5 NFL single-season records that could be broken in Week 18

Current record: Drew Brees, 471 (2016) and Matthew Stafford (727)

Brady enters Week 18 with 456 completed passes in 682 tries, already far and away his career highs in both categories. Mind you, he's 44 years old. He threw the ball 50 times against the Jets in Week 17, and he needed each and every one of those throws to get the job done.

There really aren't any other words you can use to describe his greatness and/or the fact that he's playing at perhaps the highest level of his career right now, and it only seems appropriate that he'll add another league record or two to his collection in the season finale.

And yes, he will be suiting up along with the rest of the starting lineup against the Panthers in Week 18, according to Bruce Arians.

Current record: Michael Thomas, 149 (2019) and Calvin Johnson, 1,964 (2012)

Kupp will very likely win the receiving triple crown, as he currently leads all players in receptions (138), receiving yards (1,829) and receiving touchdowns (15). It's been an incredible season for Kupp, who just turned in one of his worse performances of the season... with six catches, 95 yards and a touchdown. That's the lower end of Kupp's production this year.

Even if we still had 16-game seasons, this would be an absolutely remarkable season for Kupp, one that would go down in the record books as an all-time great campaign. But with the extra game against the 49ers — a team he had 11 catches and 122 yards against in their first matchup — he has a real chance to rewrite the record books. With that same exact performance, he'd tie Thomas and come up just short of Megatron. And with the NFC West title on the line, expect Kupp to be the focal point yet again, meaning both of these records are well within reach.

Current record: Anquan Boldin (101)

Though it's been Ja'Marr Chase who has stolen most of the headlines for rookie wide receivers, Waddle has had an excellent campaign in his own right. He had a three-reception dud in Miami's Week 17 blowout against the Titans, but that's all he'll need in Week 18 if he wants to get to 102 catches on the season and capture Boldin's record. He'll also break the 1,000-yard mark in doing so in all likelihood, rounding out what was a very impressive campaign for the Alabama product.

We should also mention that former Crimson Tide teammates DeVonta Smith is on the verge of the Eagles' franchise rookie receiving record, as he needs just 38 yards against the Cowboys to surpass DeSean Jackson on the Philly leaderboards.

Current record: Mike Ditka, 1,076 (1961)

Coach Ditka was a beast of a player before he was a coach, hauling in 56 receptions for 1,076 yards and 12 touchdowns as a rookie. But his long-standing receiving record for the tight end position is in jeopardy with Week 18 on the horizon.

That's because Kyle Pitts, who has largely flown under the radar this season amid a number of other impressive rookie performances, broke the 1,000-yard mark in Week 17 and is only 59 yards shy of passing Ditka's rookie yardage figure. Pitts is averaging 77 yards per game in the last four weeks, so recent history suggests he may be able to get this one done.

Current record: Michael Strahan, 22.5 (2001)*

It looks like this is the figure that most stat-keepers will go by for Watt, who only sits one behind Strahan after a monstrous four-sack effort against the Browns in Week 17. Pro Football Reference says that Al Baker had a 23.0-sack season in 1978, before the league started tracking the stat officially, but that might not matter — Watt might get the better of both records.

In Week 18 he gets the Baltimore Ravens, the team that has surrendered the most sacks in the league (54) to this point in the season. That bodes well for Watt, and such a feat would have to push him to the front of the Defensive Player of the Year race... right?