Washington Redskins are the new standard for 3-TD running backs
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Darrel Young had three rushing touchdowns for the Washington Redskins in their 30-24 overtime win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. It was the second time this season that the Redskins had a running back score three rushing TDs in a game (Roy Helu did it earlier in the year versus the Bears).
In fact, of the last five times that an NFL running back scored three or more TDs’ via the run in a game, the Redskins have done it three times… with three different running backs. Washington feature back Alfred Morris had three rushing scores in a 28-18 win over the Dallas Cowboys last season in the regular-season finale.
If we go back to 1970, there have been 362 times when a running back had three or more TDs via runs. Teams are 324-38 in those games, a .895 winning percentage. But for the Redskins, having a running back score three-plus TDs via runs has been a golden path to success. The Redskins have had 20 such games since 1970 and have won all 20!
For Young, Morris and Helu, it was the first career game for each with three rushing touchdowns. That’s 11 games fewer than the player who has the most games with three-plus rushing TDs, LaDainian Tomlinson. His 12 games are three more than Priest Holmes and Emmitt Smith.
Here are the running backs with the most games with three or more rushing TDs since 1970.
12: LaDainian Tomlinson
9: Priest Holmes, Emmitt Smith
8: Marshall Faulk
6: Shaun Alexander, Marcus Allen, Earl Campbell, Joe Morris, Barry Sanders
5: Eric Dickerson, Edgerrin James, Walter Payton, Adrian Peterson
For Tomlinson, his team was a perfect 12-0 in those games when he had three or more rushing TDs.
One final note: The last player to score three or more rushing touchdowns in a loss was Chicago’s Matt Forte on October 20. If you haven’t guessed it already, that game was played against the Redskins.
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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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99 Stats Until Kickoff (#42) The A-B-C’s of touchdowns
Jim Zorn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)
If you noticed my item on the winningest coaches in NFL history based on the alphabet (#1), you noticed that Jim Zorn, who coached the Washington Redskins for two seasons (2008-09), was the head coach who had the most wins by a coach whose last name started with the letter Z. Well, Zorn makes another alphabet list: Most TDs by a player whose last name starts with the letter Z. Zorn had 17 NFL TDs in his professional career that ran from 1976-87.
Here’s a look at the players who scored the most TDs in NFL history… by the alphabet. In addition, I’ve listed in parenthesis the active (active during the 2012 season) player who has the most career TDs within each letter. For those letters where the leader is an active player, I listed the active player with the second most TDs.
A: Marcus Allen, 145 (Miles Austin, 35)
B: Jim Brown, 126 (Plaxico Burress, 64)
C: Cris Carter, 131 (Marques Colston, 58)
D: Eric Dickerson, 96 (Donald Driver, 62)
E: Henry Ellard, 69 (Braylon Edwards, 40)
F: Marshall Faulk, 136 (Larry Fitzgerald, 77)
G: Tony Gonzalez (active), 103 (Frank Gore, 62)
H: Marvin Harrison, 128 (Todd Heap, 42)
I: Michael Irvin, 65 (Mark Ingram, 10)
J: Edgerrin James, 91 (Maurice Jones-Drew, 76)
K: Leroy Kelly, 90 (John Kuhn, 19)
L: Steve Largent, 101 (Marshawn Lynch, 49)
M: Randy Moss (active), 157 (Willis McGahee, 68)
N: Ozzie Newsome, 49 (Jordy Nelson, 28)
O: Terrell Owens, 156 (Greg Olsen, 30)
P: Walter Payton, 125 (Adrian Peterson, 80)
Q: Mike Quick, 61 (Brian Quick, 2)
R: Jerry Rice, 208 (Ray Rice, 39)
S: Emmitt Smith, 175 (Steve Smith, 71)
T: LaDainian Tomlinson, 162 (Michael Turner, 67)
U: Rick Upchurch, 35 (Brian Urlacher, 4)
V: Steve Van Buren, 777 (Michael Vick, 34)
W: Ricky Watters, 91 (Reggie Wayne, 78)
X: none
Y: Buddy Young, 44 (Tits Young, 10)
Z: Jim Zorn, 17 (none)
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99 Stats Until Kickoff (#41) Tampa Bay’s rookie Doug Martin joins elite 1,000-400 running back club
Doug Martin (Photo credit: Football Schedule)
From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)
Tampa Bay running back Doug Martin, a first round draft pick in 2012, had a terrific first season in the NFL last season. He gained 1,454 yards rushing and picked up another 472 on 49 receptions. With the 1,454 yards rushing and 472 yards in receiving yards, Martin became only the ninth rookie since 1970 to amass those kinds of numbers in a season.
In addition to Martin, two other running backs last season were members of the 1,000-400 Club. Buffalo’s C.J. Spiller had 1,244 yards rushing and 459 receiving yards for the Bills, and Ray Rice of the World Champion Baltimore Ravens had his fourth season (more on that in a moment) with 1,000-400. Rice had 1,143 yards rushing and 478 receiving yards in 2012.
