Chiefs Jamaal Charles stakes claim as NFL’s top double threat
For the second consecutive year, Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles has scored five or more touchdowns via running plays and passing plays. This year through Week #14 Charles has nine rushing TDs and five receiving TDs. Last season he became the fifth player in NFL history to have seven or more TDs in both running and pass plays… he had 12 rushing TDs and seven pass receiving scores.
Prior to Charles accomplishing this feat in 2013 and 2014, the last player to have five-plus rushing TDs and five-plus receiving TDs was Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook who accomplished the feat in both 2007 and 2008. All total, there have been 31 times when a player has reached these numbers in a season in the Super Bowl era (since 1966); 16 players have done it once, while seven players have accomplished it multiple times The players with multiple seasons:
Marshall Faulk, St. Louis, 3 times
James Brooks, Cincinnati, 2 times
Jamaal Charles, Kansas City, 2 times
Chuck Foreman, Minnesota, 2 times
Dorsey Levens, Green Bay, 2 times
Thurman Thomas, Buffalo, 2 times
Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia, 2 times
The players who have accomplished this feat once since 1966 were: Marcus Allen, Neal Anderson, Larry Brown, Norm Bulaich, Roger Craig, Ahman Green, Mack Herron, Dalton Hilliard, Edgerrin James, Ron Johnson, Wilbert Montgomery, Dan Reeves, O.J. Simpson, Wendell Tyler, Ricky Watters, Sammy Winder.
Note: If we change the criteria to include all running backs in NFL history (those prior to 1966), we would add five running backs who reached these numbers twice in their careers: Timmy Brown, Billy Cannon, Dub Jones, Lenny Moore and Dan Reeves.
Note #2: There is still time for a few more players to join this list for 2014. Five running backs already have five-plus rushing TDs and are one or two pass receiving TDs short of joining the list. They are (rushing TDs-receiving Tds listed in parenthesis): Le’Veon Bell (5-3), Matt Forte (6-3), Arian Foster (8-4), Eddie Lacy (7-4) and Marshawn Lynch (9-4).
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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.
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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Are we nearing the end of the 30-carry running back in an NFL game?
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy in Week One was a big part of the success enjoyed by his team as they stunned the Washington Redskins 33-27. McCoy amassed 184 yards on 31 carries. McCoy’s 31 carries was the first time a Philadelphia running back had 30-plus rushing attempts in a game since McCoy had 30 in an October30, 2011 contest against Dallas.
What’s interesting about McCoy’s stat line was the 31 carries. Not only did he have the most carries by a running back in Week One, but he was the only running back to have 30 or more rushing attempts. Week Two had no runners with 30-plus carries, and based on stats from the past several seasons, the 30-carry running back may become extinct. (Obviously the greater focus on the passing-game has been a major factor in teams not running a back 30 or more times in a game. That’s a topic for another time.)
Last season there were only nine games where a running back had 30-plus carries in a contest. Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles and Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson both did it twice last season. The nine games was the lowest this century.
Going back to 2000, a game with a runner carrying the ball 30 or more times was more frequent. Here’s a quick look at the number of 30-plus carry games each season since 2000.
2012: 9
2011: 11
2010: 11
2009: 12
2008: 11
2007: 18
2006: 26
2005: 22
2004: 44 (most in a season since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970)
2003: 36
2002: 26
2001: 23
2000: 34
The nine games last season was the lowest number of 30-carry games in the NFL since 1990 when there was only eight. Looking at stats from 1970 to today (1970 was the first year of the AFL-NFL merger) the decade of the seventies saw an average of 7.7 games with one running back carrying the ball 30-plus times in a game; in the 1980s, the average went up to 16.4 games per season; in the 1990’s the average increased again to 19.1 games per season; in the first decade of this century, that average skyrocketed to 25.2 games per season. Over the last three seasons (2010-2012) the average plummeted to an average of only 10.3 games per season.
As mentioned above, this was the first 30-carry rusher for the Eagles since 2011. The Miami Dolphins, have the league’s longest drought when it comes to a runner with 30-plus carries. The last time Miami handed the ball to one back 30 or more times was in a game in 2003 when Ricky Williams carried it 31 times against Dallas.
Following is the last time each NFL team had one runner with 30 or more carries in a game.
Last season with a 30-carry runner in a game
2003: Miami
2004: Detroit, New England, New Orleans
2005: Dallas, Indianapolis
2006: Arizona, San Diego
2007: Chicago, Tampa Bay
2008: Green Bay, St. Louis
2009: Carolina
2010: Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Tennessee
2011: Cleveland, Houston, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Seattle
2012: Denver, Kansas City, Minnesota, New York Giants, New York Jets, Oakland, Washington
2013: Philadelphia
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