Which Player Has Scored the Most Game-Winning Touchdowns (Part II)

by Chase Stuart on May 27, 2016

Three years ago, I looked at the players who have scored the most game-winning touchdowns in NFL history. Let’s be clear: tracking things like game-winning touchdowns is only interesting in a trivial sort way, but hey, it’s May.

Yesterday, I looked at which players had the most game-winning touchdown passes, so today we look at all other scores (whether rushing, receiving, via fumble recovery or later, or even non-offensive TDs). I looked at all games, regular and postseason, in all leagues, from 1940 to 2015 (and playoff games from pre-1940), and counted all touchdowns scored that put the player’s team ahead for good (with one exception: I did not count touchdowns scored when down by 7 and the team successfully went for two afterwards).

The table below lists all players with at least four such touchdowns. As he was three years ago, Marcus Allen stands alone with 10 game-winning touchdowns, including one via fumble recovery.

After him are two Colts receivers, but not Hall of Famers Marvin Harrison and Raymond Berry. Harrison had just one fourth-quarter game-winning touchdown in his career way back in 1999, while Berry had five. But Jimmy Orr had nine (seven from Johnny Unitas, and two from Bobby Layne during his Steelers days), while Reggie Wayne had eight (four from Peyton Manning, two from Andrew Luck, and one each from … Dan Orlovsky and Joseph Addai against the 49ers). The table below shows all players who have scored at least four such touchdowns.

Rk	Player	TDs
1	Marcus Allen	10
2	Jimmy Orr	9
3	Reggie Wayne	8
3	Santonio Holmes	8
3	Jim Taylor	8
6	LaDainian Tomlinson	7
6	Cris Carter	7
6	Jerry Rice	7
6	Emmitt Smith	7
6	Gary Clark	7
6	Steve Largent	7
6	Ahmad Rashad	7
6	Lenny Moore	7
14	Michael Turner	6
14	Larry Johnson	6
14	Jimmy Smith	6
14	Jerome Bettis	6
14	Earnest Byner	6
14	Eric Martin	6
14	Michael Haynes	6
14	Roy Green	6
14	Ron Johnson	6
14	R.C. Owens	6
24	Marques Colston	5
24	Roddy White	5
24	Vincent Jackson	5
24	Chris Johnson	5
24	Frank Gore	5
24	Plaxico Burress	5
24	Chad Johnson	5
24	Steve Smith	5
24	Santana Moss	5
24	Fred Taylor	5
24	Isaac Bruce	5
24	Keyshawn Johnson	5
24	Curtis Martin	5
24	Terrell Owens	5
24	Tim Brown	5
24	Andre Rison	5
24	Leroy Hoard	5
24	Carl Pickens	5
24	Herschel Walker	5
24	Irving Fryar	5
24	Bill Brooks	5
24	Sterling Sharpe	5
24	Lorenzo White	5
24	John Taylor	5
24	Mark Clayton	5
24	Wesley Walker	5
24	Tony Galbreath	5
24	Rick Upchurch	5
24	Earl Campbell	5
24	Cliff Branch	5
24	Greg Pruitt	5
24	Larry Csonka	5
24	Lawrence McCutcheon	5
24	Gary Ballman	5
24	Bobby Mitchell	5
24	Raymond Berry	5
24	Larry Garron	5
24	Paul Lowe	5
24	Billy Wilson	5
63	Larry Fitzgerald	4
63	Jeremy Maclin	4
63	Torrey Smith	4
63	A.J. Green	4
63	Greg Olsen	4
63	Marshawn Lynch	4
63	Jonathan Stewart	4
63	Brandon Marshall	4
63	Maurice Jones-Drew	4
63	T.J. Houshmandzadeh	4
63	Anquan Boldin	4
63	Greg Jennings	4
63	Alge Crumpler	4
63	Randy Moss	4
63	Corey Dillon	4
63	Kevin Curtis	4
63	Tiki Barber	4
63	Donte' Stallworth	4
63	Eddie Kennison	4
63	Edgerrin James	4
63	Warrick Dunn	4
63	Stephen Davis	4
63	Travis Henry	4
63	Qadry Ismail	4
63	Shannon Sharpe	4
63	Mike Alstott	4
63	Ben Coates	4
63	Terrell Davis	4
63	Keith Byars	4
63	Brian Blades	4
63	Calvin Williams	4
63	Eric Green	4
63	Neal Anderson	4
63	Thurman Thomas	4
63	Mark Duper	4
63	Curt Warner	4
63	Rick Parros	4
63	Eric Dickerson	4
63	Ted Brown	4
63	John Riggins	4
63	John Stallworth	4
63	Dave Casper	4
63	Mike Pruitt	4
63	Mike Thomas	4
63	Fred Biletnikoff	4
63	Larry Brown	4
63	Jim Braxton	4
63	Charlie Sanders	4
63	Emerson Boozer	4
63	Jim Kiick	4
63	Leroy Kelly	4
63	Warren Wells	4
63	Dan Reeves	4
63	Gary Collins	4
63	Tom Matte	4
63	Don Maynard	4
63	Art Powell	4
63	Ollie Matson	4
63	Pete Retzlaff	4
63	Tommy McDonald	4
63	Hugh McElhenny	4
63	Joe Perry	4
63	Verne Lewellen	4

