Apparently, 13 can be a lucky number. That’s the number of games that were played in Week 8, and the 26 teams in action provided a lot of numbers, especially when it came to the offensive side of the football.
For example, all four teams in the AFC East won last week, and all scored at least 32 points. The Patriots, Bills, Dolphins, and Jets won their games by a combined 145-70 score.
So are the offenses around the league primed for another explosion this week, starting on Thursday night in South Florida?
Take a look at 5 key numbers for Week 9
11
There were a season-low 13 games in Week 8, and yet a season-high 11 teams scored at least 30 points. It made for a wild week of lopsided games, 12 of which were decided by 10 points or more. Meanwhile, the lone exception to that rule was the one game in which the only team to score at least 30 points didn’t come away with a victory. Of course, it was the Cincinnati Bengals, who have allowed the most points per game in the league. Zac Taylor’s club was edged at home by the then-winless New York Jets, 39-38.
4
Playing defense is synonymous with the Black and Gold, but that hasn’t been the case when it comes to Mike Tomlin’s team this season. The Pittsburgh Steelers have allowed at least 30 points in four of their first seven games, including all three of their losses. Only the 3-5 Bengals and 3-4-1 Cowboys are allowing more total yards per game, and no team in the NFL is allowing more yards per outing through the air. Things don’t get any easier on Sunday when they face the Colts and the league’s top-ranked offense.
9
Eight weeks into 2025, there have already been nine games decided by a single point. That includes the aforementioned Jets’ 39-38 win at Cincinnati last Sunday. A year ago, there were a total of 13 one-point decisions all season. It will be interesting to see where this number is headed, but there would have to be a slew of these close contests to threaten what happened in 1988. That season, there were 19 one-point games in a league in which there were only a total of 28 teams playing in a combined 224 contests.
36
Sean Payton’s first-place Denver Broncos have an exciting quarterback in second-year pro Bo Nix. They also have a defensive unit that knows how to stalk opposing signal-callers. A season ago, the team led the NFL in sacks (36) for the first time since their Super Bowl 50 title campaign of 2015. This season, Vance Joseph’s defense is at it again. Led by 2024 Pro Bowler Nik Bonitto (8.0), Denver has racked up 36 sacks in eight outings. The 1984 Chicago Bears own the single-season sack record with 72 QB traps (16 games).
28
The reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs got off to a 0-2 start, and owned a 2-3 record just five weeks into the season. Andy Reid’s team had already lost more regular-season games in 2025 than it did a year ago when it finished tied for the best record in the league at 15-2. After three games, the Chiefs had totaled a mere 60 points and the offense reached the end zone a combined six times. In each of their last five contests, Patrick Mahomes and company have scored four offensive TDs and totaled 28-plus points.