Factoid
Working on the offensive line story for the magazine this week, where the Carolina Panthers are in contention for the top spot in our preseason rankings. During the course of the season we keep track of a variety of short-yardage plays -- plays where 1 or 2 yards is needed to convert 3rd or 4th downs, plays run near the opposing goal line, etc. In several critical areas, no team was better than Carolina.
The Panthers converted a league-high 85 percent of plays where 1 yard was needed to pick up a first down, and scored on a league-high 71 percent of their running plays inside the 5-yard line. And among the NFL's 50 players with at least 5 carries inside the opposing 5-yard line, the Panthers had the league's two best runners at getting in the end zone, either for a touchdown or a 2-point conversion: Jonathan Stewart (70 percent) and DeAngelo Williams (69 percent).
Those individual performances are presented below.
Att TD/2 Pct Player
10 7 70% Jonathan Stewart
13 9 69% DeAngelo Williams
12 8 67% T.J. Duckett
19 12 63% Michael Turner
10 6 60% Pierre Thomas
10 6 60% Sammy Morris
12 7 58% Clinton Portis
21 12 57% LenDale White
21 12 57% Brandon Jacobs
14 8 57% Maurice Jones-Drew
13 7 54% Marion Barber
10 5 50% Willis McGahee
12 6 50% Dominic Rhodes
13 6 46% Ronnie Brown
18 8 44% LeRon McClain
18 8 44% Tim Hightower
16 7 44% LaDainian Tomlinson
10 4 40% Michael Pittman
15 5 33% Matt Forte
16 5 31% Kevin Smith
14 4 29% Frank Gore
18 5 28% Thomas Jones
11 3 27% Mewelde Moore
11 3 27% Brian Westbrook
12 3 25% Marshawn Lynch
17 4 24% Jamal Lewis
18 4 22% Larry Johnson
10 2 20% Ryan Grant
21 4 19% Steve Slaton
9 5 56% Deuce McAllister
9 5 56% Adrian Peterson
8 4 50% Joseph Addai
8 3 38% Gary Russell
8 3 38% Steven Jackson
8 2 25% Willie Parker
8 1 13% Justin Fargas
7 2 29% Chester Taylor
6 4 67% Edgerrin James
6 4 67% BenJarvus Green-Ellis
6 3 50% Earnest Graham
6 2 33% Correll Buckhalter
6 1 17% DeShaun Foster
6 2 33% Donovan McNabb
5 3 60% LaMont Jordan
5 1 20% Fred Taylor
5 0 0% Fred Jackson
5 2 40% Kevin Faulk
5 1 20% Peyton Manning
5 3 60% Aaron Rodgers
5 1 20% Derrick Ward
--Andy Richardson
- Comments [0]
Readers' Comments
Add a Comment
Already a registered user? Please sign in to add comments.
To add comments, you must become a registered user of our site. To register, please click here.
