Marvin Jones Jr. and Golden Tate are on pace to become just the seventh pair of Detroit Lions receivers in franchise history to hit 1,000-yards receiving in the same season.
Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate were the last Lions teammates to do it back in 2014, but before that, it hadn't been done since Mike Furrey and Roy Williams accomplished the feat in the 2006 season.
Jones has 970 receiving yards with two games remaining. He's currently second in the NFL averaging 18.0 yards per catch, and has the fourth most catches of 25-plus yards on the season with 13. His eight touchdowns are top four among all receivers.
Tate gets it done in a little different way, but it's just as effective. Tate leads all NFL receivers with 541 yards after the catch for a total of 885 on the year. He needs to average 58 yards per game over Detroit's last two contests in Cincinnati and vs. Green Bay to record his third career 1,000-yard receiving season and the third in four seasons in Detroit.
"It'd be solid. It'd be real solid," Jones said of potentially accomplishing the feat with Tate. "Me and GT haven't talked about that one time just because our thing is to go out there and work. If we go out there and keep doing what we're going to do, then it's going to weigh itself out. But it'll be dope."
Here's a look at some other key stats – good and bad – after 15 weeks of football:
- Stafford has completed over 75-percent of his passes in three consecutive games to become the first player in team history to achieve this over a three-game span (82.8 at Bal 12/3, 81.8 at TB 12/10 and 75.8 vs. Chi 12/16).
- The Lions have 54 pass completions of 20-plus yards this season. Only New Orleans (65) and New England (59) have more.
- The Lions are averaging just 17.7 yards per kickoff return, which is second worst to only Pittsburgh (16.9). Detroit ranks first in punt return average (14.3), however.
- Quandre Diggs registered his first career sack against Chicago, and added three tackles, one interception and two passes defended. Diggs became the first Lions defensive player with three-plus tackles, one sack, one interception and two-plus passes defended since CB Dré Bly vs. Minnesota in 2003.
- When it comes to negative plays on offense, the Lions have too many for anyone's liking. Detroit's been sacked 40 times, has 54 negative rushing plays, and has 15 negative pass plays. Only Buffalo (112) and the New York Jets (110) have more negative plays total this season.
- Jamal Agnew caught one pass for six yards Saturday to become the only Lions player since at least 1991 to record a reception, rush, defensive tackle, special teams tackle, punt return and kickoff return in a season.
- Detroit has the fourth lowest percentage of dropped passes this season on passes deemed catchable. They have 12 drops on 322 such passes for a drop percentage of just 3.7.
- Opponents have a passer rating of 84.1 against the Lions inside Detroit's 30-yard line. That's the third lowest rating in the league. The average is 97.0.
- The Lions have done a good job limiting the big plays from opponents. Only 56 points have been scored outside the red zone vs. the Lions this season, the lowest total in the NFL. Detroit's only given up five touchdowns outside the red zone, the second lowest total to Tennessee (4).
- Detroit has scored 99 takeaway points this season. Only Jacksonville (123), Baltimore (118) and the Los Angeles Rams (114) have scored more.
