1) Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen: stampeding into unprecedented QB rushing history
Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen will meet as starting quarterbacks for the 10th time in Week 9 – their sixth regular season tussle to go along with four playoff battles. The MVP quarterbacks have two of the most electric arms in the history of the sport, but in round 10 on Sunday, it’s their legs that can carry them to a piece of NFL history.
Allen and Cam Newton are the only two quarterbacks to ever rush for at least 70 touchdowns in a career, and Allen has carried the ball across the goal line at least six times in each of his first seven career seasons.
Allen’s five rushing touchdowns this season are tied for the most among quarterbacks, and with another score on the ground in 2025, he can become the first quarterback in NFL history to reach six rushing touchdowns in each of their first eight seasons in the league. Only three other players – Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown, Marshall Faulk and LaDainian Tomlinson – have ever rushed for at least six touchdowns in each of their first eight seasons.
At any point in a career, there have only been five players to string together at least eight consecutive seasons of six-or-more rushing touchdowns, a list Allen can join with just one more touchdown run. He would join Hall of Famers LaDainian Tomlinson, Marshall Faulk, Jim Brown and Thurman Thomas and Derrick Henry as the only players to ever accomplish the feat.
Standing on the opposite sideline at Highmark Stadium on Sunday is the only player in the NFL with at least 2,000 passing yards and more than 250 rushing yards. It’s the first time in Mahomes’ nine-year NFL career he’s reached both of those marks through the Chiefs’ first eight games of a season.
Mahomes has racked up at least 250 passing yards and 25 rushing yards in each of his last four games, and with another such performance in Week 9, he’ll become the first player to ever throw for 250 yards and rush for 25 yards in five consecutive games.