Allow me to present to you Atlanta running back Antone Smith’s 2014 play-by-play log in its entirety:

Week 1 vs. NO
Qtr	Time	Score	Down/Dist	Yardline	Description
2	11:40	0 - 13	2nd-and-10	own 20	rushed for 2 yards
2	09:16	0 - 13	1st-and-10	opp 31	rushed for 5 yards
3	00:33	17 - 20	2nd-and-9	own 46	caught pass for 54 yards TOUCHDOWN
Week 2 vs. CIN
Qtr	Time	Score	Down/Dist	Yardline	Description
2	14:49	41701	1st-and-10	own 28	caught pass for 4 yards
2	01:14	41708	3rd-and-4	own 38	target of incomplete pass
4	10:23	41722	1st-and-10	opp 35	caught pass for 15 yards (first down)
4	00:54	41936	1st-and-10	own 41	target of incomplete pass
Week 3 vs. TB
Qtr	Time	Score	Down/Dist	Yardline	Description
1	04:21	36708	1st-and-9	opp 9	rushed for 4 yards
2	09:00	28 - 0	1st-and-10	opp 11	rushed for 10 yards (first down)
3	02:36	49 - 0	1st-and-10	opp 36	rushed for -2 yards
3	01:59	49 - 0	2nd-and-12	opp 38	rushed for 38 yards TOUCHDOWN
Week 4 vs. MIN
Qtr	Time	Score	Down/Dist	Yardline	Description
1	05:23	0 - 7	3rd-and-2	opp 29	rushed for 2 yards (first down)
1	04:47	0 - 7	1st-and-10	opp 27	rushed for 3 yards
2	14:55	41834	2nd-and-10	own 31	rushed for 9 yards
3	01:40	21 - 27	1st-and-10	opp 48	rushed for 48 yards TOUCHDOWN
Week 5 vs. NYG
Qtr	Time	Score	Down/Dist	Yardline	Description
1	03:42	0 - 7	1st-and-10	opp 23	rushed for 2 yards
2	14:59	41827	3rd-and-4	opp 4	caught pass for 1 yards
2	12:33	41919	1st-and-10	own 25	caught pass for 8 yards
3	05:51	13 - 10	3rd-and-4	own 26	caught pass for 74 yards TOUCHDOWN

That’s four long touchdowns on 17 offensive touches.  On his four scoring plays, Smith has gained an incredible 214 yards.  That’s the most in the NFL so far, with Steve Smith (162 yards) and Jordy Nelson (160) rounding out the top three.  Perhaps even more incredible is that Smith has gained 214 yards on scoring plays despite gaining only 63 yards on non-scoring plays.  Here’s a chart I tweeted a couple of days ago, showing yards gained on TDs on the X-axis and yards gained on all other plays on the Y-axis:

As you can see, Smith — on the bottom right there — is a pretty big outlier. After all, how is it even possible for a player gain over 150 more yards on plays that end in the end zone than on all other plays?

Good question!  I looked at all players with at least 2 offensive touchdowns in a season since 1950.  As it turns out, only one player has ever pulled off that feat: Bob Boyd in 1950. You remember Boyd, don’t you? No? As a Rams rookie in 1950, Boyd caught 9 passes for a whopping 220 yards.  How did Boyd gain so many yards on so few catches? Well, four of those receptions were for touchdowns of 33, 42, 63, and 72 yards. On the season, he gained 210 yards on his four catches for touchdowns, and 10 yards on his other five receptions.

He was a rookie, though, and that level of production was a sign of things to come. He would lead the NFL in yards per reception in 1953, and the league in receiving yards in 1954. While gaining more yards on scoring plays than non-scoring plays is pretty rare, it does happen from time to time. The table below shows the just-enough-to-get-Smith’s-2013-season-on-the-list players with more yards gained on scoring plays than non-scoring plays, minimum two touchdowns. As it stands, Smith’s 2014 season would be 2nd all time:

Some notes:

• In 1966, John Mackey had touchdowns of 89, 83, 79, 64, 57, 51, 26, 18, and 17 yards. The former Colt not only was a first-team All-Pro, but he also gained more yards on his scoring plays than non-scoring plays. That’s pretty incredible, especially for a tight end.

• In 1951, Elroy Hirsch gained 817 yards… on his touchdowns! That insane level of production by Crazy Legs will never be matched again. He caught 17 touchdowns that year, including from 91, 71, 79, 76, and 72 yards out.

• I was glad to see Marc Boerigter make the list, as Antone Smith did conjure up memories of his 2002 season, at least for your author. That year, the Chief wideout came out of nowhere to catch a 99-yard touchdown and seven more scores despite hauling in just 20 passes.

The only running backs in recent times to make the list are fullback types — Washington’s Darrel Young, Jacksonville’s Montell Owens, and San Francisco’s Moran Norris. The last true halfback to make the list was Lamont Warren in his final days in Detroit, when he totaled just 64 yards from scrimmage. And you have to go back a much longer time — well before the merger — to find any running back coming close to doing what Smith is doing (Baltimore’s Billy Stone, perhaps?).

If there’s a takeaway from this post, it’s an obvious one: let’s just hope Smith gets more touches soon.