Peyton Manning’s time in Indianapolis was peppered with record-breaking moments that have been very well-publicized. But a relatively unknown record occurred during the nascent days of the Manning Era. In 1999, Edgerrin James rushed for 1,553 yards, an impressive accomplishment in any era. But here’s what’s really crazy: Manning was second in the team in rushing yards with 73! Keith Elias was the only other running back to record a carry, and he finished with 28 yards (Marvin Harrison and Terrence Wilkins added six total rushing yards). This means James recorded 93.6% of all Indianapolis rushing yards that season, still an NFL record, and one that is in no danger of being broken in the near future.
Second on the list of “largest percentage of the rushing pie” is … Edgerrin James for the Colts the following season. In 2000, he was responsible for 91.9% of all Indianpolis rushing yards. Only three other players have ever gained 90% of all team rushing yards: Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, and … Travis Henry. The table below shows the top 100 seasons as far as percentage of team rushing yards:
Obviously the odd duck on that list is Henry. In 2002, the Bills ranked 11th in points and yards, and sent Henry, Drew Bledsoe, and Eric Moulds to the Pro Bowl. Peerless Price had his breakout year with a 94-1252-9 stat line, and Josh Reed had a solid rookie year with 509 yards. Bledsoe was second on the team in rushing yards, and Shawn Bryson and Larry Centers combined for 91 yards as the other backs. Kevin Gilbride was the offensive coordinator, and he obviously didn’t see much of a need in spelling Henry.
Here’s another surprise: DeMarco Murray is the only player from 2013 to crack the top 100. The Cowboys were the second most pass-happy team in the NFL last year, a fact we covered pretty frequently during the season. And while Murray missed two full games with injuries, Joseph Randle was second on the team with just 164 rushing yards.
I thought it would be fun to create a career “grade” for each running back. For all running backs with at least five seasons with 100+ rushing yards, I calculated their average “percentage of team rushing yards” in their five best seasons in that metric. Unsurprisingly, James tops the list, courtesy of his ’99, ’00, ’05, ’06, and ’07 seasons. The table below shows the top 100 players using this formula:
For the first half of his career, Tiki Barber was considered too small to be an every-down back. But based on the degree to which the Giants leaned on him in the second half of his career, he ranks in the top five in this statistic.
There are lots of interesting conclusions to be drawn from these results, so I’ll leave the commentary to you guys today. But one thing you might notice is that most of the running backs at the top of the list came from around the same era. Meanwhile, Earl Campbell, who (deservedly) has a workhorse reputation comes in at number seventeen. There’s a reason for that. For every season (excluding 1987) since 1950, I calculated the percentage of team rushing yards by the top rusher for each team. The graph below shows the average percentage of the top back for each team in each season.
Running back by committee was a way of life in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s but teams began to rely on one back starting in the ’70s. Consider that in 1973, when O.J. Simpson rushed for 2,000 yards, Jim Braxton and Larry Watkins combined for over 900 rushing yards for Buffalo. Remember, the fullback was an integral part of the offense for most of football history; as a result, no running back would come close to recording 75% of all team rushing yards. After years of gravitating to the stud running back model, the peak occurred in the middle of the last decade. Now? Relying on one running back still occurs to a stronger degree than for most of football history, but the running back by committee model is here to stay… until it isn’t.
