The race for the NFL's Most Valuable Player award is starting to get interesting. For most of the season, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been the frontrunner. He's been on an absolute tear in 2020 and currently holds the NFL lead with 28 touchdown passes. The Seahawks are still cruising toward the playoffs, but over the past few weeks they've hit a couple of road bumps. Wilson has made a handful of mistakes, which have subsequently opened the door for a challenger to enter the MVP race. The player who is closing the gap the fastest is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. In this week's numbers to know, we'll dive into the stats that may paint him as the new MVP frontrunner.
Also this week, we'll pull back and look at the success of the Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin. This team may not have a horse in the MVP race, but that's all the more reason to consider Tomlin for his first ever NFL Coach of the Year award. Since he took over back in 2007, the Steelers simply do not have losing seasons. Pittsburgh's win over the Dallas Cowboys this weekend, as ugly as it was, ensured that the first one won't be coming in 2020.
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Before we jump into the Mahomes, Wilson and Tomlin, let's take a look at some other interesting numbers to know from Week 9.
1
In the battle of signal callers who wear No. 1, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa edged out a 34-31 win over Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. Forget the final score for a second, though, because Murray's individual performance in the losing effort was one of a kind. He is now the one and only player in NFL history to hit each of these marks in a single game: 275 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, 100 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. His versatility and explosiveness were on full display in Week 9, as he averaged 10.9 yards per pass attempt and 9.6 yards per rush attempt.
Despite being a human highlight reel against the Dolphins, Murray's lone mistake had a major impact on the game. On Arizona's first drive, Murray was back to pass and fumbled while being sacked. Defensive end Shaq Lawson scooped up the loose ball and returned it for a 36-yard touchdown to give the Dolphins an early lead. Arizona ended up out-gaining Miami by 130 yards in the game and even took a lead in the second half, but Murray's fumble proved to be the only turnover of the contest. While both of these teams have a promising future at 5-3 on the season, the Dolphins took this head-to-head matchup because they made fewer mistakes.
2
The Chicago Bears offense is terribly inefficient in multiple categories. The one that hurt them the most during Sunday's 24-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans was third-down efficiency: The Bears converted just two of their 15 attempts. Keep in mind, the Titans had the NFL's worst third-down defense coming into the week (Tennessee's opponents were converting 61.9 percent of their attempts before Week 9). Chicago somewhat saved face by going 3-for-4 on fourth down tries, but one of them was a fake-punt run by outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo. That shouldn't count as a success for the offense.
Further illustrating the Bears' offensive struggles, that fake punt was their longest rush of the game (11 yards). They finished the game with just 56 yards on the ground, marking Chicago's sixth straight game with under 100 rushing yards. That's the NFL's longest active streak and pretty much the norm under head coach Matt Nagy. The Bears have only eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark as a team eight times since the start of last season. Now sitting at 5-4, it's hard to believe this team was 5-1 and briefly sitting atop the NFC less than a month ago.
7
Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook might be the hottest player in the NFL right now. After finding the end zone twice in Minnesota's 34-20 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Cook has scored a touchdown in seven consecutive games played to start the season. In the past two weeks since returning from a groin injury, Cook has gained 478 yards from scrimmage and scored six total touchdowns. It should come as no surprise, but the Vikings are 2-0 during this stretch.
If Cook can keep up this scorching pace and revive what appeared to be a lifeless season for Minnesota, he will deserve a spot in the MVP conversation. His league-leading 13 touchdowns already match what Adrian Peterson was able to produce in his entire MVP campaign (2012). His 12 rushing touchdowns are the most in a player's first seven games since Shaun Alexander's MVP season in 2005. Cook has a long way to go with his Vikings sitting at 3-5, but this team has undergone a transformation with him running wild.
9
It's fun to fantasize about a running back crashing the MVP conversation, but let's be honest: the award only goes to quarterbacks these days. One guy who does have a legitimate shot to snipe Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson for MVP is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. After throwing four touchdown passes in a 33-31 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Mahomes has now thrown nine touchdown passes and zero interceptions over the past two weeks. He's cutting into Wilson's NFL lead for touchdown passes and doing it without turning the ball over. Wilson, on the other hand, has seven turnovers (five interceptions, two lost fumbles) in his past three outings.
