A running total
LaDainian Tomlinson, the San Diego star who led the NFL in rushing last season, gained only 25 yards in 17 carries in the Chargers’ victory over Chicago on Sunday. But don’t be fooled by those modest numbers, no less of an expert than Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown told Times staff writer Sam Farmer:
“No one should even bring up the fact that he didn’t rush for 100 yards,” said Brown, who led the NFL in rushing eight times between the 1957 and ’65 seasons. “It’s insulting. What they should do is look at his contribution to the victory.”
Indeed, Tomlinson had a hand in both Chargers touchdowns, running for one and passing for the other.
“If he had 150 yards but couldn’t make that seven-yard touchdown run he made, his 150 yards wouldn’t have made a difference,” Brown said.
If Tomlinson can manage to lead the league in rushing in consecutive seasons, he’d be bucking a recent trend. Edgerrin James was the last player to do it, in 1999 and 2000. Since then, the rushing champ’s yardage has dropped off sharply the next season.
*--* YEAR PLAYER YARDS NEXT 2002 Ricky Williams 1,853 1,372 2003 Jamal Lewis 2,066 1,006 2004 Curtis Martin 1,697 735 2005 Shaun Alexander 1,880 896 2006 Tomlinson 1,815 -- *--*
Tomlinson established league records with 28 rushing touchdowns, 31 total touchdowns and 186 points last season, but his production was bookended by a slow start and finish:
* Touchdowns first four games…three.
* Touchdowns next 10 games…28.
* Touchdowns last two games…none.
Tomlinson, last season’s NFL MVP, is the league’s all-time leader in touchdowns per game among those who played in at least 50 games. The top five:
*--* PLAYER AVG TDS GAMES Tomlinson 1.17 112 96 Jim Brown 1.07 126 118 Shaun Alexander 1.01 108 107 Steve Van Buren 0.93 77 83 Don Hutson 0.91 105 116 *--*
Only four players in NFL history have at least 50 touchdowns rushing, 10 touchdowns receiving and five touchdowns passing:
*--* PLAYER RUSH RECEIVE PASS TOTAL Marcus Allen 123 21 6 150 Walter Payton 110 15 8 133 Tomlinson 101 11 7 119 Paul Hornung 50 12 5 67 *--*
Source of all charts: Stats LLC