I’ve been working in sports research (aka crunching numbers and nerding out) for about 15 years now and I hardly ever take the time to reflect on a season once it’s over. After all, the offseason pretty much begins when the Super Bowl ends. But as we approach Super Bowl LIX, it’s time to change that.
The CBS Sports Research group (including myself) were in the lab all year going mad scientist on note after note. If you’re reading this, you may have seen a few. Most probably went in one ear and out the other. That’s OK, we’ll keep pumping them out for the one that sticks.
Sometimes a stat is so great you have to send it to a friend, or use it to settle a debate with a frenemy. Sometimes they are dumb enough to make your eyes roll. Once in a while it will burrow in your brain as it describes how the impossible actually happened. Your team lost a game in a situation no one had ever lost. The star player came through in a pivotal moment in unprecedented fashion.
Maybe you like a historical note, a “This has not happened in a century,” or something more advanced like “This player had a 12% chance to score a touchdown.” Maybe you like it simple (“This was their longest win streak in team history.”) or something so convoluted you have to read it three times (“This player has never lost on consecutive Sundays in snow during a solar eclipse with the flu”.)
Whatever your flavor, we have something in here for you. Without further adieu, I present to you my favorite 59 stats of the 2024 NFL season entering Super Bowl LIX (59) with a huge fist bump to the CBS Sports Research team.
1. Jayden Daniels has more games where his team had zero punts and zero turnovers (three) than Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Montana and Peyton Manning combined for in their careers (two).
2. The clutch Commanders won six regular-season games when tied or trailing in the final 10 seconds of regulation or in overtime, the most by any team in a season since 2000.
3. The Commanders joined the 1998-99 Colts as the only teams in NFL history with a 13-win season after a 13-loss season, including playoffs.
4. Lamar Jackson became the first player in NFL history with 40+ touchdown passes and fewer than five interceptions in a season. He also had 915 rushing yards.
5. Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry combined for the most total yards (7,201) by any duo in a single regular season in NFL history.
6. Lamar Jackson has multiple turnovers in 50% of his playoff games and 15% of his regular-season games in his career.
7. Justin Tucker missed 22 points worth of kicks in the Ravens‘ five losses during the regular season. The Ravens’ five losses were by a combined 22 points.
8. The Ravens have 78 wins since 2018, the most in a seven-season span without a Super Bowl trip in NFL history. The Bills have 77 wins since 2018, tied for the second most in a seven-year span without a Super Bowl trip (1999-2005 Colts).
9. The Bills beat the Lions 48-42 after losing 44-42 at the Rams. They were the second team in NFL history to score and allow 40+ points in consecutive games (1966 Giants).
10. Josh Allen is the only All-Pro quarterback with zero All-Pro teammates in the last 15 years.
11. Since 1970, 732 QBs have had 500+ plays in a season. Josh Allen’s 2024 regular season produced the lowest percent of plays with a sack, fumble or INT (4.17%).
12. The Chiefs stopped Josh Allen on three quarterback sneaks in the AFC title game, the most any quarterback has been stopped on sneaks in a game in at least the last eight years.
13. Joe Burrow had more losses with 300+ pass yards, at least three touchdown passes and zero interceptions this season (three) than Tom Brady had in his entire 23-year career (two).
14. The Bengals were 7-1 vs. teams with losing records this season. Their only loss was in Week 1 to the Patriots.
15. The Cowboys took over the longest NFC title-game drought (1995) after the Commanders reached that round for the first time since 1991. Dallas’ gap is 15 years longer than the next-closest team (Bears: 2010).
16. Patrick Mahomes has a higher career win percentage when trailing by at least seven points in a game (39-20, .661), including playoffs, than these quarterbacks had in their careers, overall: Steve Young, John Elway, Aaron Rodgers, Johnny Unitas, Ben Roethlisberger, Bart Starr, Jim Kelly, Brett Favre.
17. The Lions, Vikings and Packers went 40-11 during the regular season and 0-3 in the playoffs.
18. The Lions had four games this season with more touchdowns than incompletions, the most by any team in a season on record (since at least 1940).
19. Jared Goff became the first player in NFL history to win a game with at least five interceptions and lose a game with at least five touchdown passes in the same season.
20. Aidan Hutchinson (7.5) and Za’Darius Smith (4.0) ranked 1-2 on the Lions in sacks this season. They played a combined 13 games for Detroit this year.
21. Jahmyr Gibbs averaged the most yards per touch (6.4) by any player with 300+ touches in a season since Marshall Faulk in 2000 (6.6).
22. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were the first duo in NFL history with 10+ touchdown rushes each in consecutive seasons.
23. Vikings had more wins (5-0) than minutes trailed (three) entering Week 7.
24. The Bears’ Week 18 win vs. the Packers snapped their 20-game road losing streak on Sundays.
25. Xavier McKinney had more interceptions this season (eight) than the entire Giants team (five). Saquon Barkley had more rushing yards this season (2,005) than the entire Giants team (1,783). Both left the Giants in free agency this past offseason.
26. This was the fourth time in the last five seasons Daniel Jones started each of his team’s first 10 games and threw fewer than 10 touchdown passes. All other quarterbacks did that four total times in that span.
