1) Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen: stampeding into unprecedented QB rushing history
Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen will meet as starting quarterbacks for the 10th time in Week 9 – their sixth regular season tussle to go along with four playoff battles. The MVP quarterbacks have two of the most electric arms in the history of the sport, but in round 10 on Sunday, it's their legs that can carry them to a piece of NFL history.
Allen and Cam Newton are the only two quarterbacks to ever rush for at least 70 touchdowns in a career, and Allen has carried the ball across the goal line at least six times in each of his first seven career seasons.
Allen's five rushing touchdowns this season are tied for the most among quarterbacks, and with another score on the ground in 2025, he can become the first quarterback in NFL history to reach six rushing touchdowns in each of their first eight seasons in the league. Only three other players – Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown, Marshall Faulk and LaDainian Tomlinson – have ever rushed for at least six touchdowns in each of their first eight seasons.
At any point in a career, there have only been five players to string together at least eight consecutive seasons of six-or-more rushing touchdowns, a list Allen can join with just one more touchdown run. He would join Hall of Famers LaDainian Tomlinson, Marshall Faulk, Jim Brown and Thurman Thomas and Derrick Henry as the only players to ever accomplish the feat.
Standing on the opposite sideline at Highmark Stadium on Sunday is the only player in the NFL with at least 2,000 passing yards and more than 250 rushing yards. It's the first time in Mahomes' nine-year NFL career he's reached both of those marks through the Chiefs' first eight games of a season.
Mahomes has racked up at least 250 passing yards and 25 rushing yards in each of his last four games, and with another such performance in Week 9, he'll become the first player to ever throw for 250 yards and rush for 25 yards in five consecutive games.
2) Crowning achievements for the Queen City's wide receiver tandem
A year after winning the receiving triple crown, Ja'Marr Chase is out to a 14-catch lead over the rest of the NFL. His 70 receptions are by far a career high through his first eight games of a season, thanks to a recent surge of historic pass-catching production.
Chase has caught at least 10 passes in each of his last three games, and with another such performance in Week 9, he will join Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson – who did so in Weeks 13-16, 2012 – as the only players in NFL history with at least 10 receptions in four straight games.
Over that three-game streak, Chase has totaled 38 receptions, which are tied for the most in any three-game span in NFL history. He needs eight catches in Week 9 to clear Brandon Marshall's 45 for the most receptions ever in any four-game span.
The other half of the Bengals dynamic receiver duo is looking to ride a little Cincinnati home cooking to some Hall of Fame company of his own. Tee Higgins has caught a touchdown pass in each of his last eight home games played, and with a receiving touchdown in Week 9, he can join Hall of Famers Cris Carter and Jerry Rice as the only players ever to catch a touchdown in at least nine consecutive home games.
3) Taylor closes in on Colts all-time record
Jonathan Taylor and the Colts are out to the best start of any team in the NFL, and the arrival of Week 9 brings yet another opportunity for Taylor to rewrite the record books once again.
Taylor has scored 70 total touchdowns to go along with 6,863 rushing yards, and he doesn't turn 27 years old until Jan. 19, 2026. The Colts lead back needs just 137 rushing yards to become the fourth player in NFL history to rush for at least 7,000 yards and score 70 touchdowns before the age of 27, joining Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith, Jim Brown and LaDainian Tomlinson.
Of Taylor's 70 career touchdowns scored, 63 have come on the ground, tying him with Hall of Famer Lenny Moore for the second most in Colts franchise history. He is just one shy of the franchise record of 64 rushing touchdowns, currently held by Hall of Famer Edgerrin James.
4) Jaxon Smith-Njigba. This good. This young.
Despite playing only seven games with the Seahawks Week 8 bye, Jaxon Smith-Njigba still leads the NFL in receiving by 99 yards in 2025. His 819 yards are 139 more than any other Seahawks player has ever racked up in the team's first eight games of a season, and at just 23 years old, he's ascending into rarified youthful air.
Smith-Njigba needs 81 yards on Sunday Night Football to join Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce, who did so in 1995, as the only players in NFL history under the age of 25 with at least 900 receiving yards in their first eight games of a season.
5) Trey McBride is married to catching the football
Not even halfway through his fourth season in the NFL, Trey McBride's 268 career receptions are the second most ever by any tight end through their first four career seasons, trailing only Jimmy Graham's 301.
McBride leads all tight ends with 6.7 receptions per game in 2025, and he's racked up at least five catches in all seven games played this season. If McBride reaches that mark again on Monday Night Football, he'll become the first tight end in NFL history to catch at least five passes in each of their first eight games of a season.
Further, McBride would tie Travis Kelce in 2020 and Hall of Famer Antonio Gates in 2004 for the fourth longest streak by a tight end at any point in a season. Kelce's streak of 15 games in 2018, Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez's 11 consecutive games in 2008 and Jason Witten's nine-game streak in 2012 are the only longer streaks by a tight end all-time.
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