Matthew Stafford’s passing lead is down to 80 yards as C.J. Stroud jumps to second after Week 6

Matthew Stafford still leads the NFL in passing yards after Week 6, but the cushion is shrinking. He went 25 of 33 for 222 yards and two touchdowns in the Rams’ 18–16 home loss to Arizona, his lowest total since the opener, and sits at 1,794 yards. Houston’s C.J. Stroud threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns in the 34–31 win over Jacksonville at Wembley and jumped from fourth to second at 1,714, 80 yards back.

Green Bay’s Jordan Love is third at 1,684 after throwing for 276 yards in the 23–13 win over Dallas, so 110 yards separate the top three. Detroit’s Jared Goff, who was second through Week 5 at 1,485, was on bye and slid to ninth. Seven quarterbacks are past 1,500 yards.

NFL passing yards leaders after Week 6

Rank	Player	Team	G	Cmp-Att	Yds	Yds/G	Yds/Att	TD	INT	Rating	Week 6
1	Matthew Stafford	LAR	6	164-249	1,794	299.0	7.2	11	6	91.7	25-33, 222 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT
2	C.J. Stroud	HOU	6	143-219	1,714	285.7	7.8	9	1	100.9	24-34, 312 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT
3	Jordan Love	GB	6	135-226	1,684	280.7	7.5	11	4	91.8	23-41, 276 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
4	Dak Prescott	DAL	6	163-246	1,639	273.2	6.7	10	5	90.1	34-54, 258 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
5	Kirk Cousins	LV	6	135-213	1,582	263.7	7.4	14	5	98.0	23-41, 313 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
6	Bryce Young	CAR	5	121-201	1,549	309.8	7.7	11	2	98.5	20-39, 281 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT
7	Josh Allen	BUF	6	114-171	1,504	250.7	8.8	9	4	102.1	23-33, 255 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT
8	Aaron Rodgers	PIT	6	143-233	1,487	247.8	6.4	12	5	88.0	33-49, 253 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
9	Jared Goff	DET	5	128-191	1,485	297.0	7.8	12	0	111.3	Bye
10	Trevor Lawrence	JAX	6	120-184	1,480	246.7	8.0	14	4	106.3	24-41, 306 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT
11	Drake Maye	NE	6	117-183	1,463	243.8	8.0	11	7	92.8	18-32, 235 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT
12	Brock Purdy	SF	6	119-171	1,460	243.3	8.5	14	2	118.1	21-29, 264 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT
13	Tyler Shough	NO	6	153-235	1,443	240.5	6.1	12	5	90.1	16-30, 144 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT
14	Joe Burrow	CIN	5	135-189	1,361	272.2	7.2	11	3	104.4	Bye
15	Geno Smith	NYJ	6	122-177	1,336	222.7	7.5	7	1	101.8	20-30, 252 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

Stafford also leads the league in completions (164) and attempts (249), one completion and three attempts ahead of Dallas’ Dak Prescott. On a per-game basis, Carolina’s Bryce Young is first at 309.8 yards across five games, because the Panthers had their bye in Week 5, ahead of Stafford (299.0) and Goff (297.0).

Stroud has been the most careful of the leaders. He has nine touchdown passes and one interception, a 100.9 passer rating and 7.8 yards per attempt, and the only pick against him this season came from Travis Hunter in London. Stafford has 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. The touchdown lead belongs to Las Vegas’ Kirk Cousins, Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy at 14 apiece.

Who has led after each week

After week	Leader	Yds	Second	Yds	Gap
1	Tyler Shough (NO)	410	Jordan Love (GB)	387	23
2	Tyler Shough (NO)	662	Bryce Young (CAR)	648	14
3	Bryce Young (CAR)	939	Tyler Shough (NO)	917	22
4	Bryce Young (CAR)	1,268	Jared Goff (DET)	1,214	54
5	Matthew Stafford (LAR)	1,572	Jared Goff (DET)	1,485	87
6	Matthew Stafford (LAR)	1,794	C.J. Stroud (HOU)	1,714	80

Three quarterbacks have held the lead so far. New Orleans’ Tyler Shough was first after Weeks 1 and 2 on the strength of a 410-yard opener in Detroit, Young took over after Weeks 3 and 4, and Stafford moved in front with 383 yards against Buffalo in Week 5. Shough is now 13th at 1,443.

How the top 10 moved in Week 6

Player	Team	Yds through Week 5	Rank through Week 5	Week 6 yds	Yds now	Rank now
Matthew Stafford	LAR	1,572	1	222	1,794	1
C.J. Stroud	HOU	1,402	4	312	1,714	2
Jordan Love	GB	1,408	3	276	1,684	3
Dak Prescott	DAL	1,381	5	258	1,639	4
Kirk Cousins	LV	1,269	8	313	1,582	5
Bryce Young	CAR	1,268	9	281	1,549	6
Josh Allen	BUF	1,249	10	255	1,504	7
Aaron Rodgers	PIT	1,234	11	253	1,487	8
Jared Goff	DET	1,485	2	Bye	1,485	9
Trevor Lawrence	JAX	1,174	14	306	1,480	10

Cousins made the biggest climb, from eighth to fifth, with 313 yards in the 33–30 home loss to Buffalo. Young went from ninth to sixth with 281 yards in the 25–14 win at Philadelphia. Jacksonville’s Lawrence, with 306 yards in the Wembley loss, climbed from 14th to 10th. Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, on bye, and Shough dropped out of the top 10.

300-yard games

Week	300-yard passing games
1	5
2	4
3	4
4	7
5	6
6	5
Total	31

Stafford has four 300-yard games, the most in the league, in a row from Week 2 to Week 5. Stroud and Love have three each. Week 6 produced five: Cousins (313), Stroud (312), Lawrence (306), Chicago’s Caleb Williams (305) and Washington’s Jayden Daniels (300).

The Week 7 schedule for the leaders

Player	Team	Week 7	Kickoff (ET)	Cairo time
Matthew Stafford	LAR	at Las Vegas	Sun, Oct. 25, 4:25 p.m.	Sun 23:25
C.J. Stroud	HOU	vs. NY Giants	Sun, 1:00 p.m.	Sun 20:00
Jordan Love	GB	at Detroit	Sun, 4:25 p.m.	Sun 23:25
Dak Prescott	DAL	at Philadelphia	Mon, Oct. 26, 8:15 p.m.	Tue 03:15
Kirk Cousins	LV	vs. LA Rams	Sun, 4:25 p.m.	Sun 23:25
Bryce Young	CAR	vs. Tampa Bay	Sun, 1:00 p.m.	Sun 20:00
Josh Allen	BUF	Bye
Aaron Rodgers	PIT	vs. New Orleans (Paris)	Sun, 9:30 a.m.	Sun 16:30
Jared Goff	DET	vs. Green Bay	Sun, 4:25 p.m.	Sun 23:25
Trevor Lawrence	JAX	Bye

Two of the matchups put leaders on the same field. Stafford and Cousins meet in Las Vegas, and Love faces Goff at Ford Field in the late Sunday window. Josh Allen and Lawrence cannot add yards because Buffalo and Jacksonville are on bye, and Prescott gets the last word of the week on Monday night in Philadelphia.