Tidbits on Maurice Jones-Drew

Dec 27, 2011 at 11:12 AM

Maurice Jones-Drew enters Sunday's game as the NFL's leading rusher with a career-high 1,437 yards, 128 yards ahead of Philadelphia's LeSean McCoy (1,309). In the previous 16 seasons, the Jaguars have never had a player finish in the top three in the NFL in rushing yards. Mark Brunell (4,367 passing yards, 1996) and Jimmy Smith (116 receptions, 1999) are the only two players in franchise history to lead the NFL in one of the main statistical categories.

Jones-Drew is 136 yards from surpassing Fred Taylor's single-season franchise record of 1,572 rushing yards in 2003. Jones-Drew owns three of the top five single-season rushing marks and attempts in team history.

Jones-Drew will most likely be the only current NFL player to have three straight seasons with at least 1,300 rushing yards. Tennessee's Chris Johnson entered 2011 with back-to-back seasons of 1,300-plus rushing yards and has 986 entering Sunday's finale.

Where Jones-Drew ranks

In addition to leading the NFL in rushing yards, Jones-Drew also ranks among the NFL leaders in several statistical categories: rushes (1st, 318), rushing touchdowns (T-11th, 8), touchdowns (10th, 11), yards from scrimmage (3rd, 1,807), first downs (2nd, 86), rushes of 10-plus yards (2nd, 38), rushes of 20-plus yards (T-10th, 8) and offensive touches (1st, 360).

Do-everything back

Maurice Jones-Drew prides himself on being an every-down back and is willing to take the punishment that goes with that role. Jones-Drew leads the NFL with 360 offensive touches and ranks third with a career-high 1,807 yards from scrimmage, 136 yards away from brealking Fred Taylor's single-season franchise record of 1,942 in 2003.

In the last five games, Jones-Drew averaged 145.4 yards from scrimmage and three of his top 10 career games have come in 2011. He had a season-high 188 yards from scrimmage (97 rushing, 91 receiving) on Dec. 5 against San Diego, the third-most of his career.

Jones-Drew has three receiving touchdowns in the last four games and six receptions in three of the last four games. He ranks second on the team with 42 receptions for 370 yards.

Did you know?

Maurice Jones-Drew set a single-game career-high with four touchdowns against Tampa Bay on Dec. 11, becoming the only player in the NFL in 2011 with four touchdowns in a game.

MVP-type production

How important is Maurice Jones-Drew to the Jaguars offense? Very important.

Jones-Drew has accounted for 46.5 percent of the Jaguars offense through 15 games, the highest percentage in the NFL. In 11 of 15 games, he has accounted for at least 40 percent of the club's offense and at least 50 percent in seven games.

2011 NFL HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL OFFENSE

PLAYER, TEAM

PCT.

YARDS

Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville

46.5

1,807 of 3,888

Ray Rice, Baltimore

36.8

1,869 of 5,072

Arian Foster, Houston

33.1

1,841 of 5,567

Steven Jackson, St. Louis

32.8

1,387 of 4,266

Matt Forte, Chicago

30.9

1,487 of 4,817

JAGUARS SINGLE-SEASON HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL OFFENSE

PLAYER, YEAR

PCT.

YARDS

Maurice Jones-Drew, 2011

46.5

1,807 of 3,888

Fred Taylor, 2003

36.2

1,942 of 5,358

Fred Taylor, 2002

35.5

1,722 of 4,851

Maurice Jones-Drew, 2009

32.8

1,765 of 5,385

Fred Taylor, 1998

31.5

1,644 of 5,214

JONES-DREW'S 2011 GAME-BY-GAME TOTAL OFFENSE PERCENTAGE

DATE

OPPONENT

PCT.

YARDS

9/11/11

Tennessee

30.0

97 of 323

9/18/11

at New York Jets

52.7

107 of 203

9/25/11

at Carolina

65.0

167 of 257

10/2/11

New Orleans

31.7

87 of 274

10/9/11

Cincinnati

28.7

85 of 296

10/16/11

at Pittsburgh

49.8

104 of 209

10/24/11

Baltimore

50.2

103 of 205

10/30/11

at Houston

42.5

74 of 174

11/13/11

at Indianapolis

54.6

137 of 251

11/20/11

at Cleveland

38.9

118 of 303

11/27/11

Houston

65.1

166 of 255

12/ 5/11

San Diego

61.4

188 of 306

12/11/11

Tampa Bay

41.8

136 of 325

12/15/11

at Atlanta

54.6

113 of 207

12/24/11

at Tennessee

41.3

124 of 300

MJD ranks among NFL's best

Maurice Jones-Drew's franchise-record 74 career touchdowns are tied for the fifth-most among active NFL players and he reached the figure in only 92 career games. He has 10-plus touchdowns in five of his first six seasons with the Jaguars. He ranks eighth among active players in rushing yards with 6,685.

MOST TOUCHDOWNS AMONG ACTIVE NFL PLAYERS

PLAYER

TDS

GAMES

LaDainian Tomlinson

162

169

Tony Gonzalez

237

Hines Ward

216

Antonio Gates

131

Maurice Jones-Drew

Ricky Williams

146

20-plus carries equal yards for Jones-Drew

Maurice Jones-Drew has recorded 20-plus carries in 31 of 92 career games and he has produced 90-plus rushing yards in 24 of the 31 games. He has nine games with 20-plus carries in 2011 and registered at least 97 rushing yards in eight of the nine games.

Taking the show on the road

Maurice Jones-Drew* *leads the NFL with a 95.5-yard rushing average in road games from 2009-11, his three seasons as a starting running back. Four of his five 100-yard rushing games in 2011 have come on the road and he averaged 98.1 rushing yards in the eight road games.

NFL MOST RUSHING YARDS IN ROAD GAMES (2009-11)

PLAYER, TEAM

AVG.

GAMES

Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville

95.5

Chris Johnson, Tennessee

90.0

Steven Jackson, St. Louis

86.5

Michael Turner, Atlanta

82.3

DeAngelo Williams, Carolina

78.8

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