What about just game-winning rushing touchdowns? There’s a four-way tie for first, among Allen, Emmitt Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Jim Taylor:

Rk	Player	TDs
1	Marcus Allen	7
1	Jim Taylor	7
1	LaDainian Tomlinson	7
1	Emmitt Smith	7
5	Michael Turner	6
5	Larry Johnson	6
7	Lenny Moore	5
7	Jerome Bettis	5
7	Earnest Byner	5
7	Chris Johnson	5
7	Fred Taylor	5
7	Lorenzo White	5
7	Earl Campbell	5
14	Ron Johnson	4
14	Frank Gore	4
14	Curtis Martin	4
14	Herschel Walker	4
14	Tony Galbreath	4
14	Larry Csonka	4
14	Lawrence McCutcheon	4
14	Marshawn Lynch	4
14	Maurice Jones-Drew	4
14	Corey Dillon	4
14	Tiki Barber	4
14	Edgerrin James	4
14	Warrick Dunn	4
14	Stephen Davis	4
14	Terrell Davis	4
14	Eric Dickerson	4
14	Ted Brown	4
14	Jim Braxton	4
14	Jim Kiick	4
14	Leroy Kelly	4
14	Joe Perry	4

Receiving TDs?

Rk	Player	TDs
1	Jimmy Orr	9
2	Santonio Holmes	8
2	Reggie Wayne	8
4	Cris Carter	7
4	Jerry Rice	7
4	Gary Clark	7
4	Steve Largent	7
4	Ahmad Rashad	7
9	Jimmy Smith	6
9	Eric Martin	6
9	Michael Haynes	6
9	R.C. Owens	6
13	Roy Green	5
13	Marques Colston	5
13	Roddy White	5
13	Vincent Jackson	5
13	Plaxico Burress	5
13	Chad Johnson	5
13	Steve Smith	5
13	Santana Moss	5
13	Isaac Bruce	5
13	Keyshawn Johnson	5
13	Terrell Owens	5
13	Tim Brown	5
13	Andre Rison	5
13	Carl Pickens	5
13	Irving Fryar	5
13	Bill Brooks	5
13	Sterling Sharpe	5
13	John Taylor	5
13	Mark Clayton	5
13	Wesley Walker	5
13	Cliff Branch	5
13	Raymond Berry	5
13	Billy Wilson	5

Finally, there are seven players who have multiple non-rushing/receiving game-winning touchdowns: Dwayne Harris, Patrick Peterson, Dante Hall, Mike Brown, Tamarick Vanover, Elvis Patterson, and Andy Nelson. Both of Peterson’s came on punt returns back during his rookie season; he has five career touchdowns, but only one since 2011. Still, he’s certainly the favorite to become the first player with three non-offensive game-winning touchdowns in the fourth quarter or overtime in NFL history. Then again, Dwayne Harris also has two such scores, including one last year.

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