Adrian Peterson currently leads the NFL in rushing with 1898 yards. This puts him 408 yards ahead of second-place Marshawn Lynch. That represents a 27% advantage over the runner up.
Here is how that compares to the gap between the #1 and #2 leaders in other major stat categories through Week 16.
- Drew Brees holds a 2% edge over Matthew Stafford in passing yards; he is 1181 yards short of a 27% advantage.
- Drew Brees holds an 11% edge over Aaron Rodgers in touchdown passes; he is 5.5 touchdowns short of a 27% advantage.
- Arian Foster holds a 27% advantage over Trent Richardson for rushing touchdowns.
- Calvin Johnson holds a 29% advantage over Brandon Marshall in receiving yards.
- James Jones holds an 8% advantage over Dez Bryant for receiving touchdowns; he is 2.25 touchdowns short of a 27% advantage.
In case it wasn’t already obvious, Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson are pretty good.
While far from a perfect measure, looking at the difference between the elite guy(s) and other top performers can give some perspective on the impressiveness of an accomplishment. For instance, last year Drew Brees set the record for passing yards in a season with 5476. Impressive, right? Certainly. But in that same year, Tom Brady also broke Dan Marino’s record while Matthew Stafford and Eli Manning both turned in top 6 all-time performances. That means of the top 6 seasons in total passing yards, 4 came last year. To me, that makes Drew Brees’s record and season a little less impressive. Sure, he threw for a ton of yards. But so did everyone else!
Last week, Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice’s single-season receiving yards record and has another week to add to his total. Adrian Peterson is within shouting distance of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing yards record. Rice’s record came in a year similar to Brees’s last year, when 3 of the top 7 (and at that point, 3 of the top 4) seasons in total receiving yards took place. Dickerson’s record-setting year was similar to Peterson’s and Johnson’s current efforts, when he maintained a 25% edge over runner-up Walter Payton. To me, that puts Dickerson’s, Peterson’s, and Johnson’s season in a very special place in NFL history.
What has stood out to you from this yet-to-be-completed NFL season?
What stood out to me?
1. How horrible the Eagles were this year. It was a bit of a blessing that I moved to Arizona this year, and they didn’t show the Eagles every week.
2. How quickly I became tired of reading HTTR from all my Maryland friends.
3. I have no clue what team I’ll pull for in the playoffs this year. Maybe Seattle?
A fellow Birds fan! Where were you earlier this year when my lament for them was a regular feature?!?!
I moved to the Philadelphia Metro Area last year, so I don’t have any real attachment to the Eagles, but they have been losing all over my TV. My response thus far has been morbid fascination.
I was privately wondering just how bad this season was going to get. And it got pretty horrible, really quickly. The best (worst?) part, was that they won those first games by just a few points. If things had gone a little differently, they could have been winless this year. That would have been epically awful, instead of just painfully pathetic.
When Babe Ruth hit 54 home runs in 1920, he had an 8% edge over every other team in the league.