NFL by the Numbers

NFL by the Numbers

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5 ... Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw five touchdown passes against Dallas a week after Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo threw five touchdowns against the Buccaneers. That made the Cowboys the first team in 17 years, and only the second team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, to allow five TD passes one week after getting five TD passes from their own quarterback. On Sept. 17, 1989, Randall Cunningham threw five TD passes in a 42-37 win over the Redskins. Seven days later, Joe Montana threw five TD passes in the 49ers' 38-28 win over the Eagles.

AP

75 ... Lee Evans' 77-yard TD reception against the Jets was his third this year of 77 yards or more. Evans had two 83-yard TD catches against the Texans on Nov. 19. He's the first player in 17 years with three TD catches of 77 or more yards in a season. In 1989, Webster Slaughter of the Browns had touchdown receptions of 97 yards against the Browns on Oct. 23 and 80 and 77 yards against the Oilers on Oct. 29, all from Bernie Kosar, all at Municipal Stadium.

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0.00 ... On Sept. 19, 2004, in a 19-12 loss to the Cowboys in Dallas, Jeff Garcia of the Browns finished a game against the Cowboys with a passer rating of 0.00. On Dec. 12, 2004, in a 37-14 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore, Eli Manning (pictured) compiled a passer rating of 0.00. They are the last two quarterbacks to play an entire game and finish with a rating of 0.00, and they face each other on Sunday at Giants Stadium.

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423 ... Panthers quarterback Chris Weinke threw for 423 yards against the Giants in his first start since Oct. 13, 2002, at Dallas. He's the first quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to pass for 423 or more yards after not starting a game in the previous four years. Weinke's last start was Oct. 13, 2002, against the Cowboys.

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39 ... Vince Young's 39-yard overtime touchdown run in the Titans' win over the Texans was the sixth overtime rushing TD in NFL history by a quarterback and the second-longest ever. The only other overtime rushing touchdowns by quarterbacks: Billy Kilmer of the Redskins (one yard vs. Dallas on Nov. 2, 1975), Roger Staubach of the Cowboys (four yards vs. Vikings on Sept. 18, 1977), Randall Cunningham (one yard vs. Raiders on Nov. 30, 1986), Jim Harbaugh of the Bears (one yard vs. Jets on Sept. 23, 1991) and Michael Vick of the Falcons (46 yards vs. Vikings on Dec. 1, 2002).

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113.1 ... Rex Grossman had a passer rating of 114.4 against the Rams Monday night eight days after a 1.3 rating against the Vikings. His increase of 113.1 is the largest by a quarterback from one week to the next in three years, since Tim Hasselbeck of the Redskins had an increase of 116.9. Hasselbeck had a 0.0 rating against the Cowboys on Dec. 14, 2003, and a 116.9 rating against the Bears a week later.

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3 ... Michael Lewis's 84-yard TD interception return for a touchdown against the Redskins made the Eagles the second team in NFL history with three players with a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown in the same season. Lito Sheppard had a 102-yarder against the Cowboys and Sheldon Brown a 70-yarder against the Redskins last month. The 2002 Packers did it with Darren Sharper (89-yarder vs. Dolphins), Marques Anderson (78-yarder vs. Lions) and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (72-yarder vs. the Bears).

AP

223 ... Willie Parker's 223 rushing yards against the Browns, which came 25 days after he had 213 yards against the Saints, gave him the second-shortest span in NFL history between games of 213 or more rushing yards. In December 2002, Ricky Williams of the Dolphins ran for 228 yards against the Bills and 220 against the Bears eight days later. Parker is only the seventh player in NFL history with two games in one season with 213 or more yards. The others were Jim Brown of the Browns (1963), O.J. Simpson of the Bills (1973), Barry Sanders of the Lions (1997), Corey Dillon of the Bengals (2000) and LaDainian Tomlinson of the Chargers (2002).

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375 ... The Jaguars became the first team since the AFL-NFL merger with two backs with 118 or more rushing yards in the first half of a game. At halftime of their win over the Colts, Fred Taylor was 9-for-131 and Maurice Jones-Drew was 7-for-118. The only other team since 1970 with two 100-yard rushers by halftime was the Bills, who on Nov. 22, 1992, had Kenneth Davis (147) and Thurman Thomas (103) over 100 at halftime of a game against the Falcons.

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105 ... Eagles quarterback Jeff Garcia is the first quarterback to record a passer record of 105 or higher in his first three starts with a new team in 13 years, since Boomer Esiason of the Jets did it in 1993. Garcia has produced passer ratings of 121.0, 105.9 and 115.1 in his first three starts in relief of Donovan McNabb. Esiason's had ratings of 107.4, 106.0 and 125.2 in his first three starts.

AP

54.1 ... The Vikings are allowing 54.1 rushing yards per game. If they maintain that pace in their last three games, they would be the first team since 1945 to allow fewer than 60 rushing yards per game. The last team to allow fewer than 60 yards per game was the 1944 Eagles, who gave up 55.8 per game. The last team to allow fewer yards per game than the Vikings was the 1942 Bears, who gave up 47.2 per game.

AP

2 ... Bears rookie Devin Hester has six combined kick returns for touchdowns in 13 games, not only establishing an NFL single-season record for combined kick returns for touchdowns but also putting him almost halfway to the NFL record of 13 career kick returns for TDs set over 14 years by Brian Mitchell. Hester, who had only returned two kickoffs in his life, is the sixth player in NFL history to return two for touchdowns in the same game.