Today’s Sportstat: August 5, 2019
Is Christian McCaffrey ready to become the NFL’s next 1,000-1,000 running back?
In a recent article, Carolina Panthers all-purpose running back Christian McCaffrey mentioned that a goal he has for the 2019 season is to become the next 1,000-1,000 running back… a running back that gains 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards via pass receptions.
McCaffrey, who is starting his third season in the NFL, came close last season: He had 1,098 rushing yards and 867 yards receiving. In the history of the NFL, only two running backs have accumulated 1,000 yards in both rushing and receiving in a season… San Francisco’s Roger Craig did it in 1985 and in 1999 Marshall Faulk became the second member of this exclusive club as a member of the St. Louis Rams
Here’s a look at the running backs who have reached 1,000-1,000 yards in both rushing and receiving in a season along with those who are members of the 900-900 and 800-800 yard clubs.
1,000-1,000 Club (Rushing yards-receiving yards)
Roger Craig, 1985, San Francisco, 1,050-1,016
Marshall Faulk, 1999, St. Louis, 1,381-1,048
900-900 Club
Marshall Faulk, 1998, Indianapolis, 1,319-908
Charlie Garner, 2002, Oakland, 962-941
800-800 Club
Marshall Faulk, 2000, St. Louis, 1,359-830
Steven Jackson, 2006, St. Louis, 1,528-806
Matt Forte, 2014, Chicago, 1,038-808
Le’Veon Bell, 2014, Pittsburgh, 1,361-854
David Johnson, 2016, Arizona, 1,239-879
Christian McCaffrey, 2018, 1,098-867
For Packers fans wondering how close a Green Bay running back came to joining any of the above clubs, there have been four different running backs who have gained 500 or more rushing yards and 500 or more receiving yards in the same season. Edgar Bennett and Ahman Green accomplished the feat twice.
Following are the 500-500 running backs for the Pack in their history.
Gerry Ellis, 1983, 696-603
Edgar Bennett, 1994, 623-546
Edgar Bennett, 1995, 1,067-648
Dorsey Levens, 1999, 1,034-573
Ahman Green, 2000, 1,175-559
Ahman Green, 2001, 1,387-594
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Today’s Sports Stat: December 22, 2017
New Orleans Saints’ rookie running back Alvin Kamara has become the fourth rookie in NFL history and the first in 52 years to have five or more rushing and five or more pass receiving TDs in his first year in the league. Kamara currently has seven rushing TDs and five pass receiving TDs with two weeks remaining in the season.
The last rookie to have five TD runs and five TD pass catches in their first season in the NFL was Chicago Bears’ great Gale Sayres. He had 14 TD runs and six TD pass receptions in 1965, his rookie campaign with the Bears. Others to accomplish this feat were Charley Taylor in 1965 and Doak Walker in 1950. (Note: If Kamara can get two more receiving TDs in his last two games this season, he will become the first rookie ever to get seven TD runs and seven TD pass receptions in a season in NFL history.)
Kamara is also looking to become only the sixth player in NFL history to have seven TD runs and seven TD pass receptions in the same season. It has been done six times by five different players; Marshall Faulk did it twice in his career.
Here are the players who have scored seven or more TD via run and pass in a season.
Dan Reeves, Dallas, 1966: 8 TD runs, 8 TD receptions
O.J. Simpson, Buffalo, 1975: 16/7
Chuck Foreman, Minnesota, 1975: 13/9
Marshall Faulk, St. Louis, 2000: 18/8
Marshall Faulk, St. Louis, 2001: 12/9
Jamaal Charles, Kansas City, 2013: 12/7
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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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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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