The Ravens ran for 3 TDs in their opener, reminding me that while Lamar Jackson runs for a lot of yards, he doesn’t seem all that interested in taking the ball into the end zone on his own.
Baltimore has scored 35 rushing touchdowns in its last 35 games, and Jackson has scored only 5 of them. Since the start of the 2021 season, 30 quarterbacks have started at least half the time, and seven of them have averaged more rushing touchdowns (per game) than Jackson, including Zach Wilson and Joe Burrow.
It's surprising in that Jackson has a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons on his resume. He’s run for over 700 yards four seasons in a row. But all those yards haven’t translated into touchdown numbers on par with Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen and Justin Fields. Calling his own number around the goal line isn’t a big part of his game right now.
Playing around with the numbers, I notice that Jackson averages 314 rushing yards per rushing touchdown since the start of the 2021 season. Among the 30 quarterbacks who’ve started at least half the time, only three average more yards per touchdown, and they’re the three who haven’t scored any rushing touchdowns at all (Goff, Carr, Dalton).
RUSHING YARDS vs. TD RUNS (since 2021) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | St | Yds/G | TD/G | Yds/TD |
Jimmy Garoppolo | 26 | 3.5 | .15 | 22.5 |
Tom Brady | 34 | 2.4 | .09 | 26.6 |
Ryan Tannehill | 30 | 12.4 | .30 | 41.4 |
Aaron Rodgers | 34 | 5.7 | .12 | 48.7 |
Joe Burrow | 33 | 11.3 | .21 | 53.4 |
Zach Wilson | 22 | 13.0 | .23 | 57.4 |
Matthew Stafford | 27 | 2.3 | .04 | 63 |
Jalen Hurts | 31 | 51.0 | .74 | 68.7 |
Davis Mills | 26 | 5.5 | .08 | 71.0 |
Kirk Cousins | 34 | 6.4 | .09 | 73.0 |
Matt Ryan | 29 | 5.2 | .07 | 76.0 |
Russell Wilson | 30 | 15.4 | .17 | 92.2 |
Trevor Lawrence | 35 | 18.5 | .20 | 92.2 |
Tua Tagovailoa | 26 | 7.8 | .08 | 101.5 |
Kyler Murray | 25 | 33.6 | .32 | 105.1 |
Baker Mayfield | 25 | 9.0 | .08 | 112.0 |
Daniel Jones | 28 | 37.5 | .32 | 116.5 |
Justin Herbert | 35 | 13.3 | .11 | 116.7 |
Josh Allen | 34 | 45.9 | .38 | 120.0 |
Patrick Mahomes | 35 | 22.4 | .17 | 130.6 |
Carson Wentz | 24 | 12.5 | .08 | 150.5 |
Dak Prescott | 29 | 11.5 | .07 | 167.0 |
Justin Fields | 26 | 61.1 | .35 | 176.4 |
Geno Smith | 21 | 18.6 | .10 | 195.5 |
Taylor Heinicke | 24 | 16.3 | .08 | 196.0 |
Mac Jones | 32 | 7.7 | .03 | 246.0 |
Lamar Jackson | 25 | 62.8 | .20 | 313.8 |
Andy Dalton | 20 | 6.5 | .00 | --- |
Derek Carr | 33 | 6.5 | .00 | --- |
Jared Goff | 32 | 5.0 | .00 | --- |
—Ian Allan