Shuffling the Numbers/Rushing
With the close of the 2008 regular season, we will take the next few days to look inside the numbers generated by the league’s 32 teams over the 256-game schedule.
Today, we zero in on the running game.
INDIVIDUAL NUMBERS
Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson dethroned LaDainian Tomlinson as the league’s best runner in 2008.
Tomlinson had led the league for the previous two seasons. But his injury filled season knocked him out of the top spot and he fell all the way to No. 10.
Peterson finished with 1,760 yards on 363 carries. That was an improvement on his rookie season when he ran for 1,341 yards on 238 carries. That gives him 3,101 yards in two seasons; he’s the fifth back in NFL history to run for more than 3,000 yards in his first two seasons.
He finished 61 yards ahead of Atlanta’s Michael Turner (right), who finished with 1,699 yards while leading the league in carries with 376.
The top four rushers were from the NFC: Peterson, Turner, DeAngelo Williams of Carolina (1,515) and Washington’s Clinton Portis (1,487). The AFC’s leading rusher for the ‘08 season was Thomas Jones of the New York Jets with 1,312 yards.
| # | Player | Team | Rush | Yards |
| 1. | Adrian Peterson | MIN | 363 | 1,760 |
| 2. | Michael Turner | ATL | 376 | 1,699 |
| 3. | DeAngelo Williams | CAR | 273 | 1,515 |
| 4. | Clinton Portis | WAS | 342 | 1,487 |
| 5. | Thomas Jones | NYJ | 290 | 1,312 |
| 6. | Steve Slaton | HOU | 268 | 1,282 |
| 7. | Matt Forte | CHI | 316 | 1,238 |
| 8. | Chris Johnson | TEN | 251 | 1,228 |
| 9. | Ryan Grant | GB | 312 | 1,203 |
| 10. | LaDainian Tomlinson | SD | 292 | 1,110 |
TEAM NUMBERS
The top running team in the NFL for the ‘08 season was the New York Giants. They averaged 157.4 rushing yards per game. The worst running team in the most recent season was the Arizona Cardinals. They averaged 73.6 rushing yards per game.
Both teams made the playoffs. Both teams will be playing this weekend in the divisional round of the post-season.
Despite the success of the Cardinals, having a productive running game remains very important when it comes to winning in the NFL. Six of the top seven running teams made the playoffs: New York Giants, Atlanta, Carolina, Baltimore, Minnesota and Tennessee. New England was the only club that didn’t make the tournament, and the Patriots were 11-5 on the season.
Among the worst 10 running attacks, only two made the playoffs: the Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts.
Here are the best and worst running games:
| Â # | Â Team | Yards Per |
 |  # |  Team | Yards Per |
| 1. | N.Y. Giants | 157.4 | Â | 32. | Arizona | 73.6 |
| 2. | Atlanta | 152.7 | Â | 31. | Indianapolis | 79.6 |
| 3. | Carolina | 152.3 | Â | 30. | Detroit | 83.3 |
| 4. | Baltimore | 148.5 | Â | 29. | Cincinnati | 95.0 |
| 5. | Minnesota | 145.8 | Â | 28. | New Orleans | 99.6 |
| 6. | New England | 142.4 | Â | 27. | San Francisco | 99.9 |
| 7. | Tennessee | 137.4 | Â | 26. | Cleveland | 100.3 |
| 8. | Washington | 130.9 | Â | 25. | St. Louis | 103.1 |
| 9. | N.Y. Jets | 125.3 | Â | 24. | Chicago | 104.6 |
| 10. | Oakland | 124.2 | Â | 23. | Pittsburgh | 105.6 |
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THE 1,000-YARD CLUB
There were 16 runners that went for over 1,000 yards this season and three runners that went for over 1,500 yards. That’s compared to 17 last year and a record 23 runners in the 2006 season. Last year, no runners went over 1,500 yards. There were nine repeaters from last year, topped by Peterson.
For Tomlinson it was his eighth season. Cleveland’s Jamal Lewis got his seventh and Portis earned is sixth, with Steve Jackson of St. Louis and Jones of the Jets getting their fourth. San Francisco’s Frank Gore picked up his third 1,000-yard season, with Peterson, Brandon Jacobs and Marshawn Lynch getting their second seasons.
Entering the 1,000-yard club for the first time were veterans Turner, Williams, Ryan Grant, Derrick Ward, along with rookies Steve Slaton, Matt Forte and Chris Johnson.
That’s the most rookies to crack the 1,000-yard mark since 2001, when it was Tomlinson, Chicago’s Anthony Thomas and Dominic Rhodes of Indianapolis.
