Seven absurd stats heading into Week 6 of the NFL season

Now that we’re five weeks into the NFL season, players have put up stats that can’t be taken with a grain of salt. The sample size is too big. Therefore, we have some players on pace to do extraordinary things by season’s end.

Two rookie quarterbacks continue to dominate their counterparts in the NFC East. Another rookie in that division is doing Adrian Peterson things.

Meanwhile, a cornerback in the Pacific Northwest continues to prove why he’s the class of the NFL.

These are among the factors we look at when determining seven of the most absurd stats heading into Week 6 of the NFL season.

New York Jets’ abysmal pass defense

Todd Bowles’ defense has been downright atrocious through the first five weeks of the season. How bad? This unit is yielding a 71.7 completion percentage and 118.6 quarterback rating to opposing signal callers. They are also yielding an absurd 12.2 yards per reception.

This doesn’t even begin to tell the story here. Receivers are absolutely tearing the Jets’ defense apart through five weeks.

New York now gets to go up against Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals this week before taking on Steve Smith’s Baltimore Ravens in Week 7. Ouch!

This new Chicago Bears offense is pretty darn good

It might only be a three-game sample size, but what Brian Hoyer has done for the Bears in Jay Cutler’s stead is pretty astonishing. Not only has Hoyer put up three consecutive 300-plus yard performances, he’s thrown six touchdowns compared to zero interceptions during this span.

The veteran backup is also completing 71.1 percent of his passes with a 110-plus quarterback rating. No wonder the Bears are reportedly content to leave Cutler on the bench when he’s fully healthy.

If Hoyer is having so much success, it stands to reason that his pass catchers are also putting up alarmingly good numbers.

The combination of Eddie Royal and Zach Miller have caught 38-of-42 passes for over 400 yards with three scores since Hoyer took over as the starter.

Let’s not even begin to mention what rookie running back Jordan Howard has done since Jeremy Langford went down to injury. Howard has put up 295 total yards on 45 touches for an average of 6.6 yards per touch over the past two games.

None of this will be good enough for the Bears to ascend to playoff contention status. Nonetheless, it’s pretty interesting that this offense is performing at a higher clip with Jay Cutler, Jeremy Langford and Kevin White out of the lineup.

Adrian Peterson vs Ezekiel Elliott

We can definitely put Todd Gurley’s first five games from last season in there. After all, the Los Angeles Rams running back did compile 585 yards in his first five games. Though, the comparison pretty much ends there. The then St. Louis Rams didn’t have anywhere near as much on-field success as Peterson’s Vikings, and even more so, this year’s Cowboys.

Outside of basic stats, the entirety of what Elliott has done recently is almost beyond comprehension. Elliott is touching the cowhide one-third of the time Dallas snaps the ball. This past week saw the rookie put up 171 yards on 18 touches. Yes, that’s an average of nearly 10 yards per touch.

It represented the fewest amount of times Elliott has touched the ball in a game this season. In fact, he averaged 25 per outing over the first four weeks.

The Ohio State product now finds himself on pace for over 2,000 total yards and 16 touchdowns. Not only would that make him the obvious NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, it would make him a true MVP candidate.

Absurd level of play from rookie quarterbacks

It’s readily apparent that Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz are the two quarterbacks receiving most of the press out of the 2016 NFL Draft class. And for good reason.

Prescott was the first to break the rookie record for the most passes to start a rookie season without an interception. Wentz surpassed him again, before Prescott went ahead for good Sunday afternoon. Now, heading into Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, Prescott is seven attempts shy of breaking Tom Brady’s overall record for consecutive passes without an interception to start a career. This is absolutely absurd.

For his part, Prescott is in the midst of a four-game winning streak with the Cowboys. In that four-game span, the rookie fourth-round pick is completing 75 percent of his passes, averaging over 290 yards per game while leading the Cowboys to nearly four touchdowns per game. Did we mention he hasn’t thrown an interception?

For his part, Wentz may have thrown his first interception last week. What a slacker, right? It did, however, come in a game that saw him complete 25-of-33 passes. And over the course of his past two starts, the North Dakota State product is completing over 75 percent of his passes. Again, this is an absurd stat to think about.

It isn’t just Wentz and Prescott doing their thing. Other rookie quarterbacks have performed well this season, albeit in limited playing time.

Jacoby Brissett of the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns rookie signal caller Cody Kessler have combined to complete 65 percent of their passes with three touchdowns and just one pick in 136 pass attempts.

Yes, this means that the four rookies that have started this season not named Paxton Lynch, have combined to throw two interceptions in 426 pass attempts this season.

Green Bay Packers’ run defense

Taking on Ezekiel Elliott on Sunday, this unit will face the most difficult test of the young season. The same could be said for Elliott, who will be going up against what has been an absolutely dominating Packers run defense.

Through the first four games of the season, Green Bay’s defense has yielded 171 rushing yards on 86 attempts. That’s an average of 43 yards per game and 2.0 yards per rush.

To put that into perspective, Green Bay is on pace to give up 684 yards on the ground this season. The Seattle Seahawks led in that category last season, yielding 1,304 yards.

Can we get anyone to cover tight ends? 

With the central focus in today’s NFL being on wide receivers, it appears defenses are forgetting about actually covering the middle of the field. Maybe it has to do with lackluster free safety play. Then again, linebacker coverage hasn’t been up to snuff. Whatever the reason, defenses are struggling big time in this category.

Dallas is yielding a 90 percent catch rate to tight ends. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts have allowed tight ends to catch 24-of-27 targets through five weeks. Overall, there are 10 teams giving up a 70-plus catch rate to this position on the year. Only three teams are yielding a sub 60 percent catch rate.

This has obviously inflated the numbers for some of the best tight ends in the game. But what it’s done for those tight ends that are flying under the radar is what’s truly amazing.

The aforementioned Zach Miller has caught 25-of-29 targets for an 87 percent catch rate. Despite being targeted just 28 times on the season, New England Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett has caught 21 passes and has scored four touchdowns in five games. Meanwhile, none other than Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle has caught 84 percent of his targets this season.

Richard Sherman’s continued excellence

Prior to allowing 72 receiving yards to New York Jets receiver Brandon Marshall in Week 4, Sherman had yielded a grand total of  23 total passing yards in three games. And while Marshall did beat him for a touchdown in that game, Sherman had the final answer, picking off Ryan Fitzpatrick twice.

Now, heading into this weekend’s tilt with Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowler Julio Jones, the stats speak for themselves as it relates to Sherman.

The key here? “When targeting No. 1 receivers.” Remember, Sherman doesn’t always shadow the other team’s top pass catcher. But when he does, he’s absolutely dominating them. Good luck, Mr. Jones.