NFL Research spotlights the best nuggets from each slate of games. Here are the most eye-popping statistical accomplishments from Week 18 of the 2025 season.
1) Garrett sets sack record, Browns rookie class make history
After an offseason featuring a trade request and subsequent contract extension, Myles Garrett capped off the 2025 season by breaking the NFL sack record.
It took Garrett until the fourth quarter of his 17th game, but for anyone trying to put an asterisk on this record, here is some added context:
Hall of Famer Michael Strahan set the record with 22.5 sacks in 16 games in 2001. Giants opponents attempted 521 passes against them that season and took 46 sacks. For simplicity, we will call this 567 "pass plays."
T.J. Watt tied Strahan's record in 2021, technically a 17-game season, but did so in just 15 games played that year (he missed two games due to injury). Steelers opponents had 557 pass plays in the games Watt played that season.
Garrett recorded his 23rd sack of the season in his 17th game played. Browns opponents had 540 pass plays in 2025.
So for those counting at home:
- Strahan: 22.5 sacks in 567 pass plays
- Watt: 22.5 sacks in 557 pass plays
- Garrett: 23.0 sacks in 540 pass plays
While it is true that all counting stat "records" are in danger of being broken in the 17-game season era and beyond, that does not mean they should all have an asterisk next to them. Especially this one.
Enjoy your 23-sack-record and new partnership with Jordan Brand, Myles.
Although the Browns were eliminated from playoff contention five weeks ago, 2025 should give Browns fans some hope for the future. Shedeur Sanders showed promise, Quinshon Judkins scored seven touchdowns in just 14 games, Harold Fannin Jr. set franchise records for a rookie tight end and Carson Schwesinger led all NFL rookies in tackles.
To wrap that all up into some neat context: the 2025 Browns are the only team since the 1970 merger to have a rookie lead them in pass yards (Sanders), rush yards (Judkins), receiving yards (Fannin Jr.) and tackles (Schwesinger) in a season.
Speaking of Schwesinger, if he wins Defensive Rookie of the Year and Garrett takes home the Defensive Player of the Year award as expected, the 2025 Browns would be the fourth team to have both the defensive player and rookie of the year in the same season, joining: the 2013 Ravens (Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs), the 1981 Giants (Lawrence Taylor and … Lawrence Taylor) and the 1974 Steelers (Mean Joe Greene and Jack Lambert).
2) Lawrence showcases his dual-threat ability
The first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft is heading into the playoffs on an unbelievable heater. In his last eight games, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has:
- An 8-0 record
- 19 passing touchdowns
- 5 rushing touchdowns
- Led the Jaguars to the No. 1 offense in football (33.6 points per game in that stretch).
Lawrence is just the third player in NFL history with 19 passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns in any eight-game span within a season, joining Lamar Jackson in his 2019 MVP campaign and Cam Newton in his 2015 MVP campaign. His 38 total touchdowns in 2025 are the most by any player in a season in Jaguars history.
The Jaguars finished with as many wins in 2025 (13) as they had in 2023 and 2024 combined and Liam Coen became just the seventh first-time head coach in league history to win 13 games, joining Kevin O'Connell (2022), Matt LaFleur (2019), Jim Harbaugh (2011), Jim Caldwell (2009), Steve Mariucci (1997) and George Seifert (1989).
But it was not just the coach and quarterback that made history for the Jaguars this season -- as kicker Cam Little added a 67-yard field goal in Week 18 to the record books, the second-longest field goal in NFL history behind his own mark of 68 set in Week 9 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Little is the only kicker in the Super Bowl era to simultaneously hold the records for the longest and second-longest made field goals of all-time.
3) Stafford makes strong case for MVP
Despite falling out of the race for the NFC West and No. 1 seed in the conference, Matthew Stafford has remained firmly at the top of the MVP conversation with his prolific passing numbers this season. At 37 years old, Stafford finished his 2025 season with 46 touchdowns and 4,707 passing yards, both the most in the NFL. His Rams had the highest-scoring offense in the league at 30.5 points per game. Here is some MVP precedence for those facts:
The only players to outright lead the NFL in pass yards and touchdowns while playing for the top scoring offense in the NFL since 1990 are Stafford in 2025 and five quarterbacks who all won MVP that season (Patrick Mahomes in 2022, Peyton Manning in 2013, Tom Brady in 2007 and Kurt Warner in 2001).
To make that list a little more exclusive, here are the only players in NFL history to lead the NFL in pass yards and touchdowns while throwing eight or fewer interceptions: Stafford in 2025 and Brady in 2007.
In Week 18 against the Cardinals, it may have been the deciding factor in Stafford's MVP case, as he threw four more touchdowns and avoided turning the ball over. It was the ninth game this season in which he threw at least three touchdowns and avoided throwing an interception, one fewer game than Aaron Rodgers' record 10 such performances in his 2020 season (which also ended in an MVP).
To be fair to the Drake Maye fans on the other side of the MVP argument, Stafford does not have an impenetrable résumé -- his team finished 12-5 and will have to go on the road in the Wild Card Round. The last time a player won MVP on a team that was not a top-two seed in his conference (let alone on a team that failed to win their division) was Adrian Peterson in 2012. The last time a quarterback on a wild-card team won MVP was Manning in 2008.
4) JSN sets Seahawks receiving yards record
Jaxon Smith-Njigba demolished Seattle's single-season record for receiving yards (1,303 by DK Metcalf in 2020) en route to becoming the first Seahawks player since Hall of Famer Steve Largent to lead the NFL in receiving yards.
Smith-Njigba finished 2025 with 1,793 receiving yards, the second-most by a player in a season before his 24th birthday all-time. JSN was just 16 yards short of that record held by Justin Jefferson (1,809 yards in 2022).
In 15 of his 17 games played in 2025, Smith-Njigba had at least 75 receiving yards, the second-most games of that ilk in a season in NFL history. Only his current teammate Cooper Kupp had more (16 such games in 2021 with the Rams).
Maybe most impressive part of it all: Smith-Njigba did this while playing for one of the most run-heavy offenses in the NFL. The Seahawks ran the ball on 50 percent of their offensive plays in 2025, the third-highest rate behind the Ravens and Bills. Smith-Njigba is the first player in the Super Bowl era to lead the NFL in receiving yards while playing for a team that passed at a bottom-three rate in the NFL.