GOING FOR 100 YARDS
There were 130 games where a runner went for 100 yards or more. The Cleveland Browns were the only team that did not have at least one runner hit the 100-yard mark.
The top rushing game performance in ‘08 was the 220 yards that Atlanta’s Turner ran for against Detroit in the season opener. Two other backs went over 200 yards: Ward of the Giants with 215 yards against Carolina on December 21 and Turner came back in the season’s last game and ran for 208 yards against St. Louis.
Teams that had a 100-yard rusher went 101-29 on the season, a winning percentage of .777. Turner had eight 100-yard games and the Falcons were 8-0 in those games. Pittsburgh had five 100-yard rushers and the Steelers went 5-0 in those games. Tennessee had six 100-yard rushers in four games and went 4-0. Baltimore had five 100-yard rushers during the season in four games and won all four. Miami had four 100-yard performances and the Dolphins were 4-0 in those games.
COMBINATIONS
With both Jacobs (1,042) and Ward (1,025) going over 1,000 yards on the season, they become the fifth duo to achieve this feat of the feet.
| Season | Team | Runner 1 | Yards | Runner 2 | Yards |
| 1972 | Miami | Csonka | 1117 | Morris | 1000 |
| 1976 | Pittsburgh | Harris | 1128 | Bleier | 1036 |
| 1985 | Cleveland | Mack | 1104 | Byner | 1006 |
| 2006 | Atlanta | Dunn | 1140 | Vick | 1039 |
| 2008 | N.Y. Giants | Jacobs | 1042 | Ward | 1025 |
However, Jacobs/Ward was not the most productive duo in the league. Their total of 2,067 yards was topped by the Carolina twosome of Williams (1,515) and rookie Jonathan Stewart (836) that produced 2,351 yards. The Baltimore trio of Le’Ron McClain (902), Willis McGahee (671) and rookie Ray Rice (454) totaled 2,027 yards. Also, the Tennessee duo of Johnson (1,228) and LenDale White (773) finished with 2,001 yards.
YARDS PER CARRY
Among 43 runners who had 500 yards or more this year, New England’s Kevin Faulk led the league by getting 6.1 yards per carry.
Ward was second with 5.6 yards per carry and Williams was third, finishing with a 5.5 yards per carry.
The New York Giants averaged 5 yards per carry on the season, finishing ahead of Carolina, Denver and the Chiefs, who all averaged 4.8 yards per carry. The league average was 4.2 yards per carry.
LONGEST RUN
Baltimore’s McClain had the longest run in the NFL this year with an 82-yard TD run against Dallas on December 20. The second longest run of the season came at Arrowhead Stadium, when Tennessee’s White ran 80 untouched yards for a score against the Chiefs on October 19th.



hey where is the great L J numbers probaly to busy with the nightlife and crying about its time for him to go well it must be time for the big money player that contributed less than a thousand yds and all that money to a guy that cant catch the ball if anybody wants him we will probaly have to pay them with our top draft pick lj has NOT been the same since the hold out he couldnt break a tackle even if it was a tackle dummy he would graze it and fall down we are stuck with a bust called L J
I figure we’ll get a third or fourth round pick for Larry Johnson. I mean, Michael Bennett got us a fifth round pick from the Bucs last season, so who knows? Johnson would fit in very well in some schemes, and I think he’s going to do well elsewhere.
Nobody will take LJ with his big money deal that King Carl gave him without redoing his contract and we all know how Proud LJ and he wont take a penny less.
Actually, what we got for Michael Bennett was not a 5th rounder. We got a 7th rounder for Ryan Sims from TB and then when we traded Bennett to them later on, the pick was upgraded to a 6th rounder. We would have gotten an additional 7th this year pending on Bennett’s playing time but he hardly did anything for TB this year and finished the season with SD. Not much in the way of compensation.
That being said, LJ will turn 30 before the season starts and is making big money. If he was willing to take a pay cut, then perhaps a team would take a flier on him, but I’d imagine it would be for a conditional pick in 2010 based on his playing time. In other words, if he gets suspended again, we’d get little or nothing. Sort of like the poison pill the Cowboys worked out when they traded for PacMan. They gave up a 4th to Tennessee for him, but if he got suspended (which of course he did) Tennessee would have to send back a 5th in 2009. Even though PacMan continued to embarrass himself, the Cowboys didn’t have to give up much for him as a result.
Long story short, if our new GM gets ANYTHING for LJ in a trade then he’s a freaking genius. I’d say getting more than a 5th will be a challenge.
If it wasn’t for Thigpen scrambling…I’d say KC would be in that bottom 10.
