RISING ROOKIES: Through the first eight weeks of the season, rookies have accumulated 10,980 yards from scrimmage, the most by rookies through Week 8 since 1970.
The seasons with the most yards from scrimmage by rookies through Week 8 since 1970 (excluding 1987 season):
| SEASON | MOST SCRIMMAGE YARDS BY ROOKIES THROUGH WEEK 8* |
| 2017 | 10,980 |
| 2014 | 10,977 |
| 2013 | 9,399 |
| 1983 | 9,139 |
| 1971 | 8,920 |
| *Excludes 1987 season | |
The rookies with the most scrimmage yards in 2017:
| PLAYER | TEAM | SCRIMMAGE YARDS |
| Kareem Hunt | Kansas City | 1,070 |
| Leonard Fournette | Jacksonville | 732 |
| Alvin Kamara | New Orleans | 500 |
| Christian McCaffrey | Carolina | 495 |
| Tarik Cohen | Chicago | 462 |
Rookies have also totaled 79 touchdowns through Week 8, tied for the most through the first eight weeks of a season since 1970.
The seasons with the most touchdowns by rookies through Week 8 since 1970 (excluding 1987 season):
| SEASON | MOST TOUCHDOWNS BY ROOKIES THROUGH WEEK 8* |
| 2017 | 79 |
| 2014 | 79 |
| 1983 | 73 |
| 2013 | 71 |
| 1971 | 66 |
| 1984 | 63 |
| *Excludes 1987 season | |
The rookies with the most touchdowns in 2017:
| PLAYER | TEAM | TOTAL TDS |
| Leonard Fournette | Jacksonville | 7 |
| Kareem Hunt | Kansas City | 6 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | Pittsburgh | 4 |
| Many tied | 3 |
— NFL —
UNMATCHED: Houston rookie quarterback DESHAUN WATSON passed for 402 yards with four touchdowns and added 67 rushing yards in the team’s Week 8 loss at Seattle.
Watson is the first player in NFL history to register at least 400 passing yards, four touchdown passes and 50 rushing yards in a single game.
Watson, who is tied for the league lead with 19 touchdown passes, passed Pro Football Hall of Famer KURT WARNER(18) for the most passing touchdowns by a player in his first seven career games.
The players with the most passing touchdowns in their first seven career games:
| PLAYER | TEAM | TD PASSES | |
| Deshaun Watson | Houston | 19 | |
| Kurt Warner^ | St. Louis | 18 | |
| George Ratterman | New York Yanks | 16 | |
| Mark Rypien | Washington | 16 | |
| Dan Marino^ | Miami | 15 | |
| ^Pro Football Hall of Famer | |||
Watson, who is the first rookie in NFL history to throw at least three touchdown passes in four consecutive games, has the most touchdown passes by a rookie in his first seven games.
The rookies with the most touchdown passes in his first seven games:
| PLAYER | TEAM | SEASON | TD PASSES |
| Deshaun Watson | Houston | 2017 | 19 |
| Dan Marino^ | Miami | 1983 | 15 |
| Marcus Mariota | Tennessee | 2015 | 13 |
| Greg Cook | Cincinnati | 1969 | 13 |
| Mike Glennon | Tampa Bay | 2013 | 11 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | Pittsburgh | 2004 | 11 |
| ^Pro Football Hall of Famer | |||
— NFL —
RAINING OFFENSE IN SEATTLE: Seattle quarterback RUSSELL WILSON passed for 452 yards with four touchdowns and Houston rookie quarterback DESHAUN WATSON threw for 402 yards with four touchdowns in the Seahawks’ 41-38 win over the Texans in Week 8.
The game marked the sixth time in NFL history that opposing quarterbacks each passed for at least 400 yards and four touchdowns in the same game.
The games with opposing quarterbacks passing for at least 400 yards and four touchdowns:
| DATE | PLAYER | TEAM | YDS | TDS | PLAYER | TEAM | YDS | TDS |
| 10/29/17 | Russell Wilson | Seattle | 452 | 4 | Deshaun Watson | Houston | 402 | 4 |
| 11/3/13 | Tom Brady | New England | 432 | 4 | Ben Roethlisberger | Pittsburgh | 400 | 4 |
| 10/6/13 | Peyton Manning | Denver | 414 | 4 | Tony Romo | Dallas | 506 | 5 |
| 1/1/12 | Matt Flynn | Green Bay | 480 | 6 | Matthew Stafford | Detroit | 520 | 5 |
| 9/4/94 | Dan Marino | Miami | 473 | 5 | Drew Bledsoe | New England | 421 | 4 |
| 9/21/86 | Ken O’Brien | NY Jets | 479 | 4 | Dan Marino | Miami | 448 | 6 |
— NFL –
COMPLETE PERFORMANCE: New Orleans quarterback DREW BREES completed 23 of 28 passes (82.1 percent) for 299 yards in the Saints’ 20-12 win over Chicago last week.
