Daily Archives: October 4th, 2013

Jamaal Charles leads the Chiefs on the ground and in the air

Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.

English: Jamaal Charles, a player on the Kansa...

Jamaal Charles (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Among the reasons for the improved play of the 4-0 Kansas City Chiefs this year has been running back Jamaal Charles. The sixth-year running back from Texas has been a go-to player for the K.C. offense. He has accumulated over 100 yards in offense via running and receiving in each of those first four games.

Looking at Charles’ stat line, you will see that he has now had 15 or more carries and five-plus receptions in each of the last three Kansas City victories. He is one of nine players this season who has had 15-plus carries and five-plus receptions for his team in a game. Houston‘s Arian Foster has reached the 15-5 mark twice this season.

Here’s a look at the running backs with the most 15-carry-5 reception games since 2010.

Ray Rice, Baltimore, 17 games
Arian Foster, Houston, 15 games
Matt Forte, Chicago, 7 games
Adrian Peterson, Minnesota, 7 games
LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia, 6 games
Frank Gore, San Francisco, 5 games
Peyton Hollis, Cleveland, 5 games
Fred Jackson, Buffalo, 5 games
Chris Johnson, Tennessee, 5 games

If we take those numbers a little higher, say 20 carries and 10 receptions in a game, the list of running backs who have reached this stat line is very limited; in fact, a running back with 20-plus carries and 10-plus receptions in a game has happened only 30 times since 1970 (AFL-NFL merger). It did, however, already happen here in 2013: Chicago’s Matt Forte on September 15th against Minnesota had 20 carries for 88 yards and 10 receptions for 73 yards in the Bears’ 31-30 win over the Vikings. Prior to that, the last 20-10 running back was in 2008 when Marshawn Lynch had 23 carries and 10 receptions for the Seattle Seahawks. Former Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson leads league with five 20-carry-10-reception games in his career.

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