As for playoff teams from the bottom 10? You can do that if you have receivers like Bolden and Fitgerald…or a QB like Manning.
Until we get our running game back, the offense will continue to struggle. Geez…we used to ALWAYS have a good running game.
The chiefs keep LJ. They are committed to the money, he has no trade value (why give up anything when you can sign him free, if the chiefs release him), and management wants to show the public they know what they are doing, even with new guys.
It really comes down to the decision to turn this team into a expansion squad with not enough talent, to bad because this could all have turned out differently.
Jeff Chadiha over at ESPN predicts that New England might be interested in LJ this offseason. He offers no speculation as to LJ’s value, but perhaps we could swap backs with them and trade LJ for Laurence Maroney. Maroney doesn’t seem to be one of Belichick’s favorite players and they might want to part ways with the former 1st round pick. Perhaps both RBs would get their careers going in the right direction again with a change in scenery?
Fine idea would never have happened with carl but a new gm could pull it off. colby, what do you think of getting rid of last veterans to go in a new direction with new coaches? I feel this team has been reduced to an expansion team so maybe we do not keep a player over 5 years in the league.
tm1946
Going in a new direction wouldn’t bother me a bit. I wouldn’t mind seeing KC trade Derrick Johnson. He’s in the last year of his deal and I’d imagine he has some value to the tune of a 2nd rounder. He’s been an okay player, but I’m starting to think that’s all he’ll ever be. It’s too bad. I was extremely excited when he fell to the Chiefs at pick 15 back in 2005. Many had him pegged to go to the Browns at pick 3 but he just kept on sliding in favor of LBs with more pass rushing potential like Ware and Merriman. I thought DJ would be a bigger Donnie Edwards and one of the steals of that draft, but alas, it never transpired.
I doubt Surtain has any trade value. Same for Huard. Those two will probably be outright cut. Not sure if we could get anything for McIntosh but it’s worth a shot. Same for LJ. Who knows, we might even sneak a pick out of JP Darche if a team looses a LS to retirement or alien abduction.
I would hate to see the Chiefs part ways with Brian Waters or Tony Gonzalez. I think they are the only two “old guys” who are indispensable to this organization. I mentioned before that the Pats have done great work making trades. I’ll bet that’s Pioli’s work. If he’s our new GM, I’d guess we’d all be surprised by what a competent wheeler and dealer can do.
Michael Smith at ESPN apparently thinks the Chiefs are going to hire Marty as a consultant, Jimmy Raye Jr as GM and Cam Cameron as head coach. I’ll give any combo that isn’t Carl/Herm a shot in the dark but I’d be terribly disappointed if that was the hire that’s made. Two guys with old KC ties and a coach that went 1-15 a year ago.
Hopefully Michael Smith is just full of hot air.
Because of clark’s style, most of the media is blowing smoke as opposed to saying nothing about the KC situation. No real problem with that but is clark still moving forward? He apparently decided to waste the carl 2 week notice to make a move. I still think there is a distinct possibility Bill K for GM/ Lynn Stiles for pres and we get to keep herm for another year. Heard one interesting comment from Tim Grundhart - What happens if herm fails again next year? NFL history says when a team gets in a downhill spiral most coaches do not survive to fix it. Can the KC chiefs and fans sit through a repeat of this year, Tim did not think so.
I think Clark is too smart to risk that tm1946. If they start over with an exciting new GM and coach, I think most fans will tolerate a no playoff team next year so long as there is a promising product on the field. I highly doubt Herm will produce anything better than mediocrity.
Herm is probably a good DB coach, maybe a D Coor. I doubt he has any idea of what to do with the ball on the offensive side. He went crazy in KC. Why, I do not know? I believe this is the first franchise that KNOWINGLY decided to go to a expansion type roster to rebuild. I wonder where he got the idea, how he convinced clark and carl to do it, and WHY he thought it had any chance to succeed? Where herm goes or not, it is just to bad for KC fans who did not have to go thru this mess.
Clark Hunt learned a valuable lesson this season. He can’t just let his GM and coaches dump a slop bucket of undeveloped, athletically lacking players onto the football field, stay 30 million under the cap and expect to make money. KC fans stopped showing up for games and good for them. Clark found out that you get what you pay for. Chiefs fans are loyal, but (most of them) are not stupid. Give us a team that is competitive and we will fill the stadium. Anything less than 100% effort to reach the Super Bowl EVERY YEAR should not be tolerated. We want to be champions. I can’t believe Clark stood by and let Herm crap a year away.
I don’t think he’ll let this kind of thing happen again.