10 interesting stats halfway through the 2013 NFL season

Half of the NFL's 32 teams have reached the midway pole of the 2013 regular season, and the other half will hit that mark this weekend. With that being the case, here are 10 stats we find interesting thus far…

1. The single-season completion percentage record is still on track to be broken, but no longer by Peyton Manning. Believe it or not, Philip Rivers leads the league with a completion percentage of 73.9, which is nearly three points up on Manning. Rivers threw 48 interceptions the last three seasons but has only five this year and might record the most accurate campaign in NFL history. Mike McCoy is a genius.

2. Five quarterbacks are on pace to pass for more than 5,000 yards, which is something only six quarterbacks have accomplished in NFL history prior to this season.

3. Jake Locker and Andrew Luck might have only 39 career starts combined under their belt, but those two young quarterbacks have thrown just four interceptions on a combined 376 passes. They're ranked 1-2 atop the league in interception percentage.

4. Tom Brady is one of only four qualifying quarterbacks with a yards-per-attempt number below 6.0. The other three are Brandon Weeden (benched), Josh Freeman (traded) and Mike Glennon (rookie third-round pick). Brady's 74.9 passer rating ranks 27th in the league, behind Glennon, Matt Schaub, Terrelle Pryor, Chad Henne and EJ Manuel. This has been by far and away the worst season of his Hall of Fame career.

5. Only 12 running backs are on pace to hit 1,000 yards. Sixteen backs did so last year. In 2006, 23 backs hit that plateau. And dating back to the turn of the century, we've never had a year in which fewer than 15 players hit the 1,000-yard mark. The league is averaging only 4.0 yards per carry. It hasn't been that low for a full season since 2005. Games are only averaging 214.6 rushing yards, which is the third-lowest total in NFL history.

6. The average game has had 46.2 points, which is up half a point from 45.6 last season. Since the 1970 merger, that was the first time we had surpassed the 45.0 mark. Since 2009, we've literally been adding close to one point per game per season. It's gone from 43.0 in '09 to 44.0 in 2010 to 44.4 in 2011 to 45.6 in 2012 to 46.6 in 2013. It's only a matter of time before we break into the 50s.

7. The Jaguars are on pace to surrender 356 more points than they score, which would be an NFL record. In fact, no team in NFL history has ever been outscored by more than 300 points in a single season. 

8. The 32-year-old Robert Mathis is on pace to pick up 26 sacks, shattering the all-time NFL record. The Chiefs as a team are on pace to record 72 sacks, which would tie the all-time NFL record. On the flip side, Ryan Tannehill is on pace to be sacked 73 times, which would be the second-highest total in NFL history, behind only David Carr.

9. Robert Griffin III leads the league with nine fumbles. He has 21 fumbles in 22 games since entering the league at the start of the 2012 season. During that span, only one other player has more than 15 (Tannehill, 17). 

10. Kickers are making 86 percent of their field goals, which is actually up 2.1 points from last season. There hasn't been a single miss from inside 30 yards, and kickers are hitting 94 percent of their kicks inside 40 yards. It's not even a challenge anymore. In fact, they're hitting 65 percent of their field goals from beyond 50 yards. That's a mark that had never been reached on field goals of any length until the 1981 season. 

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com (covering Super Bowls XLIV, XLV and XLVI), a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Bloguin, but his day gig has him covering all things NFC East for Bleacher Report.

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