Week 9 of the 2022 NFL season produced some of the oddest quarterback statistics we’ve ever seen … and that’s not a good thing.
Aside from Justin Fields and Patrick Mahomes, no other quarterback carried any fantasy squads to victory this week. And sure, six teams were on a bye, but nobody was pining for Dak Prescott or Russell Wilson.
Through the first eight weeks of the season, at least five quarterbacks passed for 300-plus yards each week. In Week 9, there were just two – Mahomes (446) and Tua Tagovailoa (302).
Fields, meanwhile, set an NFL record for most rushing yards by a QB in a regular-season game, running for 178 yards in the Bears’ loss to the Dolphins. And here’s the odd part: Fields was one of six quarterbacks to lead his team in rushing Sunday:
• Justin Fields, Bears: 15-178-1
• Josh Allen, Bills: 9-86-2
• Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs: 6-63-1
• Kyler Murray, Cardinals: 8-60
• Aaron Rodgers, Packers: 4-40
• Sam Ehlinger, Colts: 5-39
Jamie Sabau/USA Today Sports
This is just the fifth time in the Super Bowl era that as many as six quarterbacks led their teams in rushing in a week. And since Monday night’s game features Lamar Jackson – who leads the Ravens in rushing yards on the season – it’s a safe bet Week 9 will be the new record.
Problem is, maybe this stat says more about the sad state of running backs than it does about fleet-footed quarterbacks. Allen, Mahomes and Murray are known for their running ability, but being their team’s leading rusher Sunday was not a good thing. The Bills and Cardinals lost and the Chiefs needed overtime to get past the Titans at home. These three teams averaged 19 points; their quarterbacks might have had more success throwing the ball if they had running backs to handle the workload in the run game.
As for Rodgers and Ehlinger, they led their teams in rushing simply because those running games were atrocious. Before Green Bay’s Aaron Jones got hurt, he had nine carries for 25 yards. Fantasy managers have been waiting patiently for AJ Dillon to get more carries but with Jones sidelined, Dillon managed just 34 yards on his 11 carries. The Colts? Jonathan Taylor’s injury-plagued season has already destroyed many fantasy campaigns. There weren’t great expectations for Deon Jackson in Week 9, but – especially with the six teams on a bye – plenty of fantasy managers saw fit to start Jackson. He rewarded them with 11 carries for 34 yards.
It doesn’t help that some teams are just abandoning the run game altogether. Mahomes attempted 68 passes Sunday night. A crazy number like that is typically only seen when a team is way behind or the game’s a shootout. But this was a low-scoring contest. While Mahomes was throwing the ball all over the place, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon combined for 12 carries. Then again, those 12 carries produced a total of 14 yards. Keep chucking, Patrick.
Which brings us back to Fields. Of the six quarterbacks who led their teams in rushing Sunday, Fields was the only one who had more rushing yards than passing yards. The second-year pro completed 17 of 28 passes for a mere 123 yards. That’s O.K., though, because he finished with three touchdown passes. Through the first eight weeks of the season, Fields had a total of seven. Bears receiver Darnell Mooney, a popular fantasy sleeper pick before the season began, caught his first touchdown of the season. Tight end Cole Kmet, who had a total of 14 receptions through the first eight games, had five catches Sunday and two touchdowns.
In other words, SI Fantasy’s Matt De Lima is looking pretty smart right now. He’s not just on the Justin Fields bandwagon; he’s driving the bandwagon. In his Week 8 cheat sheet, De Lima explained why he liked what he was seeing from Fields. A few days later, in SI Fantasy’s bold second-half predictions, De Lima doubled down and suggested Fields might help the Bears make a playoff push. Fields’s heroics were nearly enough to upset the Dolphins on Sunday, but instead Chicago fell to 3-6 on the season. Believe it or not, though, they are less than two games out of the third wild-card spot in the milquetoast NFC (the 49ers, who were on a bye this week, currently hold the third wild card spot with a 4-4 mark).
Kudos also to SI Fantasy’s Michael Fabiano, who mentioned on Sunday’s SI Fantasy Twitter Spaces show that he was planning to start Fields over Tom Brady in one of his leagues. With fantasy managers likely dropping Rodgers after his three-INT clunker against a previously porous Lions defense, it will be fascinating to see how Fields does against Detroit in Week 10. Fields is rostered in 61% of NFL.com fantasy leagues, which means that he’ll be highly fought over on the waiver wire.
