The 2014 Patriots were not very reliant on the ground team. Jonas Gray led the team in rushing yards with just 412 in 8 games, while Shane Vereen was second with 391 over the full season. Stevan Ridley had 340 in 6 games, while LeGarrette Blount had 281 in five appearances. Even as a team, New England only ranked 18th in rushing yards. And while Blount ran all over the Colts (30/148/3) in the AFC Championship Game, he was held to just 40 yards on 14 carries in the Super Bowl, which still managed to lead the team.
Among the now 110 teams to make the Super Bowl, the 2014 Patriots rank last when it comes to rushing yards gained by their leading rusher. The 1998 Broncos, of course, rank first: Terrell Davis rushed for 2,008 yards that season. The graph below shows the rushing yards (pro-rated to 16 game seasons for years with shorter schedules) for the leading rusher on each Super Bowl team: the winners are shown in black, the losers in green, and the Bucs and Chiefs are shown in team colors.
In what is becoming something of a trend, the 49ers and Chiefs do not have a 1,000-yard rusher. And while these teams are not lacking for big names in the backfield — Le’Veon Bell! Leonard Fournette! LeSean McCoy! — it’s Ronald Jones II (978 yards) and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (803) who lead the team in rushing.
From 1972 to 1979, the leading rusher each season averaged at least 1,000 rushing yards and was usually a Hall of Famer: Larry Csonka, Csonka again, Franco Harris, Harris again, Mark van Eeghen, Tony Dorsett, Harris, and Harris again. Emmitt Smith had his run with the Cowboys in the ’90s, and then from ’97 to 2007, the Super Bowl champion had a 1,000-yard rusher in 9 of 11 seasons, with the ’02 Bucs and ’03 Patriots being the sole exceptions.
But this season, for the 6th time in 7 years, the Super Bowl champion will not have a 1,000 yard rusher. That means Blount, on the ’16 Patriots, is the last such player to rush for 1,000 yards and win the Super Bowl in the same season. In fact, just 3 of the last 13 Super Bowl champions (including whoever wins Super Bowl LV) had 1,000 yard rushers: Ray Rice on the 2012 Ravens, Marshawn Lynch on the ’13 Seahawks, and Blount on the ’16 Patriots.