Malik Nabers makes history, plus ten more incredible stats from Week 3

The third week of the NFL is nearly in the books, with just two games left to play. Several players had incredible performances, along with surprising results from multiple teams.

Arguably the most impressive performance of the week came from Malik Nabers, who spearheaded a surprise win by the Giants against the Browns.

At 21 years and 56 days old on Sunday, he became the youngest wide receiver in NFL history to have two receiving touchdowns in a game.

He also joined Saquon Barkley (2018) as the only players in Giants history with 20 receptions in their first three career games. It doesn’t stop there either, as the LSU product additionally became the first player in NFL history to have 20 receptions, 250 receiving yards, and three receiving touchdowns in his first three career games.

Nabers wasn’t the only one to have a spectacular game this weekend. FOX Sports Research broke down ten more eye-opening nuggets for you. Let’s take a look.

At 32 years old, the “honey badger” is aging like fine wine. He recorded his second interception of the season on Sunday, giving him 35 for his career. He became the fifth player since 2010 to reach that milestone, and just the second active player of the five, joining Harrison Smith.

He is also the only player this season to record an interception, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

Tenacious Steelers defense

Mike Tomlin’s squad improved to 3-0, and held the Chargers to just 10 points and under 300 yards of offense. They’ve done that in all three games this season, making them the first team since the 2004 Seahawks to start 3-0 and hold all three opponents under 10 points and fewer than 300 total yards. The only other time Pittsburgh has done this was in 1936, when the franchise was known as the Pirates.

This was also the fourth time the Steelers have started 3-0 under Tomlin (2007, 2010, 2020), having made the playoffs in each of the previous three instances.

New-look Malik Willis

Malik Willis has looked like a different player with the Packers. For perspective, he was 1-2 in three starts with the Titans, throwing for 234 yards along with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of zero-to-three, with a 51% completion rate. In two starts with Green Bay, he’s 2-0 with 324 pass yards, two pass touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 76% completion percentage.

He also rushed for 73 yards in the win vs the Colts, the most by a Packers quarterback in a single game since Don Majkowski in 1990 (88 yds). Over the last two weeks, Willis leads the league in both pass yards per attempt (9.8) and yards per rush (9.5) among players with a minimum of 12 attempts in each category in that span.

Speaking of new-look quarterbacks, Sam Darnold has looked incredible. The seventh-year veteran has thrown for multiple touchdown passes in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. He threw for four touchdown passes against the Texans this Sunday, a feat he’d only done once in six previous seasons.

Darnold is also the first quarterback in Vikings history to start a season 3-0 and throw multiple touchdowns in each game. Through Sunday, he leads the league in pass touchdowns with eight.

The 49ers were without Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle. Enter Jauan Jennings. He had a career game, posting 11 receptions for 175 yards and three touchdown catches. Since 1973, only two other 49ers receivers have posted 100 receiving yards and three receiving scores in a game— Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens.

Jennings also became the first player with 10 receptions, 175 receiving yards, and three receiving scores in a regulation loss since Drew Bennett in 2004.

49ers and Rams madness

Jennings put on an incredible individual performance in this game, but Matthew Stafford had the last laugh, recording his 48th game winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime. That’s the sixth most in NFL history when including playoff games.

Brock Purdy put on a stellar performance as well, recording his seventh game with three pass touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s tied with Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert for the second-most such games in a quarterbacks first 25 starts ever (Patrick Mahomes– nine).

But arguably the most wild note of this game involves how this game was won, as well as how it was lost. The 49ers were 50-0 under Kyle Shanahan when up by 14-plus points at any point in the second half (including the postseason). They’re now 50-1.

Conversely, the Rams had lost 101 straight games when down by 14-plus points at any point in the second half. This was their first such win since 2006, when Marc Bulger and Isaac Bruce were still on the team.

Baltimore dominated the ground game all day in this matchup against Dallas, with the duo of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson serving as a force to be reckoned with. Henry finished with 151 rush yards and two rushing scores, joining Jim Brown and LaDainian Tomlinson as the only players in NFL history with 12 career games with 150 rush yards and multiple rushing touchdowns.

He also became the 10th player in NFL history to have 14 career games with 150 rush yards. Jackson added 87 rush yards and a rush score himself. The last time a team had a quarterback with 75 rush yards and a rush touchdown, along with a running back with 150 rush yards and a rushing touchdown in the same game was the 2014 49ers (Colin Kaepernick and Frank Gore).

The duo also became the first pair of teammates with 250 rush yards each through a team’s first three games since 1976. The two-time MVP has led the Ravens in rushing in each of the last five seasons, the most seasons by a quarterback as well as the longest such streak by any quarterback in NFL history.

Miami is the only team in the league that has not led at any point in regulation in a game this season. They kicked a game-winning field goal in Week 1 as time expired to give them a win against the Jaguars. The 205 total yards of offense against the Seahawks was the lowest in the Mike McDaniel era, and the third lowest of any team in Week 3 (through games played Sunday). The three points scored was also the lowest under McDaniel, and the first time they’ve failed to score at least 10 points in a regular season game under him.

Carolina benched Bryce Young in favor of Andy Dalton, and the 14-year veteran did not disappoint. The Panthers snapped a 10-game road losing streak, which was the longest active road losing streak in NFL. Dalton threw all three of his touchdown passes in the first half, which was the same amount of touchdown passes Young threw in his previous 11 starts. Diontae Johnson also recorded 122 receiving yards with Dalton under center, the highest total of his career.

The 36 points scored was their most since Week 16 of the 2022 season, and the most of any team in Week 3 (through Sunday’s games).

Mahomes makes history

Patrick Mahomes added another record to his résumé, recording his 77th career win as a starting quarterback. That breaks a tie with Tom Brady and Roger Staubach for the most wins by a quarterback in their first 100 starts ever.

He is one of four quarterbacks this season to be 3-0, along with Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, and Justin Fields. Those three quarterbacks have a combined career record of 70-99 as starters (41.4%). With a 77-22 record himself, that means Mahomes could lose his next 86 starts and still have a better record than that.