San Francisco’s starting running back averaged over 8 yards per carry yesterday, yet they lost 43-17. You wouldn’t think that would be something that was even possible.
Yet that’s what happened. They gave up too many big plays and key plays on defense. Jimmy Garoppolo doesn’t seem to have any confidence (or accuracy). The offensive line wasn’t good enough yesterday, contributing to Garoppolo get clobbered on a handful of plays before they mercifully pulled him at halftime.
Yet there was Raheem Mostert, carrying 11 times for 90 yards, consistently picking up good chunks of yardage. With the success he was having on the ground, you would have thought the game would have been a lot closer.
I looked into this using the game sort tools that are available at Pro-Football-Reference.com. I wanted to see if this had ever been done before. I was surprised to see it’s a lot more common than I thought.
Over 200 times in the Super Bowl era (about 4 times per year) a team losing despite having a player with double-digit carries averaging over 8 yards per carry. And 39 times a team has lost by over 20 points with such a player.
It happened only once in the 2019 season, and it oddly was on the same field (with Christian McCaffrey busting a couple of long runs for Carolina). It got turned around on the 49ers this time.
SUCCESSFUL RUNNERS IN BLOWOUT LOSSES | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Opp | Result | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | Lost by |
2011 | Delone Carter, Ind. | at N.O. | L 7-62 | 10 | 89 | 8.9 | 1 | 55 |
1980 | Lawrence McCutcheon, Sea. | at Dall. | L 7-51 | 11 | 95 | 8.6 | 0 | 44 |
1968 | Max Anderson, Buff. | Oak. | L 6-48 | 11 | 88 | 8.0 | 0 | 42 |
2019 | Christian McCaffrey, Car. | at S.F. | L 13-51 | 14 | 117 | 8.4 | 1 | 38 |
2011 | Fred Jackson, Buff. | at Dall. | L 7-44 | 13 | 114 | 8.8 | 0 | 37 |
2010 | Tim Hightower, Ariz. | at Atl. | L 7-41 | 11 | 115 | 10.5 | 1 | 34 |
1971 | O.J. Simpson, Buff. | at Mia. | L 0-34 | 10 | 90 | 9.0 | 0 | 34 |
1978 | Greg Pruitt, Clev. | at Cin. | L 16-48 | 22 | 182 | 8.3 | 1 | 32 |
2004 | Kevin Jones, Det. | Ind. | L 9-41 | 12 | 99 | 8.3 | 0 | 32 |
2002 | Richard Huntley, Car. | N.E. | L 6-38 | 21 | 168 | 8.0 | 0 | 32 |
2006 | Frank Gore, S.F. | at Chi. | L 10-41 | 12 | 111 | 9.3 | 0 | 31 |
2012 | Chris Johnson, Ten. | Chi. | L 20-51 | 16 | 141 | 8.8 | 1 | 31 |
2017 | LeSean McCoy, Buff. | at LAC | L 24-54 | 13 | 114 | 8.8 | 1 | 30 |
1998 | Corey Dillon, Cin. | at Ten. | L 14-44 | 14 | 124 | 8.9 | 1 | 30 |
2013 | Terrelle Pryor, Oak. | Phil. | L 20-49 | 10 | 94 | 9.4 | 0 | 29 |
2009 | Knowshon Moreno, Den. | S.D. | L 3-32 | 10 | 80 | 8.0 | 0 | 29 |
1979 | Ricky Bell, T.B. | N.O. | L 14-42 | 10 | 101 | 10.1 | 0 | 28 |
2002 | James Stewart, Det. | at G.B. | L 14-40 | 15 | 122 | 8.1 | 0 | 26 |
1999 | Duce Staley, Phil. | at Car. | L 7-33 | 17 | 140 | 8.2 | 1 | 26 |
2000 | Raheem Mostert, S.F. | Mia. | L 17-43 | 11 | 90 | 8.2 | 0 | 26 |
2006 | Julius Jones, Dall. | N.O. | L 17-42 | 10 | 116 | 11.6 | 1 | 25 |
2018 | Kalen Ballage, Mia. | at Min. | L 17-41 | 12 | 123 | 10.3 | 1 | 24 |
1981 | Curtis Dickey, Balt. | Dall. | L 13-37 | 15 | 130 | 8.7 | 2 | 24 |
2012 | Jamaal Charles, K.C. | at Clev. | L 7-30 | 18 | 165 | 9.2 | 1 | 23 |
1978 | Greg Pruitt, Clev. | at Sea. | L 24-47 | 12 | 113 | 9.4 | 0 | 23 |
2001 | Troy Hambrick, Dall. | at Phil. | L 18-40 | 10 | 107 | 10.7 | 0 | 22 |
1975 | Delvin Williams, S.F. | at Atl. | L 9-31 | 10 | 104 | 10.4 | 1 | 22 |
1966 | Paul Lowe, S.D. | Oak. | L 19-41 | 10 | 125 | 12.5 | 0 | 22 |
2008 | Derrick Ward, NYG | at Clev. | L 14-35 | 10 | 101 | 10.1 | 0 | 21 |
1979 | Pete Johnson, Cin. | at Hou. | L 21-42 | 14 | 113 | 8.1 | 1 | 21 |
1975 | Greg Pruitt, Clev. | at Oak. | L 17-38 | 12 | 103 | 8.6 | 1 | 21 |
1968 | Paul Robinson, Cin. | at Oak. | L 10-31 | 17 | 159 | 9.4 | 1 | 21 |
2018 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | Phil. | L 13-34 | 13 | 130 | 10.0 | 1 | 21 |
2002 | Marcel Shipp, Ariz. | Oak. | L 20-41 | 16 | 135 | 8.4 | 1 | 21 |
1999 | Charlie Garner, S.F. | Pitt. | L 6-27 | 20 | 166 | 8.3 | 0 | 21 |
1968 | Earl Gros, Pitt. | Clev. | L 24-45 | 13 | 109 | 8.4 | 0 | 21 |
2012 | C.J. Spiller, Buff. | at NYJ | L 28-48 | 14 | 169 | 12.1 | 1 | 20 |
1972 | Art Malone, Atl. | at S.F. | L 0-20 | 10 | 91 | 9.1 | 0 | 20 |
1976 | Clark Gaines, NYJ | Balt. | L 0-20 | 12 | 102 | 8.5 | 0 | 20 |
—Ian Allan