5 NFL Stats to Know Through Week 12

The bye weeks ended, and Week 12 finally brought us back to a full, 16-game slate beginning with three games on Thanksgiving day and ending with a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown on Monday night. 

With only five weeks left in the season, certain players are on pace to set records, and others are simply proving they deserve a chance to start.

Here are five stats to know -- both traditional stats and Net Expected Points (NEP) marks, which compare team's or player's performance relative to expectation-level -- through Week 12.

1. Blaine Gabbert’s 0.16 Passing NEP per drop back ranks 14th among NFL quarterbacks

Among the quarterbacks with at least 50 drop backs this season Blaine Gabbert ranks 22 spots ahead of Colin Kaepernick (-0.03) in Passing NEP per drop back.

Kaepernick was benched after leading the 49ers to only two victories in their first eight games, while Gabbert is now 1-2 through three games since taking over.

Of those three games, two were against division opponents, who both San Francisco quarterbacks have played against this season.

Gabbert completed at least 20% more of his passes than Kaepernick did in both games against the same opponents.

Both of the 49ers' next two games are against defenses that rank among the bottom half of league in Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP.

2. The Eagles have given up five passing touchdowns in each of their last two games

Jameis Winston and Matthew Stafford each threw five touchdowns and zero interceptions against the Eagles.

Outside of Week 11 against Philadelphia, Winston has thrown for 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in the other 10 games this season. Stafford has thrown 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his 10 games against all other teams.

The Eagles defense has not looked the same over the past two weeks after beginning the season with 12 interceptions over their first nine games.

Winston (36.14) and Stafford (31.31) rank 19th and 22nd, respectively, in Passing NEP. In Week 13, the Eagles' defense squares off against Tom Brady, who leads the NFL in Passing NEP (147.15) and passing touchdowns (28) with only 4 interceptions this season.

3. Julio Jones leads the NFL with 94 receptions for 1,245 yards

Julio Jones is on pace to set new career highs in receptions and receiving yards for the second year in a row. En route to his career season last year, he topped 100 receiving yards in seven different games. 

With five games left to play this year, he has already surpassed the 100 yard mark six times.

He will need 50 catches over the remaining five games this season to break Marvin Harrison’s single season receptions record. Jones currently has four games already this season with 10 or more receptions, including 12 against the Falcons’ Week 13 opponent, Tampa Bay.

He’s currently averaging 113.8 yards per game this season and would need to average 143.8 yards in each of the remaining five games to pass Calvin Johnson for the single season yardage record. Jones has already been over 143 yards 3 times this year, including 162 in that 12-catch game earlier this season against the Buccaneers.

Jones has been above record-setting pace for both receptions and yardage during two three-game spurts this season but will need to perform at that level over the remaining five games if he wants to make history.

4. Russell Wilson has thrown eight touchdown passes and zero interceptions his last two games

Russell Wilson followed up his three-touchdown performance against the 49ers in Week 11 by throwing five touchdown passes against the Steelers in Week 12.

Through his first nine games this season, Wilson’s two-touchdown performance in Week 2 was his only game with multiple passing touchdowns. He had also thrown at least one interception in six of those games.

No other NFL quarterback this season has thrown eight or more touchdowns in consecutive weeks without an interception.

In Week 13, Wilson will take on the Vikings, who boast a better Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP and have allowed fewer touchdowns than each of the Seahawks' previous two opponents.

5. Tyler Eifert leads the NFL with 12 receiving touchdowns

Among all tight ends with 30 or more targets this season, Tyler Eifert’s 0.90 Reception NEP per target ranks first in the NFL, and his 91.30% Success Rate is second behind only Scott Chandler (94.74%).

Eifert is currently the only player in the NFL with double-digit  receiving touchdowns, and is on pace to finish the season with 17. Since 1996, only Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski have caught 17 or more touchdown passes in a season.

This is a big jump for a player who only had two receiving touchdowns prior to this season. Eifert’s second year in the NFL was cut short after he was injured in Week 1 of last season, but he has certainly rebounded in a big way.

In Week 13, if he is healthy, he gets another crack at the Browns' defense that he torched for three touchdowns earlier this year.