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NFL Records Set During 2012 Season
Had Adrian Peterson gotten the NFL rushing record, instead of falling 9 yards shy, it would have been the cherry on top of a historic regular season that saw several individual records broken. Have a look for yourself.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson finished with 1,964 receiving yards. He shattered Jerry Rice's old mark of 1,848, set in 1995. Johnson also tied Michael Irvin's record of 11 games with at least 100 receiving yards. Megatron is the only player in NFL history to record at least 1,600 receiving yards in consecutive seasons. Over the past two years, Johnson has 3,645 receiving yards, the most in any two-year stretch in NFL history.

Colts quarterback Andrew Luck passed for 4,374 yards this season, topping Cam Newton's rookie mark (4,053) that was established only a year ago. Luck set another record, too: most pass attempts for a rookie with 627, passing Sam Bradford's old record of 590. Luck finished one completion short of Bradford's NFL rookie record of 354.

Vikings kicker Blair Walsh, whose 24-yard field goal pushed Minnesota into the playoffs on Sunday, also hit a 54-yarder in the game, giving him an NFL-record 10 field goals from at least 50 yards this season. The previous mark was held by Morten Andersen and Jason Hanson, who each had eight field goals in a single season of 50 yards or more.

The Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs have top-10 picks in the upcoming draft, but they won't be using them (or any of their picks, for that matter) on a punter. That's because each team had punters this season with at least 45 kicks landing inside the opponents' 20-yard line. The Cardinals' Dave Zastudil finished with 46, a new NFL record; the Chiefs' Dustin Colquitt finished just one behind with 45. The old record was 42, tied by three punters (Ben Graham, Andy Leeand Steve Weatherford) who all established their marks within the last five years.

Rams cornerback Janoris Jenkins finished with three interception returns for touchdowns, tying Lem Barney and Ronnie Lott for the most ever by a rookie. Jenkins finished one shy of the all-time record of four INT return TDs.

Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford finished with 727 pass attempts this season, shattering Drew Bledsoe's single-season record. Bledsoe had 691 pass attempts for New England in 1994. Stafford finished 33 yards shy of a second consecutive 5,000-yard season.

Redskins QB Robert Griffin III finished the season Sunday night with a passer rating of 102.4, the best rating for a rookie in NFL history. The old mark was owned by Russell Wilson, who held the mark for about 3.5 hours. Earlier in the day, Wilson had finished the season with a 100.0 rating, topping Ben Roethlisberger's record of 98.1, set in 2004. RG3's rating was low because he had thrown just five INTs in 393 attempts, which gave him another rookie record: lowest percentage of passes intercepted (1.27). Charlie Batch (1.98) held the previous mark.

Seahawks QB Russell Wilson tossed 26 touchdowns, which tied Peyton Manning (1998) for the most thrown by a rookie in NFL history. Wilson also rushed for four touchdowns. Manning didn't rush for his fourth career touchdown until his fourth season.

Johnny Unitas' record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass stood unchallenged for more than a half century. The amazing mark of 47 games with a scoring strike was finally usurped by the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees in a game against the San Diego Chargers. Brees broke the record with a 40-yard TD pass to Devery Henderson. Brees' run ultimately came to an end in the 2012 season, as the Atlanta Falcons halted the streak at 54 games.