Catching fire: WRS make big impacts
Several receivers set marks amid strong year at position
This season has been another banner year for wide receivers, with several hitting milestones in Week 16.
Cooper Kupp, Justin Jefferson, Antonio Brown, Keenan Allen and rookie Amon-ra St. Brown are among the receivers who reached memorable marks this week.
Kupp had 10 receptions for 109 yards for the Rams in a road win against the Vikings for his record 14th game this season with at least 90 yards receiving, breaking the mark held by Brown (2014) and Michael Irvin (1995).
Kupp’s 132 receptions are the fifth-most ever and he needs 18 in the final two games to break Michael Thomas’ record of 149 set in a 16-game season in 2019.
Jefferson had eight catches for 116 yards in that same game, giving him 2,851 yards receiving in his two-year career. That breaks the mark of 2,755 set by Odell Beckham Jr. from 2014-15.
Brown had 10 catches for 101 yards in the Buccaneers’ win over the Panthers for his record 23rd game with double-digit catches, breaking Andre Johnson’s career record.
St. Brown had nine catches for 91 yards and one TD, joining Beckham as the only rookies to have at least eight catches in four straight games.
Keenan Allen of the Chargers had four catches to give him 96 on the season for his fifth straight year with at least 95.
The only other player to do that was Brown, who did it six years in a row from 2013-18.
The Bengals’ dynamic duo of rookie Ja’marr Chase and second-year star Tee Higgins also became the first set of teammates age 23 or younger to each record at least 1,000 yards receiving in the same season.
Led by Jefferson, Higgins and the Cowboys’ Ceedee Lamb, wide receivers from the 2020 draft class have combined for 13,505 yards receiving this season, the most ever for one draft class in one season, topping the 13,333 from the 1996 class in 1999.
Another pass catcher also got into the mix, with Falcons rookie tight end Kyle Pitts recording six catches for 102 yards in a win over the Lions. Pitts’ 949 yards receiving are the second-most for a rookie tight end, trailing only Mike Ditka’s 1,076 in 1961.
Burrow’s big day
Joe Burrow had a record-setting performance against the Ravens.
Burrow threw for 525 yards and four TDS in the Bengals’ 41-21 victory, the fourthmost yards in league history.
Only Norm Van Brocklin (554 in 1951 against the New York Yanks), Warren Moon (527 in 1990 against the Chiefs) and Matt Schaub (527 in 2012 against the Jaguars) had more in a game.
But with Burrow also throwing for 416 yards in the first meeting of the season, he had a record 941 yards against the Ravens this year, breaking the mark held by Dan Marino (874 yards against the Jets in 1988) and Joe Montana (874 against the Falcons in 1990).
Burrow has three career games with at least 400 yards passing and three TDS, tying Marino for the most in a player’s first two seasons.
Burrow’s big day capped the Bengals’ 4-0 sweep against division the rival Ravens and Steelers, marking just the fourth time one team swept those traditional powers. The Bengals also did it in 2009, the Jags in 1999 and the Houston Oilers in 1998.
Big man TDS
There has never been a day quite like Sunday for offensive linemen in the NFL.
The Jags’ Will Richardson, Jets’ Conor Mcdermott, Eagles’ Lane Johnson and Cowboys’ Terence Steele all scored touchdowns, doubling the season total for offensive linemen from the first 15 weeks.
It was the most TDS scored in a week by offensive linemen since at least 1949, according to Sportradar, with the previous mark of two last being done in Week 14 of the 2010 season.