NFL Week Four Stats: Aaron Rodgers reaches 500 TD passes and Minnesota Vikings stay unbeaten in London
Benedict Bermange picks out the best stats from Week Four in the NFL, including a historic NFL debut for Pittsburgh rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett, another Jared Goff barnstormer in Detroit and a nightmare afternoon for Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence in Philadelphia
Wednesday 5 October 2022 11:06, UK
Sky Sports Cricket statistician - and big Buffalo Bills fan - Benedict Bermange dives into Week Four of the 2022 season to pick out the best stats the NFL has to offer, including Aaron Rodgers' 500th career touchdown pass, a Josh Allen-inspired comeback win for the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings' unbeaten streak in London...
The Minnesota Vikings are now a perfect 3-0 in London games, with all three of those wins coming at different venues:
- Defeated the New Orleans Saints 28-25 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Sunday
- Defeated the Cleveland Browns 33-16 at Twickenham Stadium in Week Eight, 2017
- Defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-27 at Wembley Stadium in Week Four, 2013
Saints kicker Wil Lutz made a 60-yard field goal to tie the game 25-25 with one minute and 56 seconds remaining but then missed a 61-yard attempt on the final play of the game. He became the first kicker in NFL history to attempt two field goals of at least 60 yards in the fourth quarter of a single game.
Josh Allen led the Buffalo Bills to a 23-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens, having been trailing by 17 points earlier in the game. The Bills had lost 39-straight games when trailing by at least 17 points. The last Bills quarterback to lead such a comeback win was Ryan Fitzpatrick, who did so in both Weeks Two and Three of the 2011 season against the Raiders and Patriots, respectively. The Ravens and the 2011 Vikings are the only teams to lose two games in the first four weeks of a season after having held 17+ point leads in those contests.
Cooper Rush led the Dallas Cowboys to victory over the Washington Commanders and in doing so became the first Cowboys quarterback to win his first four starts. Dallas have now won eight-straight games against the NFC East, tying their longest such streak since the division realignment in 2002. Also, the last time the Cowboys defense conceded fewer than 20 points in each of their first four games of a season was back in 1973 when they reached the NFC Championship Game.
The Seattle Seahawks outlasted the Detroit Lions in the first NFL game in history to end with a 48-45 final score. Jared Goff has started three of the four NFL games over the past five seasons to have featured at least 90 points - the others being a 54-51 win for the Los Angeles Rams over the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018 and a 55-40 defeat of the Rams by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019.
The four Lions games this season have featured a total of 281 points, the most by any team in their first four games of a campaign.
The Houston Texans remain winless after losing to the Los Angeles Chargers, but Dameon Pierce's 75-yard run was the longest rushing touchdown by a rookie in franchise history, and the third-longest by any Texans player.
The New York Giants rushed for 262 yards as a team in their victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the most rushing yards in a game for the team since Week 16 of the 2008 season when they rushed for 301 against the Carolina Panthers.
The Jacksonville Jaguars led the Philadelphia Eagles 14-0 with three minutes and 50 seconds left in the first quarter before falling to a 29-21 defeat. Trevor Lawrence lost four fumbles in the game, the most lost by any player in a game in the last 30 years.
The Pittsburgh Steelers may have lost to the New York Jets on Sunday, but Kenny Pickett made NFL history by becoming the first quarterback to rush for two touchdowns on their NFL debut. Twenty-nine previous QBs had rushed for one TD in their first game, but Pickett became the first to rush for two.
Aaron Rodgers' pass to Romeo Doubs in the Green Bay Packers' win over the New England Patriots was his 500th touchdown pass in his NFL career (including the playoffs). He became the fifth player to reach that mark.
During the course of the Chiefs' 41-31 victory over the Buccaneers, Patrick Mahomes became the fastest quarterback to reach 20,000 passing yards. Playing in just his 67th career game, he broke Matthew Stafford's previous mark of 71 career games.
On Monday night, the San Francisco 49ers won their seventh-straight regular season game against the Rams in a sequence dating back to the 2019 season. In the loss, Stafford threw the 28th pick-six in his career, moving into joint-third place on the all-time list.
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