The final week of NFL’s 17-game season could see several players enter

The final week of NFL’s 17-game season could see several players enter,, 

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 The NFL’s unprecedented 17-game regular season is giving players an extended opportunity to rewrite the record books — and Cooper Kupp has a bit of an issue with that.

“What those guys did in 16 games, it wouldn’t seem right for those [records] to be broken in 17 games,” the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver said this week. “It wouldn’t hold the same weight to me as it does for guys that have done that in a 16-game season.”

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Reporters asked Kupp for his thoughts on the matter because he has a chance Sunday to put up bigger numbers than a pair of “those guys” — in his case, Calvin Johnson and Michael Thomas. While with the Detroit Lions in 2012, Johnson set the NFL’s single-season receiving mark with 1,964 yards, and the New Orleans Saints’ Thomas raised the single-season receptions bar with 149 in 2019.

Kupp enters the Rams’ Week 18 game against the San Francisco 49ers with 138 catches for 1,829 yards in 16 games. He can use the extra game to top Thomas with 12 catches, and to move past Johnson if he goes over 135 receiving yards. Given that Kupp has averaged 13.3 receptions per game for 114.3 yards, and that Los Angeles is playing for a division title, he figures to have a great shot at both marks.

Kupp isn’t the only NFL player who can supplant a 16-game record with a new league standard. Among those set to play Sunday with some history at stake are Tom Brady, T.J. Watt and Ja’Marr Chase.

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Of that group, Chase arguably has the best opportunity, because the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver is within 44 yards of the record for rookie receiving yards, set at 1,473 by the Houston Oilers’ Bill Groman in 1960. Drafted fifth overall last year, Chase has had some ups and downs this season, but he has caught fire in the past two weeks with games of 125 and a franchise-record 266 yards. Just one catch (so to speak): With the Bengals having already clinched their division, Coach Zac Taylor said this week that Chase will “potentially” be rested Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

Another player with a great shot at a rookie record, but who also might not be able to make the most of his Week 18 chance, is Kyle Pitts. The Atlanta Falcons tight end, drafted fourth in April, needs just 59 receiving yards to one-up the mark of 1,076 set at his position by the Chicago Bears’ Mike Ditka in 1961. However, Pitts missed some practice time this week with a hamstring injury.

Assuming Jaylen Waddle is healthy, he should be a shoo-in to break the rookie record for receptions, set at 101 by the Arizona Cardinals’ Anquan Boldin in 2003. Waddle, drafted sixth by the Miami Dolphins, enters Sunday with 99 receptions over 15 games played, having sat out a Week 15 contest while in the coronavirus protocols. Thus it should please Kupp to know that if Waddle bests Boldin, he will have done so in the time-honored span of games.

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Watt, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ star pass rusher, has missed two games this season with assorted injuries, so he would need even fewer than 16 to possibly break the NFL’s single-season sack record Sunday. After racking up four sacks last week in a win over the Browns, Watt is suddenly just one behind the total of 22.5 notched in 2001 by the New York Giants’ Michael Strahan. Watt could easily stay hot against the Baltimore Ravens, who face Pittsburgh and have allowed a league-high 54 sacks this season.