diff --git a/.changeset/twenty-items-sneeze.md b/.changeset/twenty-items-sneeze.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..44ec82f57dc19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/twenty-items-sneeze.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@eth-optimism/proxyd': minor
+---
+
+Put special errors in a dedicated metric, pass along the content-type header
diff --git a/go/proxyd/backend.go b/go/proxyd/backend.go
index 5a402281110c2..7fef165ef1677 100644
--- a/go/proxyd/backend.go
+++ b/go/proxyd/backend.go
@@ -152,12 +152,17 @@ func NewBackend(
 
 func (b *Backend) Forward(ctx context.Context, req *RPCReq) (*RPCRes, error) {
 	if !b.allowedRPCMethods.Has(req.Method) {
+		// use unknown below to prevent DOS vector that fills up memory
+		// with arbitrary method names.
+		RecordRPCError(ctx, b.Name, MethodUnknown, ErrMethodNotWhitelisted)
 		return nil, ErrMethodNotWhitelisted
 	}
 	if !b.Online() {
+		RecordRPCError(ctx, b.Name, req.Method, ErrBackendOffline)
 		return nil, ErrBackendOffline
 	}
 	if b.IsRateLimited() {
+		RecordRPCError(ctx, b.Name, req.Method, ErrBackendOverCapacity)
 		return nil, ErrBackendOverCapacity
 	}
 
@@ -167,22 +172,19 @@ func (b *Backend) Forward(ctx context.Context, req *RPCReq) (*RPCRes, error) {
 	for i := 0; i <= b.maxRetries; i++ {
 		RecordRPCForward(ctx, b.Name, req.Method, RPCRequestSourceHTTP)
 		respTimer := prometheus.NewTimer(rpcBackendRequestDurationSumm.WithLabelValues(b.Name, req.Method))
-		resB, err := b.doForward(req)
+		res, err := b.doForward(req)
 		if err != nil {
 			lastError = err
 			log.Warn("backend request failed, trying again", "err", err, "name", b.Name)
 			respTimer.ObserveDuration()
+			RecordRPCError(ctx, b.Name, req.Method, err)
 			time.Sleep(calcBackoff(i))
 			continue
 		}
 		respTimer.ObserveDuration()
-
-		res := new(RPCRes)
-		// don't mark the backend down if they give us a bad response body
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(resB, res); err != nil {
-			return nil, ErrBackendBadResponse
+		if res.IsError() {
+			RecordRPCError(ctx, b.Name, req.Method, res.Error)
 		}
-
 		return res, nil
 	}
 
@@ -271,7 +273,7 @@ func (b *Backend) setOffline() {
 	}
 }
 
-func (b *Backend) doForward(rpcReq *RPCReq) ([]byte, error) {
+func (b *Backend) doForward(rpcReq *RPCReq) (*RPCRes, error) {
 	body := mustMarshalJSON(rpcReq)
 
 	httpReq, err := http.NewRequest("POST", b.rpcURL, bytes.NewReader(body))
@@ -283,22 +285,30 @@ func (b *Backend) doForward(rpcReq *RPCReq) ([]byte, error) {
 		httpReq.SetBasicAuth(b.authUsername, b.authPassword)
 	}
 
-	res, err := b.client.Do(httpReq)
+	httpReq.Header.Set("content-type", "application/json")
+
+	httpRes, err := b.client.Do(httpReq)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, wrapErr(err, "error in backend request")
 	}
 
-	if res.StatusCode != 200 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("response code %d", res.StatusCode)
+	// Alchemy returns a 400 on bad JSONs, so handle that case
+	if httpRes.StatusCode != 200 && httpRes.StatusCode != 400 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("response code %d", httpRes.StatusCode)
 	}
 
-	defer res.Body.Close()
-	resB, err := ioutil.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(res.Body, b.maxResponseSize))
+	defer httpRes.Body.Close()
+	resB, err := ioutil.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(httpRes.Body, b.maxResponseSize))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, wrapErr(err, "error reading response body")
 	}
 
-	return resB, nil
+	res := new(RPCRes)
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(resB, res); err != nil {
+		return nil, ErrBackendBadResponse
+	}
+
+	return res, nil
 }
 
 type BackendGroup struct {
@@ -329,6 +339,7 @@ func (b *BackendGroup) Forward(ctx context.Context, rpcReq *RPCReq) (*RPCRes, er
 		return res, nil
 	}
 
+	RecordUnserviceableRequest(ctx, RPCRequestSourceHTTP)
 	return nil, ErrNoBackends
 }
 
@@ -413,12 +424,14 @@ func (w *WSProxier) clientPump(ctx context.Context, errC chan error) {
 		req, err := w.parseClientMsg(msg)
 		if err != nil {
 			var id *int
+			method := MethodUnknown
 			if req != nil {
 				id = req.ID
+				method = req.Method
 			}
 			outConn = w.clientConn
 			msg = mustMarshalJSON(NewRPCErrorRes(id, err))
-			RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceClient, err)
+			RecordRPCError(ctx, BackendProxyd, method, err)
 		} else {
 			RecordRPCForward(ctx, w.backend.Name, req.Method, RPCRequestSourceWS)
 		}
@@ -462,7 +475,7 @@ func (w *WSProxier) backendPump(ctx context.Context, errC chan error) {
 			msg = mustMarshalJSON(NewRPCErrorRes(id, err))
 		}
 		if res.IsError() {
-			RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceBackend, res.Error)
+			RecordRPCError(ctx, w.backend.Name, MethodUnknown, res.Error)
 		}
 
 		err = w.clientConn.WriteMessage(msgType, msg)
diff --git a/go/proxyd/metrics.go b/go/proxyd/metrics.go
index fcebef780abeb..4296676e38f05 100644
--- a/go/proxyd/metrics.go
+++ b/go/proxyd/metrics.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus/promauto"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -13,9 +14,10 @@ const (
 	RPCRequestSourceHTTP = "http"
 	RPCRequestSourceWS   = "ws"
 