The biggest factor working against Mahomes in the MVP race is the narrative. Fans are experiencing "Mahomes Fatigue" after watching him win regular-season MVP in 2018 and Super Bowl MVP in 2019. He's competing against past versions of himself, instead of the rest of the field, for the award. Meanwhile, many believe it's Wilson's "turn" to win the award. He entered the season without ever having received a single MVP vote, and Seattle's decision to unleash his passing attack has been the team's saving grace. If Mahomes has, in fact, passed Wilson as the frontrunner for this year's MVP award, he must keep his foot on the gas to keep him in the rearview mirror the rest of the way.
12
Since Lamar Jackson became the starting quarterback, the Baltimore Ravens have been machine-like when it comes to putting up points. With a 24-10 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, the Ravens broke the NFL record for consecutive games with 20-plus points (31 games). Jackson's offense deserves a ton of credit for this production, but so does Baltimore's defense. The Ravens have scored more defensive touchdowns (12) than any other team since the start of the 2018 season. Against the Colts in Week 9, it was a 65-yard fumble-return touchdown by safety Chuck Clark.
Other Ravens defenders who have found the end zone this season are linebackers Patrick Queen and L.J. Fort. Queen, a first-round rookie, had a 53-yard fumble-return touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5, while Fort's 22-yard fumble-return touchdown came in Week 2 against the Houston Texans. The Ravens have yet to return an interception for a touchdown this season, but it's probably only a matter of time until they do. Cornerback Marcus Peters recorded his first interception of the season (30th of his career) on Sunday, and is due for a house call after leading the NFL with three pick-sixes in 2019.
14
All Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin does is win. By defeating the Dallas Cowboys 24-19 and keeping his team undefeated, Tomlin secured his eighth win of the season. He is now riding a streak of 14 consecutive seasons without a record below a .500 win percentage, tying Marty Schottenheimer for the most non-losing seasons to start a career in NFL history (by a head coach). It also marks the first time in franchise history that the Steelers have started 8-0.
Although Pittsburgh's record remains unblemished through nine weeks, Sunday may have been the team's shakiest performance of the season. In Garrett Gilbert, the Steelers were facing a Cowboys quarterback who was making his first career NFL start, and yet they trailed for most of the game. Pittsburgh needed a 15-point fourth quarter to secure the come-from-behind victory, which was capped off by an eight-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to tight end Eric Ebron. The Steelers own the best record in the NFL and have a solid chance to make the Super Bowl, but they're going to face much tougher teams than the Cowboys along the way and will have to play much more inspired to get there. If they do that, Tomlin deserves to be the NFL Coach of the Year.
35
Tom Brady versus the New Orleans Saints has not been a fair matchup this season. The Saints defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-3 on Sunday night, marking the largest defeat of Brady's NFL and college careers (35 points). In Week 1, the Saints beat the Bucs 34-23, so this is also the first time Brady has been swept by a division rival in his NFL career. He threw three interceptions in the Week 9 rematch, something he hadn't done since Week 3 of the 2011 season. Five of Brady's seven interceptions this season have now come against the Saints.
It wasn't just Brady's passing game that was off on Sunday; the entire offense was out of whack. Tampa Bay only ran the ball five times for eight yards, breaking an NFL record for fewest rushing attempts in a game. The Buccaneers defense wasn't great, either. They gave up four touchdown passes to Drew Brees, surrendered a handful of big plays involving Taysom Hill and even saw Jameis Winston clock in during the waning moments of the fourth quarter. Record-wise, the Saints (6-2) and Buccaneers (6-3) remain neck-and-neck atop the NFC South, but head-to-head matchups have made it abundantly clear which team is the best in the division.
44
These definitely aren't your slightly older brother's Seattle Seahawks. The team once known for its booming defense is seriously struggling on that side of the ball in 2020. The Seahawks lost to the Buffalo Bills by a final score of 44-34 on Sunday. That's the most points they've allowed in a single game since the 2009 season, which was the year before Pete Carroll took over as the head coach. Bills quarterback Josh Allen absolutely diced Seattle's defense, finishing with 415 yards and three touchdowns through the air. Over 280 of those passing yards and all three of Allen's passing touchdowns came in the first half. He added a three-yard rushing touchdown in the second half.
Russell Wilson tried to keep the Seahawks in the game with three total touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) and nearly 400 yards of offense, but it wasn't enough to overcome Seattle's dangerously leaky defense. Wilson simply cannot afford to have games with multiple turnovers while playing opposite this unit, which is allowing an NFL-high 455.8 yards per game. We saw this in a Week 7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in overtime (three turnovers) and again versus the Bills in Week 9 (four turnovers). Wilson needs to be almost perfect for the Seahawks to win games. Lucky for them, he has been in most outings this season.