Whatever happened to the idea that running the ball isn’t important anymore? In three of the playoff games this weekend, the winners ran for over 150 yards and at least 3 TDs.
Since 2000, only four teams had run for least 4 TDs in a playoff game. Both Kansas City and New England did it this weekend.
In the last 18 seasons, only 18 teams had scored at least 3 TDs in a postseason game. It happened in three of the four games this weekend.
All three of those teams, oddly, put up their big rushing numbers despite playing against top-10 run defenses.
3 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS IN PLAYOFF GAMES | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Date | Opp. | Result | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
Seattle | 2003 | at G.B. | L 27-33 (ot) | 21 | 49 | 2.3 | 3 |
Atlanta | 2004 | St.L. | W 47-17 | 40 | 327 | 8.2 | 3 |
Indianapolis | 2004 | Den. | W 49-24 | 24 | 76 | 3.2 | 3 |
San Diego | 2006 | N.E. | L 21-24 | 33 | 148 | 4.5 | 3 |
Chicago | 2006 | N.O. | W 39-14 | 46 | 196 | 4.3 | 3 |
Green Bay | 2007 | Sea. | W 42-20 | 35 | 235 | 6.7 | 3 |
Pittsburgh | 2008 | S.D. | W 35-24 | 42 | 165 | 3.9 | 3 |
San Diego | 2008 | Ind. | W 23-17 (ot) | 33 | 167 | 5.1 | 3 |
Baltimore | 2009 | at N.E. | W 33-14 | 52 | 234 | 4.5 | 4 |
Minnesota | 2009 | at N.O. | L 28-31 (ot) | 36 | 165 | 4.6 | 3 |
Chicago | 2010 | Sea. | W 35-24 | 45 | 176 | 3.9 | 3 |
New Orleans | 2011 | Det. | W 45-28 | 36 | 167 | 4.6 | 3 |
San Francisco | 2012 | G.B. | W 45-31 | 43 | 323 | 7.5 | 4 |
San Francisco | 2012 | at Atl. | W 28-24 | 29 | 149 | 5.1 | 3 |
New England | 2013 | Ind. | W 43-22 | 46 | 234 | 5.1 | 6 |
New England | 2014 | Ind. | W 45-7 | 40 | 177 | 4.4 | 3 |
Carolina | 2015 | Ariz. | W 49-15 | 37 | 152 | 4.1 | 3 |
Jacksonville | 2017 | at Pit. | W 45-42 | 35 | 164 | 4.7 | 4 |
Kansas City | 2018 | Ind. | W 31-13 | 33 | 180 | 5.5 | 4 |
New England | 2018 | LAC | W 41-28 | 34 | 155 | 4.6 | 4 |
LA Rams | 2018 | Dall. | W 30-22 | 48 | 273 | 5.7 | 3 |
—Ian Allan