+	BackendProxyd = "proxyd"
 	SourceClient  = "client"
 	SourceBackend = "backend"
-	SourceProxyd  = "proxyd"
+	MethodUnknown = "unknown"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -42,10 +44,22 @@ var (
 		Help:      "Count of total RPC errors.",
 	}, []string{
 		"auth",
-		"source",
+		"backend_name",
+		"method_name",
 		"error_code",
 	})
 
+	rpcSpecialErrorsTotal = promauto.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
+		Namespace: MetricsNamespace,
+		Name:      "rpc_special_errors_total",
+		Help:      "Count of total special RPC errors.",
+	}, []string{
+		"auth",
+		"backend_name",
+		"method_name",
+		"error_type",
+	})
+
 	rpcBackendRequestDurationSumm = promauto.NewSummaryVec(prometheus.SummaryOpts{
 		Namespace:  MetricsNamespace,
 		Name:       "rpc_backend_request_duration_seconds",
@@ -78,7 +92,7 @@ var (
 		Help:      "Count of total requests that were rejected due to no backends being available.",
 	}, []string{
 		"auth",
-		"source",
+		"request_source",
 	})
 
 	httpRequestsTotal = promauto.NewCounter(prometheus.CounterOpts{
@@ -111,22 +125,30 @@ var (
 	}, []string{
 		"source",
 	})
+
+	rpcSpecialErrors = []string{
+		"nonce too low",
+		"gas price too high",
+		"gas price too low",
+		"invalid parameters",
+	}
 )
 
 func RecordRedisError(source string) {
 	redisErrorsTotal.WithLabelValues(source).Inc()
 }
 
-func RecordRPCError(ctx context.Context, source string, err error) {
+func RecordRPCError(ctx context.Context, backendName, method string, err error) {
 	rpcErr, ok := err.(*RPCErr)
 	var code int
 	if ok {
+		MaybeRecordSpecialRPCError(ctx, backendName, method, rpcErr)
 		code = rpcErr.Code
 	} else {
 		code = -1
 	}
 
-	rpcErrorsTotal.WithLabelValues(GetAuthCtx(ctx), source, strconv.Itoa(code)).Inc()
+	rpcErrorsTotal.WithLabelValues(GetAuthCtx(ctx), backendName, method, strconv.Itoa(code)).Inc()
 }
 
 func RecordWSMessage(ctx context.Context, backendName, source string) {
@@ -140,3 +162,13 @@ func RecordUnserviceableRequest(ctx context.Context, source string) {
 func RecordRPCForward(ctx context.Context, backendName, method, source string) {
 	rpcForwardsTotal.WithLabelValues(GetAuthCtx(ctx), backendName, method, source).Inc()
 }
+
+func MaybeRecordSpecialRPCError(ctx context.Context, backendName, method string, rpcErr *RPCErr) {
+	errMsg := strings.ToLower(rpcErr.Message)
+	for _, errStr := range rpcSpecialErrors {
+		if strings.Contains(errMsg, errStr) {
+			rpcSpecialErrorsTotal.WithLabelValues(GetAuthCtx(ctx), backendName, method, errStr).Inc()
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/go/proxyd/server.go b/go/proxyd/server.go
index 7c0124f539f35..454d5eec56d0c 100644
--- a/go/proxyd/server.go
+++ b/go/proxyd/server.go
@@ -78,33 +78,21 @@ func (s *Server) HandleRPC(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	req, err := ParseRPCReq(io.LimitReader(r.Body, s.maxBodySize))
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Info("rejected request with bad rpc request", "source", "rpc", "err", err)
-		RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceClient, err)
+		RecordRPCError(ctx, BackendProxyd, MethodUnknown, err)
 		writeRPCError(w, nil, err)
 		return
 	}
 
 	backendRes, err := s.backends.Forward(ctx, req)
 	if err != nil {
-		if errors.Is(err, ErrNoBackends) {
-			RecordUnserviceableRequest(ctx, RPCRequestSourceHTTP)
-			RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceProxyd, err)
-		} else if errors.Is(err, ErrMethodNotWhitelisted) {
-			RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceClient, err)
-		} else {
-			RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceBackend, err)
-		}
 		log.Error("error forwarding RPC request", "method", req.Method, "err", err)
 		writeRPCError(w, req.ID, err)
 		return
 	}
-	if backendRes.IsError() {
-		RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceBackend, backendRes.Error)
-	}
-
 	enc := json.NewEncoder(w)
 	if err := enc.Encode(backendRes); err != nil {
 		log.Error("error encoding response", "err", err)
-		RecordRPCError(ctx, SourceProxyd, err)
+		RecordRPCError(ctx, BackendProxyd, req.Method, err)
 		writeRPCError(w, req.ID, err)
 		return
 	}