Sideline Synopsis: Notes of Interest for Week 8 of the NFL Regular Season

Who set an NFL record for completion percentage with a minimum of 15 passes on Monday night?

Which team scored its first offensive touchdown in four weeks in a loss on Sunday?

What tight end posted the most receptions in a single game in the last five years?

And which defense gave up 400 yards of offense for its seventh-straight game this weekend?

All this and more is answered as Jockspin.com’s Jason Roberts takes a look at the stats that defined Week 8 of the NFL regular season.

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Quarterback Jay Cutler finished Sunday’s 23-22 win over the Carolina Panthers with a fourth quarter quarterback rating of 92.4, this after entering the game leading the NFL in that category  (min. 25 action plays) to this point in the season.

Cam Newton is now completing 59.8 percent of his passes of five yard or fewer downfield, this after completing 72.8 percent last season.

With a timely 25-yard interception for a touchdown in the late fourth quarter of Sunday’s game with the Carolina Panthers, Chicago’s Tim Jennings earned the team’s sixth such defensive score in the franchise’s first seven games of the year.  The 1961 Chargers top the NFL for most interceptions returned for touchdowns in a season with nine, while the 1998 Seattle Seahawks follow closely behind with eight and the 1999 St. Louis Rams and 1984 Seattle Seahawks are tied at third with seven a piece.

By hitting a 41-yard game-winning field goal with time expiring Sunday in a 23-22 victory for Chicago over Carolina, Bears placekicker Robbie Gould earned the 200^th successful kick of his professional football career.  He is the second Chicago kicker with 200 field goals, joining Kevin Butler (243), and becomes the third-most productive NFL kicker since 2005.

In losing to the Cleveland Browns 7-6 this past Sunday, the San Diego Chargers earned their second game of the 2012 season without scoring an offensive touchdown.  The last time the franchise failed to score an offensive touchdown in two or more games in one season was in 2000, when the team totaled three.

Cleveland’s Trent Richardson, who rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s 7-6 win over San Diego, became the first Browns rookie with five rushing touchdowns in the team’s first eight games since Ron A. Johnson did so in 1969.

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford ended up throwing a game-winning touchdown in the final minute of play of Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, and in doing so, earned not only his second such score this season, but his fourth in the last four years as well.

Stafford also completed 11-of-20 passes outside the numbers for 131 yards and all three of his touchdowns Sunday against the Seahawks, a team with a defense that had allowed just five touchdowns and posted four interceptions on throws outside the numbers prior to Sunday’s match up with the Lions.

Lions wide receiver Titus Young, bumped up Detroit’s depth chart after wideout Nate Burleson was injured in last week’s loss to the Chicago, ended Sunday’s victory over Seattle a perfect 9-of-9 for receiving targets for 100 yards and two touchdowns.  He becomes just the second different receiver in the league outside Randall Cobb to have at least eight targets and a perfect catch percentage in a single game for the 2012 season.

Marshawn Lynch scored on a 77-yard run to kick off the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, and in doing so, posted the longest touchdown of his career and the longest by a Seahawks player since Shaun Alexander took in an 88-yard score back in 2005.

With his two scoring passes against the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 24-15 win at home for the Green Bay Packers Sunday, quarterback Aaron Rodgers earned his 152^nd and 153^rd career touchdown passes, moving him past legend Bart Starr on the career list for the franchise.

Rodgers completed both of his passes into the end zone in Sunday’s win over Jacksonville and is now 14-of-22 on such throws for the season.  He leads the NFL with 14 touchdowns and no interceptions as it relates to such passes.

Green Bay earned its first blocked punt for a touchdown in 22 years Sunday after Dezman Moses recovered an errant kick by Mason Crosby in the second quarter of the Packers’ 24-17 win over Jacksonville.

Packers wide receiver Donald Driver appeared in his 200^th regular season game Sunday against the Jaguars, making him the only other Green Bay player beside Brett Favre to reach that milestone.  Drive also becomes to 22^nd receiver in NFL history to play in 200 games.

Jacksonville Jaguars kickers Josh Scobee has now made 20 straight field goals, tying him with Mike Hollis’ franchise record.