Following are the eight other rookie runners (in addition to Martin) who gained 1,000-plus yards rushing and 400-plus yards receiving in their first season in the NFL.
Year, Player, Team, yards rushing/yards receiving
2008: Matt Forte, Chicago, 1,238/477
1999: Edgerrin James, Indianapolis, 1,553/586
1998: Fred Taylor, Jacksonville, 1,223/421
1994: Marshall Faulk, Indianapolis, 1,282/522
1992: Ricky Watters, San Francisco, 1,013/405
1983: Eric Dickerson, Los Angeles Rams, 1,808/404
1980: Joe Cribbs, Buffalo, 1,185/415
1980: Billy Sims, Detroit, 1,303/621
As mentioned above, Ray Rice in 2012 had his fourth season with 1,000 yards rushing and 400 yards receiving. He is one of six players to have four or more seasons as a member of the 1,000-400 Club. Following are those six players:
Seasons with 1,000-400, Players
7: Marshall Faulk
6: Tiki Barber, LaDainian Tomlinson
5: Ricky Watters
4: Ray Rice, Thurman Thomas
Note: A season with 1,000-400 has happened 147 times in NFL history. It has been accomplished by 83 different running backs.
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99 Stats Until Kickoff: (#30) The evolution of the pass-catching running back in the NFL
From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)
LaDainian Tomlinson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you’re looking for one way that the National Football League has changed since, say the start of the century, you don’t have to go much further than looking at how running backs are being used.
In simple terms, NFL teams are looking for ways to get the ball into the hands of their fleet-footed runners. No longer is the game limited to handing the ball off to the best runner and letting him find a way up the field. These days, passing the ball to your running back is just as important as the quarterback handing the ball off to his runners.
Let’s quantify this… using 250 or more rushing attempts and 50 receptions in a season as the yardstick, we see that in NFL history there have been 109 occasions when a running back had 250-plus rushing attempts and 50-plus receptions in the same season. Fifty-one different running backs have accomplished this feat in NFL history.
Last season two players met these numbers: Baltimore’s Ray Rice, who carried the ball 257 times to go along with his 61 catches, and Cleveland rookie Trent Richardson, who had 267 rushing attempts to go along with 51 receptions.
Of those 109 occasions, 57 of them have occurred since 2000, a testament to the fact that teams have increased the workload of their runners with pass catching responsibilities. (The most running backs to meet these numbers were seven in both the 2000 and 2003 seasons.)
Following are the running backs that have had the most seasons with 250+ carries and 50+ receptions.
Seasons with 250+ carries/50+ receptions, Players
8: LaDainian Tomlinson
5: Tiki Barber, Edgerrin James
4: Ahman Green, Ray Rice, Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas, Ricky Watters
3: Marcus Allen, Ottis Anderson, William Andrews, Priest Holmes, Lydell Mitchell
If we move the criteria up to 300 carries and 70 catches, only eight players have met those numbers in league history. They are:
Lydell Mitchell, 1977, Baltimore, 301 carries, 71 catches
James Wilder, 1984, Tampa Bay, 407 carries, 85 catches
Roger Craig, 1988, San Francisco, 310 carries, 76 catches
Marshall Faulk, 1998, Indianapolis, 324 carries, 86 catches
Curtis Martin, 2000, N.Y. Jets, 316 carries, 70 catches
LaDainian Tomlinson, 2002, San Diego, 372 carries, 79 catches
Priest Holmes, 2002, Kansas City, 313 carries, 70 catches
LaDainian Tomlinson, 2003, San Diego, 313 carries, 100 catches
Priest Holmes, 2003, Kansas City, 320 carries, 74 catches
Steven Jackson, 2006, St. Louis, 346 carries, 90 catches
Here’s a few more stats concerning running backs with 250-plus carries and 50-plus catches in a season:
* Four players accomplished this feat while in their 30’s: Tiki Barber (2006, 2007 at age 30 and 31), Ricky Watters (2000 at age 31), Tony Dorsett (1984 at age 30) and Priest Holmes (2003 at age 30).
* LaDainian Tomlinson holds the record for most consecutive seasons with 250-plus rushing attempts and 50-plus receptions with eight. He did it from 2001-2008. Tiki Barber did it in five straight seasons from 2002-2006.
* Nine players reached the 250/50 milestone in their rookie season, including this year’s rookie to make the list, the Browns’ Trent Richardson. The others were: Billy Sims (1980), Joe Cribbs (1980), Eric Dickerson (1983), Marshall Faulk (1994), Edgerrin James (1999), LaDainian Tomlinson (2001), Steve Slaton (2008) and Matt Forte (2008).
* Two players in NFL history not only had 250 carries and 50 catches, but also had at least one kickoff return and one punt return in that season. Joe Cribbs did it in 1980, Maurice Jones-Drew did it in 2009.
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