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An overlooked running back performance
Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2024 7:04 pm
by SeahawkFever
There’s a single game performance by a running back that I’ve found a bit overlooked personally:
Corey Dillon’s 278 yard game vs Denver in 2000.
Dillon in the game had 278 yards which was the NFL record for a single game, but for only three years (Jamal Lewis passed it in 2003).
In that game Dillon had only 22 carries; the fewest in any performance of 240 or more rushing yards in a game.
Also, he had six carries for no gain or negative yardage for a combined -6 yards.
So Dillon averaged 12.64 yards per carry for the game, and 17.75 yards per carry over his 16 carries that went past the line of scrimmage.
That also included seven different runs of 20 yards or more. If there is a single game with seven carries of 20+ yards by another running back, I have yet to find it.
It’s not Adrian Peterson’s record, but Corey Dillon’s 278 yard game was excellent, and I think it says something that the Broncos average yards per carry allowed drops by a full half yard per carry on the season when Dillon’s game is removed from the equation.
Re: An overlooked running back performance
Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2024 11:32 pm
by Brian wolf
That's one of the reasons Dillon has a good HOF case ... how many backs can claim a SB win, the all-time time best rushing game against the Broncos and all-time best rushing game as a rookie against the Titans?
A great player for a bad team, who had to block more than receive on third down? We can only speculate how his numbers could have been on a good Bengals team protecting leads, rather than being from behind and having to pass more?
On a winner, I think he gets easily, another 1500 yards running. Counting postseason, he had 93 TDs and didn't fumble much either. Had he gotten more than 7 carries against the Colts in the 2006/07 postseason--at nearly 7 yards per carry and a TD--the Patriots would have probably faced--and beaten--the Bears in the SB ...
Had he not been injured in the 2003 season for Cincinatti--which ironically, helped send him to NE, and had not had a bad rushing year in 2005--despite 13 total TDs, he might have already made the HOF ... who knows?
Re: An overlooked running back performance
Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2024 12:47 pm
by Reaser
I'm not sure it's overlooked. Seems more remembered than Lewis' also short-lived record-breaking game, and certainly more remembered than Harrison's game which obviously didn't break the record, but passed Dillon. Side note: Interesting that both UW & WSU are represented in the top-4 single-game rushing yards list.
Regardless, was a great individual performance that for most is the first thing they think of when his name is mentioned.
Personally, I always think of the first time I saw him play live. His Senior year of High School, state quarterfinal game I watched from the backyard of the home I grew up in. His school, Franklin, ran a cool option offense (they had a good running QB, too) and Dillon probably had 150 yards rushing with a couple TDs. Also saw him return a blocked FG for a TD, and on defense he ran down one of the fastest players in the state. I know he got an unsportsmanlike penalty and I'm pretty sure he was disqualified/ejected in the 4th quarter. It was his last HS game since they lost. Side note: We have that in common, my last HS game was a playoff loss on the same field.
Theoretically, his NFL career could have started a year earlier had his college career been more straightforward. It all worked out, though.
Re: An overlooked running back performance
Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2024 3:45 pm
by Brian wolf
Thanks Reaser, wow, speaking of an overlooked game, I had no idea about Jerome Harrison's game for the Browns in 2009. The Browns were so bad back then that maybe I simply didn't pay attention to any outstanding performance. Despite that game, he didn't have over 900 yards rushing that season and only played two more seasons. Why did the Browns send him to Philly?
Re: An overlooked running back performance
Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2024 4:41 pm
by Reaser
Brian wolf wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 3:45 pmThanks Reaser, wow, speaking of an overlooked game, I had no idea about Jerome Harrison's game for the Browns in 2009. The Browns were so bad back then that maybe I simply didn't pay attention to any outstanding performance. Despite that game, he didn't have over 900 yards rushing that season and only played two more seasons. Why did the Browns send him to Philly?
2010 was the Peyton Hillis season -- that infamously got him on the cover of "Madden" the following season. Harrison was down the depth chart and then complained about not getting carries and in response the Browns traded him. His career was cut short due to a brain tumor that was discovered when the Eagles tried to trade back for him.
Re: An overlooked running back performance
Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2024 3:29 pm
by SeahawkFever
Reaser wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 12:47 pm
I'm not sure it's overlooked. Seems more remembered than Lewis' also short-lived record-breaking game, and certainly more remembered than Harrison's game which obviously didn't break the record, but passed Dillon. Side note: Interesting that both UW & WSU are represented in the top-4 single-game rushing yards list.
Regardless, was a great individual performance that for most is the first thing they think of when his name is mentioned.
Personally, I always think of the first time I saw him play live. His Senior year of High School, state quarterfinal game I watched from the backyard of the home I grew up in. His school, Franklin, ran a cool option offense (they had a good running QB, too) and Dillon probably had 150 yards rushing with a couple TDs. Also saw him return a blocked FG for a TD, and on defense he ran down one of the fastest players in the state. I know he got an unsportsmanlike penalty and I'm pretty sure he was disqualified/ejected in the 4th quarter. It was his last HS game since they lost. Side note: We have that in common, my last HS game was a playoff loss on the same field.
Theoretically, his NFL career could have started a year earlier had his college career been more straightforward. It all worked out, though.
Jerome Harrison’s game is certainly overlooked because he never held the single game rushing yardage record.
As for Dillon’s, even if it’s more remembered, I don’t see anyone talking about the yards per carry for the volume of carries.
Also, seven runs of 20+ yards and an eighth for 14 yards is perhaps the largest quantity of runs of those respective distances in a single game (I.e. perhaps a players longest seventh and eighth best carries in a game).