Indianapolis Colts kicker Rob Bironas now owns a franchise career record of 201 field goals.

With a 19-13 win in overtime over the Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck became the fifth NFL rookie passer to post a win in his first road start in an overtime game since 2004.

The New England Patriots put up their 17-straight game with at least 350 yards of total offense Sunday in a 45-7 win over St. Louis in London, setting an NFL record formally set by the Rams in 1999-2000.

New England tight end Rob Gronkowski, who caught two touchdown passes in Sunday’s 45-7 rout of St. Louis in London, now stands fifth-best in NFL history for most scoring receptions by a player in his first three seasons playing in the league.  Only Randy Moss, Jerry Rice, John Jefferson and Rob Hayes have more than Gronkowski’s 34.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady earned a total quarterback rating of 98.4 in Sunday’s win over the Rams, tying his highest such rating in a single game in the last five seasons.

Rams wide receiver Chris Givens has now scored a touchdown reception of 50 yards or better in each of the last five weeks – the first player in the NFL to do so since Pat Studstilll was as a member of the Lions back in 1996.

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, who finished Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins 28-of-54 passing for 283 yards, a touchdown and an interception, posted a total quarterback rating of 12.1, his 12^th-career game with a rating below 15.0 and the most by an NFL quarterback since Sanchez entered the league in 2009.

Believe it or not, the Atlanta Falcons are now 15-0 when starting quarterback Matt Ryan throws at least three touchdowns in a game, including Sunday’s 30-17 win on the road against Philadelphia.  Ryan now trails just Daryle Lamonica (19) for the best record in games with three or more touchdown passes in NFL history.

Not only is Atlanta 7-0 for the season, they have also scored 23 or more points in each game they’ve played to this point in the year.  Only five other teams in NFL history have achieved similar numbers while tallying a 7-o record.

Robert Griffin III, rookie quarterback for the Washington Redskins, did not attempt a single scramble in Sunday’s 27-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Coming into the game, Griffin led the NFL in both scrambles (24) and scramble yardage (289).

After leading the league in completions on passes of 10 yards or deeper (61.5 percent), Griffin connected on just 4-of-12 such throws against the Steelers on Sunday.

Kansas City’s touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Matt Cassel to Dexter McCluster in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 26-16 loss to the Oakland Raiders was the first the Chiefs had scored since Sept. 30 against San Diego.

Oakland quarterback Carson Palmer, who finished a 26-16 win over Kansas City with 209 yards throwing, two touchdowns and an interception, has now finished with 200 yards or more passing in each of his last 13 starts – a franchise record.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning earned his 25^th career fourth-quarter comeback in Sunday’s 29-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys.  Manning now leads all NFL passers in such comebacks since 2004, with brother Peyton second with 22.

New York’s defense pressured Dallas quarterback Tony Romo on 14-of-47 dropbacks (29.5 percent) in Sunday’s win over the Cowboys, the most the Cowboys passer has been pressured in a single game over the past three seasons.

Cowboys tight end Jason Witten posted 18 receptions on 22 targets Sunday, the most by a tight end in a game over the last five seasons in the NFL.

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns in Sunday’s 34-14 win over the New Orleans Saints, the fifth-straight time he’s surpassed 300 yards passing in a single contest.  That matches his personal best and set a franchise record for Denver.

Denver wide receiver Demaryius Thomas recorded his sixth career game with at least 100 receiving yards Sunday against New Orleans.  It was also his third game in four starts with 100 yards or better in a single contest.

Not all was good for the Denver Broncos in Sunday’s win over New Orleans, with the former losing a fumble in their 12^th straight game – the longest streak in the NFL since the Cardinals lost 18 straight back in 1996-97.

The New Orleans Saints defense surrendered 400 yards of total offense  for the seventh-straight game Sunday as the Saints fell to Denver 34-14, becoming the first defensive unit in the NFL to attain such numbers over that same period of games since 1950.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith completed 18-of-19 passes against the Arizona Cardinals Monday night, setting an NFL record for highest completion percentage in a game by quarterback with a minimum of 15 attempts.

49ers receivers gained 107 yards after the catch, the second-most by team pass catchers in any game in the last five seasons.