27. In Week 9, Daniel Jones threw his first touchdown pass at MetLife Stadium in 672 days.
28. Aaron Rodgers went 1,092 days between 300-yard passing games (snapped in Week 14).
29. Notre Dame had more touchdowns at Metlife Stadium (seven in one game) through NFL Week 8 than the Giants and Jets had combined (six in seven games).
30. Malik Nabers held the all-time rookie receptions record (109) for about two hours in Week 18 until Brock Bowers recaptured the mark (112).
31. The Giants became the first team in NFL history to lose a game in regulation with three touchdowns scored and no touchdowns allowed (Week 2 vs Commanders).
32. Tim Boyle’s teams are 0-11 in his career in games when he attempts a pass (0-3 in 2024).
33. Justin Herbert is the only QB since 1950 with more interceptions in a playoff game (four) than the entire regular season (three) (minimum five starts).
34. The Browns have had an NFL-high 40 different starting quarterbacks since returning to the NFL in 1999, as many as the Packers, Chargers, Patriots and Seahawks combined.
35. Jameis Winston had 497 pass yards and 171 return yards off his INT in Week 13, the most combined pass yards and interception return yards in a game in NFL history (668). P.S.: Most Jameis Winston stat ever (h/t OptaSTATS).
36. Jameis Winston had 224 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the second half of Week 8 after Deshaun Watson had not thrown for 200 pass yards or three touchdown passes in any game all year.
37. Myles Garrett became the second player in NFL history with 12+ sacks in five straight seasons (1985-89 Lawrence Taylor).
38. Mike Evans tied Jerry Rice for the most consecutive seasons with 1,000+ receiving yards in NFL history (11) with a 9-yard catch on the final play of Buccaneers‘ season.
39. Bucky Irving was the first rookie with at least 6 yards per touch on 250+ touches since Adrian Peterson in 2007.
40. Bryce Young had more total touchdowns (21) this season than C.J. Stroud (20).
41. In his first start of the year in Week 3, Andy Dalton became the first quarterback of the season to throw for 300+ yards and at least three touchdowns in a game.
42. Former Panthers teammates Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield combined for 76 touchdown passes in 2024.
43. Anthony Richardson had the lowest completion percentage (47.7%) by any qualified passer in a season since Tim Tebow in 2011 (46.5%).
44. The Raiders were the second team in NFL history to trail by 10+ points in each of their first 14 games of a season (1986 Colts).
45. Ameer Abdullah had his first career 100-yard rushing game in his 141st game. It was the second-longest wait for a player’s first career 100-yard rushing game in NFL history behind Zack Crockett’s 142 games, also with the Raiders (because of course).
46. The Steelers were the first 10+ win team in NFL history to end the season on a losing streak of at least five games, including playoffs.
47. The Dolphins had 70 points entering Week 8, the same number of points they scored in one game vs. the Broncos in Week 3 of 2023.
48. Tyreek Hill did not have a catch longer than 30 yards after Week 1. Put another way, there were 477 receptions of more than 30 yards after Week 1 and not a single one was by Tyreek Hill.
49. The Dolphins are 1-10 vs. teams that enter with a winning record and 18-5 vs. all other teams in the last two seasons.
50. Kirk Cousins had no touchdown passes and eight interceptions during the Falcons‘ four-game losing streak from Weeks 10-14. The Falcons defense allowed 11 touchdown passes and had zero interceptions in that span.
51. Exactly 28.1% of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine’s receptions went for touchdowns (nine of 32), the highest rate by any player since Jerry Rice in 1987 when he had an NFL-record (at the time) 22 touchdown receptions on 65 receptions (33.8%) (minimum 30 receptions).
52. The Cowboys went an NFL-record six straight home games trailing by 20+ points (dating back to last postseason), which included Dallas’ largest home loss under Jerry Jones (38 points) in Week 6. That loss happened to fall on his birthday.
53. Josh Jacobs caught his first career touchdown on his 212th career reception in Week 7. Prior to that, he had the most catches in NFL history without a touchdown.
54. In Week 9, the Cardinals had three players with a first-half rushing touchdown for the first time in a game since Dec. 2, 1923 vs. the Oorang Indians (Jim Thorpe was the Indians’ player/coach).
55. The Saints were the first team in NFL history to lose six straight games after winning each of their first two games by 20+ points.
56. Jimmy Garoppolo led the NFL in pass yards per game (334.0) this season (minimum one game). I’ll let you figure that one out.
57. The 49ers became the first team to lose four divisional games with a fourth-quarter lead since the 2008 Lions, who went 0-16.
58. Brock Purdy has nine touchdown passes and 15 interceptions in his career when tied or trailing in the second half, including playoffs.
59. The Ravens led the NFL in rushing after signing Derrick Henry. Saquon Barkley won a rushing title after signing with the Eagles. The Raiders finished last in rushing after Josh Jacobs left in free agency.
If your head has not exploded and you want to share a stat you loved but didn’t see on this list, feel free to share with me on ‘X’ @doug_clawson.
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Author: Douglas Clawson
February 4, 2025 | 2:35 pm
