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
RK
PLAYER, TEAM
PCT.
YARDS
1.
Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville
46.5
1,807 of 3,888
2.
Ray Rice, Baltimore
36.8
1,869 of 5,072
3.
Arian Foster, Houston
33.1
1,841 of 5,567
4.
Steven Jackson, St. Louis
32.8
1,387 of 4,266
5.
Matt Forte, Chicago
30.9
1,487 of 4,817
JAGUARS SINGLE-SEASON HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL OFFENSE
RK
PLAYER, YEAR
PCT.
YARDS
1.
Maurice Jones-Drew, 2011
46.5
1,807 of 3,888
2.
Fred Taylor, 2003
36.2
1,942 of 5,358
3.
Fred Taylor, 2002
35.5
1,722 of 4,851
4.
Maurice Jones-Drew, 2009
32.8
1,765 of 5,385
5.
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
RK
PLAYER
TDS
GAMES
1.
LaDainian Tomlinson
162
169
2.
Tony Gonzalez
95
237
3.
Hines Ward
86
216
4.
Antonio Gates
75
131
5.
Maurice Jones-Drew
74
92
Ricky Williams
74
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)
RK
PLAYER, TEAM
AVG.
GAMES
1.
Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville
95.5
23
2.
Chris Johnson, Tennessee
90.0
23
3.
Steven Jackson, St. Louis
86.5
22
4.
Michael Turner, Atlanta
82.3
21
5.
DeAngelo Williams, Carolina
78.8
16