NFL Research spotlights the best nuggets from each slate of games. Here are the most eye-popping statistical accomplishments from Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season.
1) COMPLETE day of football on Sunday
Beginning at 9:32 a.m. ET and ending at 12:59 a.m. ET, this was the longest single day (even though it stretched into Monday) of NFL football since at least 1970. Totaling 15 hours and 27 minutes, Sunday's action started in London, where the Vikings outlasted the Jets, and finished in Pittsburgh, where the Cowboys earned a last-minute win in a game that kicked off an hour and a half late due to a weather delay.
2) Jayden Daniels continues historic start to rookie season
Through Sunday, only one team has scored 150 points in 2024: the Washington Commanders, with 155, to be exact.
The Commanders are the first team in the Super Bowl era to score at least 150 points in their first five games of the season while starting a rookie quarterback. And to borrow a phrase from the Move The Sticks podcast, Daniels has been the truck for this offense, not a trailer.
Daniels is the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 1,000 yards and rush for at least 250 in his first five career games. He reached those marks in the Commanders' 34-13 win against the Browns. The only other players in history with 1,000 yards passing and 200 yards rushing in their first five games were Kyler Murray (2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year) and Robert Griffin III (2012 Offensive Rookie of the Year).
Washington has averaged an absurd 3.37 points per possession in 2024 (averaging more than a field goal's worth of points every time you get the ball is pretty good). Since 2000, the only teams to average more points per possession in their first five games of the season were the 2000 Rams and the 2013 Broncos. Both of those teams had the NFL MVP that season (Marshall Faulk for the Rams, Peyton Manning for the Broncos).
3) Lamar Jackson outduels Bengals in high-scoring AFC North tilt
Joe Burrow said that he would have to play a "near perfect" game in order to beat the Ravens. And while he wasn't perfect, he was close. Burrow completed over 75 percent of his passes, throwing for almost 400 yards and logging a career-high five touchdown tosses. The only problem? Jackson was flawless. The reigning MVP had 348 passing yards, four passing touchdowns (against zero interceptions) and rushed for 55 yards.
Sunday's overtime win in Cincinnati marked Jackson's sixth career game with at least four touchdown passes and at least 50 yards rushing. No other player since 1950 has more than three such games. Add on the rest of that stat line (players with four-plus touchdown passes, at least 300 yards passing, zero interceptions and 50-plus yards on the ground), and Jackson is now the only player with two such games in his career.
4) Ja'Marr Chase's two-touchdown performance isn't enough
The primary recipient of Joe Burrow's near-perfect game in Week 5 was none other than Chase. The 24-year-old superstar went off to the tune of 10 catches for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the Week 5 loss to the Ravens. The latter of those two touchdowns went for 70 yards, marking the ninth time Burrow and Chase have connected for a touchdown of 60-plus yards in the NFL. In the last 40 years, the only duos with more touchdowns of 60-plus yards are Joe Montana-Jerry Rice (10), Steve Young-Jerry Rice (10 … I'm sensing a theme here) and Aaron Rodgers-Jordy Nelson (10).
Chase himself has 10 touchdown receptions of 60-plus yards (one from Jake Browning) -- the most in the Super Bowl era by a player before his 25th birthday, breaking a tie with Odell Beckham Jr.
5) Packers' Xavier McKinney forcing turnovers galore in 2024
Last season, the Packers had just seven interceptions. Through five games in 2024, Green Bay already has nine interceptions and a league-leading 14 takeaways.
One reason for Green Bay's defensive turnaround? The big free-agent acquisition of McKinney. The former New York Giant already has five interceptions this season -- one in each game. McKinney is the first player in the Super Bowl era with an interception in each of his first five games with a new team. He's also the only Packers player in the Super Bowl era with an interception in the team's first five games of the season.
6) Seahawks, Broncos defenses have memorable moments in Week 5
In the Giants-Seahawks Week 5 matchup, Seattle safety Rayshawn Jenkins returned a goal-line fumble for a 102-yard touchdown -- the longest defensive touchdown in team history and tied for the third-longest fumble return for a touchdown in NFL history. The only fumbles returned for longer touchdowns all-time: Jack Tatum's 104-yarder in 1972 against the Packers, and Aeneas Williams' 103-yard return in 2000 against Washington.
Moments after Jenkins' electric return, Broncos lockdown corner Pat Surtain II returned a Gardner Minshew interception 100 yards for a touchdown.
Sunday was the first day in NFL history in which there were multiple 100-yard defensive touchdowns.
7) Derrick Henry adds to career accolades despite just missing 100-yard mark
Henry was held mostly in check during regulation, but his 51-yard run in overtime set the Ravens up for their game-winning field goal.
The Ravens RB did reach two important milestones (while playing in his 124th career game): he surpassed 10,000 career rushing yards and 100 career touchdowns.
Henry joined Hall of Famers Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith and LaDainian Tomlinson, as well as Adrian Peterson, as the only players in NFL history with 10,000 rushing yards and 100 touchdowns within the first 125 games of a career.
8) T.J. Watt reaches 100-sack milestone
Introducing the newest member of the 100-sack club: Trent Jordan Watt.
Watt recorded his 100th career sack in the second quarter of the Steelers' prime-time loss to the Cowboys. For Watt, it was his 109th career game -- which makes him the second-fastest player to reach 100 career sacks in NFL history (since sacks were first officially tracked in 1982). Only the great Reggie White, who got there in just 96 games, was faster.
T.J.'s big brother, J.J., recorded his 100th sack in his 120th game, the fifth-fewest games required, behind White, T.J., DeMarcus Ware (113), and Bruce Smith (115).
Research shoutouts: Jack Andrade (@RealJackAndrade), Tony Holzman-Escareno (@FrontOfficeNFL), Michelle Magdziuk (@BallBlastEm), Blake Warye (@bwaryeofblake)
