This is gonna be a long one folks, because there was a lot of historical stuff that happened in the NFL this week. We may be witnessing the football equivalent of the “steroids era,” because quarterbacks and receivers are putting up numbers we’ve never seen before. I wrote last week that Tom Brady was well on his way to smashing Dan Marino’s passing record; the crazy part is that five other quarterbacks are also on pace to break it, among them Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton. The first four weeks of the season have produced more passing yards than any other individual weeks in history.
NFL Notes & Records: Week 4 -- Where the quarterback reigns supreme
Clearly, something has happened. A league dictated by quarterbacks has become a league dominated by quarterbacks. Is this a direct correlation to the recent rules intended to prevent concussions? Has a line of delineation been crossed, through rules or health scares, where defenses simply cannot perform like they used to? Perhaps there are just so many good quarterbacks now that defenses can’t keep up with them.
Whatever the reason, the NFL is experiencing an offensive renaissance not seen in decades. Even teams considered to have “good” defenses like the Packers, Eagles and Steelers can’t stop the onslaught. Part of the reason may be that we really have entered the Age of the Quarterback. There’s a reason David Garrard can’t find a job; good QB’s are everywhere. Awful teams like the Colts and Vikings and Chiefs still have established names in Kerry Collins, Donovan McNabb and Matt Cassel, even if they are underperforming. Weaker quarterbacks like Rex Grossman, Mark Sanchez and Alex Smith are on winning teams, and average quarterbacks like Jason Campbell and Tarvaris Jackson are coming off 300-yard games against good teams. And of the cellar dwellers, most of them already have a young QB who they can claim will be their superstar of the future.
Anyway, on to the records and milestones:
- Wes Welker cannot be stopped. Let's forget Brady for a second and focus on his No. 1 receiver, who has produced more yards in the first four weeks of a season than any receiver in history. He has 616 of them to go along 40 receptions, putting him on excellent pace to surpass not only Jerry Rice's yards record of 1,848, but Marvin Harrison's single-season catch record of 143. That Welker is doing this without the presence a Randy Moss-type receiver to distract defenders is astonishing. And what's even crazier is that Mike Wallace, who has 86 less yards than Welker, is also on pace to break to Rice's record, and Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers is on pace to finish within 32 points of the record. Normally, the likelihood of paces like this would be discouraged, but considering how rampant passing numbers are, it makes sense that receiving records are going to be set too.
- Calvin Johnson is also unstoppable. Megatron completed his fourth straight game with a pair of touchdowns, and with Andre Johnson succumbing to injury, he has no healthy competitor to challenge him as the best receiver in football -- not even Welker. He is the first receiver in history to score twice in the first four weeks of the year, and his eight touchdowns are the most ever through Week 4. Randy Moss' single-season touchdown record of 23 is in serious jeopardy. Thanks to Johnson, Detroit moved to 4-0 for the first time since 1980, and they did it by overcoming a 20-point deficit in back-to-back games -- an NFL first. The scary part is that Detroit isn't even the best team in their division.
- Speaking of the Packers... If you had Aaron Rodgers on your fantasy team, your computer screen was probably pretty kind to you yesterday. Rodgers threw for four TD's, ran for two more and collected 400 passing yards, making him the first quarterback to ever hold that distinction, as well as giving him the second-greatest fantasy performance ever by a quarterback, according to Roto Arcade. It's also the most touchdowns ever scored by a Packers quarterback, even more than that guy he replaced -- what's-his-name... that dude in Mississippi, with the beard and the naked photos. What was his name again? Eh, doesn't matter.
- Eagles lose epically despite epic performance from Vick. Michael Vick, the only guy to ever have a better fantasy day than Aaron Rodgers, also had a day for the record books. He became the first quarterback to throw for 400 yards and rush for 70 yards in the same game, and it would've meant more had the Eagles actually won the game. Ronnie Brown made a ridiculous fumble that will live on as an NFL Films Football Folly, while Alex Henery became the first kicker since the 1970 merger to miss two fourth quarter field-goals inside 40 yards in a one-point loss. The only other kicker to do that, Jen Stenerud, is the only placekicker in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- Touchdown returns are all the rage. Remember a few years ago when the Cowboys opened their new stadium, and there was a huge deal made about how the scoreboard was too big and that punters were supposedly going to hit it all the time? Well, that never happened. And it's looking like all the hubub over moving kickoffs up an extra five yards has done nothing to take away the excitement of the game. In fact, it may have enhanced it. Sunday's dreadful Jets-Ravens game saw a single-game record five return touchdowns, among them a 107-yard kick-off return from Joe McKnight. Meanwhile, Devin Hester recorded his 11th career punt return touchdown, a new NFL best. He's certainly had a distinguished career, but it's hard to consider him a Hall of Famer when he's the second least-effective receiver in football (minimum 16 targets), behind only Bernard Berrian.
- Larry Fitzgerald solidifies greatness in loss. Larry Fitzgerald passed Roy Green as the Arizona Cardinals' all-time leader in receiving yards, with 8,565. Also in Arizona news, Beanie Wells had an abnormally good game for a Cardinals running back, rushing for three touchdowns and producing 138 yards. It's the first three--touchdown game by a Cardinals running back since Marcel Shipp in 2006. Arizona has a long history of not having good running backs; they haven't had a Pro Bowl running back since Johnny Johnson in 1990, which ties the Oakland Raiders for the longest Pro-Bowl-running-back drought in the league. The Raiders' last one was Bo Jackson. Both Beanie Wells and Raiders running back Darren McFadden have an excellent shot at making the Pro Bowl this season, and ending the dry spell for the two franchises.
- The Cleveland Browns love to throw the ball. No statistic better capsulizes the ongoing trend in the NFL than Colt McCoy's 61 pass attempts against the Titans last week, even though passing isn't the Browns' strength, even though they have an excellent running back in Peyton Hillis and a solid backup in Montario Hardesty. McCoy completed 41 of the 61 passes; both were franchise records. The most completions and attempts in a single game came in 1994, when Drew Bledsoe completed 45 of 70 passes.
- Who said running backs can't be good too? Matt Forte had an excellent game, rushing for a career high 205 yards, the most produced by a Bears running back since Walter Peyton. Peyton, by the way, has a controversial biography coming out that references bouts of depression he had, as well as several infidelities.
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