The NFL season has never been bigger.
For the first time in its history, the 2021 season saw teams play 17 regular season games, adding one game from the 16 games played in recent years. There have been two Week 18’s before — one in 1993 and one in 2001 — but this year will be the first time teams will suit up for a 17th game. As a result, there’s an additional game for players to pile up stats, presenting them with the opportunity to break all-time, single-season NFL records. So, with one final game left, here’s a look at some of the records that could tumble this weekend. In two minds Competing against LeBron James and Justin Herbert, Cooper Kupp may be the new poster boy of LA sport. The 28-year-old wide receiver is enjoying a breakout year as he helps the LA Rams towards the playoffs. And with just one game remaining against the San Francisco 49ers, he is on the cusp of breaking two of the NFL’s biggest wide receiver records. Through 16 games, Kupp has totaled an extraordinary 1,829 receiving yards, which means he needs just 136 yards to break the all-time record of 1,964 set by Calvin Johnson in 2012. Kupp is also just 12 catches away from breaking Michael Thomas’ single-season catch record of 149 which he set in 2019. However, while many might be thrilled at the possibility of being able to break two of the biggest records in their field, it “wouldn’t seem right for those to be broken in 17 games,” according to Kupp. “We’re in a new age of football here,” Kupp told ESPN. “We’re playing 17 games of football a year, and a lot of the stuff that happened before that, those records hold a different weight, being that they were played in those 16 games.” Kupp continued: “What those guys did in 16 games, it wouldn’t seem right to, I don’t know, for those to be broken in 17 games. It wouldn’t hold the same weight to me as it does for guys that have done that in a 16-game season and the accomplishments those guys had, and the seasons they put together.
