Fun nextgen stats from nfl week 2

By Rhys Knott

There weren’t many upsets in the second week of the NFL season. But there are still some fun NextGen Stats from NFL Week 2.

NextGen Fastest Carries from Week 2

Those Dolphins are all over the NextGen stats again, the fastest ball carrier in Week 2 was Raheem Mostert. Mostert’s 43-yard touchdown run against the Patriots saw him reach 21.62 mph! That’s 0.04 mph slower than Tyreek Hill’s fastest carry of the season so far. And that means that three of the fastest nine players this season are Dolphins. The top three fastest carries are either by Moster or Hill and Jaylen Waddle is ninth. That’s pretty ominous for everyone else in the AFC.  

Second (and fifth) on this week’s list is Marvin Mimms. Broncos’ rookie Mimms 53 yards reception against the Commanders. Mimms only caught two passes in that game, but he still racked up 113 receiving yards in the game. With 10 rushing yards and 45 punt return yards (but more on that later). Mimms’ 53-yard reception saw him travel at 21.38 mph.  

Tre Tucker of the Raiders came in third this week with a 34-yard rush against the Bills. It was his only carry and is rookie Tucker’s only touch so far in 2023. The Raiders might want to try to involve him a bit more often.  

The fourth entry in this week’s top five is Garrett Wilson. In what was a tough game for them (but that Cowboys defense looks really good) Wilson took a 68-yard pass to the house. He reached a top speed of 21.01 mph on the way.  

Mimms’ second entry in the top five was on a punt return. He catches passes, he runs the ball, he returns punts. He’ll be throwing the passes soon if Wilson can’t figure it out. Mimms probably washes the jerseys and drives the team bus too.  

NextGen Remarkable Rushes from Week 2 

Jerome Ford’s Monday night was pretty impressive for a backup running back. He averaged 6.6 yards per carry on his way to 106 yards after Nick Chubb’s horrible knee injury. Most of those yards came on his 69 yards rush when he reversed the field and left defenders in his wake. He gained 65 yards more than expected.    

Christian McCaffrey has gained 40% of the 49ers’ yards on offense this season and he’s second on this list. Only Justin Jefferson has recorded more yards from scrimmage in 2023 than McCaffrey (and it’s close, 309 yards to 304). On a 51 yards rush on Sunday, his longest of the game, McCaffrey recorded 46 yards more than expected. A fair way behind Ford, but impressive, nonetheless.  

Mostert is back. Not only is he as fast as lightning he’s able to turn small gains into big chunk plays. His 43-yard run that saw him top the speed chart was only supposed to go seven yards! That was one yard more than the fourth placed player.    

Who is D’Andre Swift, Swift celebrated his homecoming with 175 rushing yards and six receiving yards too. On a busy Thursday night for the 24-year-old when he rushed 28 times and caught three passes, he managed a 43 yards run. Those 43 yards should have been just eight yards.   

James Cook rounds out the top five, with a 36-yard run that was expected to go just four yards. Cook racked up 159 total yards for the Bills offense as they demolished a Raiders team who look to be struggling. Again.  

 

Fastest Sacks from Week 2

In a season where everything seems to be going wrong for the Chargers Kenneth Murray shows that something did at least go right in Week 2. He absolutely flattened Ryan Tannehill as the Titans offensive line decided to not block him at all. Murray flew between Xavier Newman and Andre Dillard as the Titans tried to convert a fourth down. It only took Murray 2.31 seconds to get Tannehill on the deck, that’s the fastest sack of the season so far. 0.19 seconds faster than Brian Burns last week.  

If nominative determinism was a thing you’d point to E.J Speed as the primary source of evidence. His sack of C.J Stroud, one of six (way to get your rookie QB killed Texans) took just 2.5 seconds. The Texans really miss those six offensive linemen who are on IR.  

The third fastest sack in Week 2 was by David Long of the Dolphins (those guys get literally everywhere). He took 2.7 seconds to say hello to Mac Jones who got clobbered four times on Sunday Night Football.  

Alex Highsmith made the fourth fastest sack in Week 3, taking just 2.8 seconds to get Deshaun Watson on the floor. Highsmith was one of six different Steelers to sack Watson on Monday night. Highsmith also defended a pass and took an interception to the house on a busy Monday evening.  

Jeffery Simmons breaks up the linebacker dominance in the top five. The defensive tackle took just 2.94 seconds to get to Justin Herbert. 

Feature Image Credit: Associated Press

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

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