nuggets from each week of games in the NFL. Here are the most eye-popping statistical accomplishments from Week 13 of the 2022 NFL season.
1) Jalen Hurts continues to make his case for MVP
Hurts put 380 pass yards and four total touchdowns (three pass, one rush) on the Titans in Week 13, becoming the first Eagles player with at least 350 pass yards, three pass touchdowns, and a rushing score in the same game. He actually has more games (2) with 300+ pass yards, 3+ pass TD and 1+ rush TD than any other Eagles player in the Super Bowl era combined (1). The only other Eagles player to do so was Michael Vick against Washington on Monday Night Football in Week 10, 2010.
Hurts hit on three touchdowns on deep passes (20-plus air yards, according to Next Gen Stats). It was his second game with at least three deep pass touchdowns this season. He is only the second player in the Next Gen era (since 2016) to have two games with as many deep pass touchdowns (3), after Ben Roethlisberger in 2016.
Hurts broke the Eagles' team record for offensive yards in the team’s first 12 games of a season with 3,549 after Sunday. The previous record holder was Donovan McNabb, who recorded 3,539 offensive yards in the first 12 games of the 2004 season. McNabb and the Eagles went on to win the NFC Championship and make an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIX that season (lost to Patriots).
All of this is after Hurts rushed for 157 yards last week against the Packers. Hurts is the first quarterback to throw for 300-plus yards a game after rushing for 150 yards.
2) A.J. Brown gets sweet revenge on the Titans
Brown surely circled the date on his calendar. Mere months after the Titans traded the receiver to the Eagles during the 2022 NFL Draft, Brown got his chance to show his former team what they are missing. Brown had more receptions (8), receiving yards (119), and receiving touchdowns (2) than all Titans wide receivers combined (eight receptions, 41 receiving yards, one receiving touchdown) in his Week 13 revenge game. Brown has more than twice as many receiving touchdowns (9) as Tennessee’s wide receiver corps combined.
Brown became the fourth Pro Bowler who began his career in 1960 or later to record at least 100 yards and two scores receiving in his first game against the team who drafted him (and he played at least one game for). Also included on that list, alongside Jarvis Landry and Steve Smith Sr., is former Eagle and Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, who reached the threshold as an Eagle in his first game against the 49ers in 2005.
Brown also became the first player in at least the last 30 seasons to score a 40+ yard touchdown on the play immediately after scoring a 40+ yard touchdown that was overturned by instant replay.
3) Cowboys tie record held by 1925 Chicago Cardinals
The Cowboys scored 54 points against the Colts on Sunday, the fifth-most in team history. Dallas outscored Indianapolis 33-0 in the fourth quarter, tied with the 1925 Cardinals for the largest margin in the final frame in NFL history. The Chicago Cardinals outscored the Milwaukee Badgers, 33-0, in the fourth quarter of their Week 13 game in 1925.
Since Dak Prescott returned from his five-game absence in Week 7, the Cowboys lead the league with 37.2 points per game and are the only team averaging 30-or-more over that span. The Cowboys also rank second in total yards per game (411.0), rush yards per game (173.0) and red zone touchdown percentage (87.0).
The Cowboys defense had its second game with five takeaways this season, as many as the rest of the NFL combined. On the season, the Cowboys defense leads the NFL in sacks (48.0) and ranks second in takeaways (21) and pass defense (179.8 pass yards per game allowed).
4) 49ers defense will need to continue heroic efforts in Garoppolo’s absence
The day couldn’t have started much worse for the 49ers and their defense. The team allowed a 75-yard pass touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and then the team lost starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a season-ending broken left foot in the first quarter.
However, the 49ers defense allowed just 10 points on the Dolphins' next 44 plays and 2022 Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy threw two pass touchdowns in the Week 13 win. San Francisco held Tua Tagovailoa to his lowest completion percentage (54.5) and second-lowest passer rating (79.7) of the season, while also intercepting him twice. Tagovailoa entered the game with three interceptions all season.
The NFL’s No. 1 scoring and total defense may need to be even better for the team’s hopes of a playoff run to materialize: Kyle Shanahan is 38-17 as the 49ers' head coach with Garoppolo as his starting quarterback; he is 9-29 with any other signal caller starting.
5) Joe Burrow: Patrick Mahomes’ kryptonite?
Mahomes is the best football player I’ve ever seen. The quarterback who can do anything you need of him has failed to accomplish one thing in his career: Beat Burrow’s Bengals. Burrow has defeated Mahomes in each of their three head-to-head matchups, including playoffs.
He’s not only the first quarterback to beat Mahomes three straight times, but he is also the only one to face Mahomes multiple times and be undefeated against him. Burrow and Tom Brady are the only quarterbacks to beat Mahomes three times. Brady is 3-3. Burrow is 3-0.
6) Davante Adams makes Raiders history and etches name next to Hall of Famers
Adams had 177 of Derek Carr’s 250 pass yards and caught both of his touchdowns in Week 13. It was his fourth game with 100 receiving yards and multiple touchdowns catches in 2022, the most in a season in Raiders history. The touchdowns were also Adams’ 84th and 85th receiving touchdowns of his nine-year NFL career, giving him the fifth-most in a player’s first nine seasons in NFL history. All of the players ahead of him are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Jerry Rice (118), Randy Moss (101), Marvin Harrison (98), and Terrell Owens (95).
7) Christian Watson touchdown tour makes a stop in Chicago
The man tasked with replacing Adams in Green Bay has been on a touchdown tear of his own over his last four games. Watson had 94 scrimmage yards and two scores (one rushing and one receiving) Sunday. This gives Watson seven receiving touchdowns in his last four games, after recording none in his first six games. Excluding overlapping spans, that ties Watson for the second-most touchdown catches by a rookie over any four-game span in NFL history. Only Hall of Famer Randy Moss has had more (8) all-time. Watson has eight scrimmage touchdowns since Week 10, the most by any player in the NFL.
8) Justin Fields continues rushing tear in return from injury
After missing one game with a shoulder injury, Fields returned and continued right where he left off on the ground. With 71 yards and a touchdown rushing, Fields became the first Bears player to rush for 50 yards and a touchdown in six straight games within a season since Hall of Famer Gale Sayers in 1969. In an even more exclusive club, that streak is the longest by a quarterback since game logs were first tracked in 1950. Fields still has strides to make as a passer (0 TD, 2 INT in Week 13), but he has 711 rushing yards since Week 6, trailing only Josh Jacobs (813) among all players this season.
Bonus: The Seahawks continue to find ways to win. Geno Smith set career highs for both passing yards in a game (367) and in a season (3,169) in Week 13. His previous highs for a game (358 in Week 17, 2014) and in a season (3,046 as a rookie in 2013) each came in 2014 or earlier. Rookie Tariq Woolen recorded his sixth interception of the 2022 season, tied for the most in the NFL. His eight total takeaways pace the league. The Seahawks are now 7-5, one game back from the now Garoppolo-less 49ers in the NFC West, and are currently the seventh seed in the NFC.
Research shoutouts: Jack Andrade (@RealJackAndrade), Dante Koplowitz-Fleming (@DanteKopFlem), Matt Okada (@MattOkada), Cole Jacobson (@ColeJacobson32), Michelle Magdziuk (@BallBlastEm), Blake Warye (@bwaryeorblake)