Brees, who has 6,011 career completions, joined Pro Football Hall of Famer BRETT FAVRE (6,300) and PEYTON MANNING (6,125) as the only players in NFL history with at least 6,000 completions.
Brees reached the milestone in his 240th career game and is the fastest in NFL history to accomplish the feat (Manning, 259 games and Favre, 286).
The players with the most completions in NFL history:
| PLAYER | TEAMS | CAREER COMPLETIONS |
| Brett Favre^ | Green Bay, New York Jets, Minnesota | 6,300 |
| Peyton Manning | Indianapolis, Denver | 6,125 |
| Drew Brees | San Diego, New Orleans | 6,011 |
| ^Pro Football Hall of Famer | ||
— NFL —
MOVING UP THE CHARTS: Indianapolis running back FRANK GORE totaled 101 scrimmage yards (82 rushing, 19 receiving) in the Colts’ Week 8 loss at Cincinnati.
Gore, who has 17,015 career scrimmage yards, became the ninth player in NFL history to record at least 17,000 scrimmage yards. The other eight players to accomplish the feat are all enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The players with the most scrimmage yards in NFL history:
| PLAYER | TEAM(S) | CAREER SCRIMMAGE YARDS |
| Jerry Rice^ | San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle | 23,540 |
| Emmitt Smith^ | Dallas, Arizona | 21,579 |
| Walter Payton^ | Chicago | 21,264 |
| Marshall Faulk^ | Indianapolis, St. Louis | 19,154 |
| LaDainian Tomlinson^ | San Diego, New York Jets | 18,456 |
| Barry Sanders^ | Detroit | 18,190 |
| Marcus Allen^ | Los Angeles Raiders, Kansas City | 17,654 |
| Curtis Martin^ | New England, New York Jets | 17,430 |
| Frank Gore | San Francisco, Indianapolis | 17,015 |
| ^Pro Football Hall of Famer | ||
— NFL —
SACK MASTERS: Carolina defensive end JULIUS PEPPERS had a sack and forced fumble in the Panthers’ 17-3 win at Tampa Bay last week.
Peppers, who has 151 career sacks, passed Pro Football Hall of Famer CHRIS DOLEMAN (150.5) for the fourth-most sacks since the individual sack because an official statistic in 1982.
The players with the most sacks since 1982:
| PLAYER | TEAM(S) | CAREER SACKS | |
| Bruce Smith^ | Buffalo, Washington | 200 | |
| Reggie White^ | Philadelphia, Green Bay, Carolina | 198 | |
| Kevin Greene^ | Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh, Carolina, San Francisco | 160 | |
| Julius Peppers | Carolina, Chicago, Green Bay | 151 | |
| Chris Doleman^ | Minnesota, Atlanta, San Francisco | 150.5 | |
| ^Pro Football Hall of Famer | |||
Minnesota defensive end EVERSON GRIFFEN registered one sack in the Vikings’ 33-16 win over Cleveland at Twickenham Stadium in London in Week 8.
Griffen, who is tied for second in the NFL with 10 sacks and has recorded at least one sack in all eight of Minnesota’s games this season, became the third player to record a sack in each of his team’s first eight games to start a season since the sack became an official statistic in 1982.
The players to record at least one sack in each of their team’s first eight games of a season since 1982:
| PLAYER | TEAM | SEASON |
| Everson Griffen | Minnesota | 2017 |
| Dwight Freeney | Indianapolis | 2009 |
| Robert Mathis | Indianapolis | 2005 |
Los Angeles Chargers defensive end JOEY BOSA had a sack in the team’s Week 8 loss at New England.
Bosa, who is tied for second in the AFC with 8.5 sacks, has 19 sacks in 20 career games, the most sacks by a player in his first 20 games to begin a career since the individual sack became an official statistic in 1982.
