The eight players with more yards from scrimmage in a game than Josh Jacobs’ 303
In the history of professional football, only eight players have gained more yards from scrimmage than Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs did against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Jacobs capped his historic day with a game-winning 89-yard overtime run, and that allowed him to finish with 303 yards from scrimmage. A rather impressive total, which Jacobs split between his 229 rushing yards on 33 carries, and his 74 receiving yards on six catches.
If you guessed that Jacobs tied for ninth all-time in single-game scrimmage yards with Jim Benton of the 1945 Cleveland Rams, you are the superior football historian. Benton caught 10 passes for all of his yards from quarterback Bob Waterfield, and his yardage total annihilated the single-game record of the time, previously held by Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer Don Hutson with 237 yards in 1943.
If you’re interested to know which eight players in pro football history are the only ones to eclipse the marks of Jacobs and Benton, look below.
306: Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Oakland Raiders: -- November 8, 2015
(Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWI RE)
In a 38-35 win over the Raiders, Brown caught 17 passes on 23 (!!!) targets for 284 yards. He also ran the ball twice for 22 yards and didn’t score a single touchdown on any of his 19 touches, which is equally ridiculous.
307: Priest Holmes, Kansas City Chiefs vs. Seattle Seahawks -- November 24, 2002
(Otto Greule/Getty Images)
Sunday was not the first time the Seahawks found themselves on the wrong side of a historic performance of this sort. 20 years ago, Priest Holmes of the Chiefs gashed Mike Holmgren’s defense with 197 rushing yards on 23 carries, and 110 more yards on seven catches. Holmes scored three touchdowns on the day, but it wasn’t enough, as Seattle pulled that game out, 39-32. Which puts Holmes as the only player on this list who did his thing in a losing effort.
309: Stephone Paige, Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Diego Chargers -- December 22, 1985
(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)
Bill Kenney and Todd Blackledge were the Chiefs’ quarterbacks for Paige’s historic game, in which he caught eight passes for all 309 of his yards and two touchdowns in a 38-34 Chiefs win.
315: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings vs. San Diego Chargers -- November 4, 2007
(USA TODAY Sports Copyright © Bruce Kluckhohn)
Peterson set the NFL’s single-game rushing mark against the Chargers with 296 yards on 30 carries. He also caught one pass for 19 yards, and scored three rushing touchdowns in the Vikings’ 35-17 win. Good thing, too, as Minnesota quarterbacks Brooks Bollinger and Tarvaris Jackson combined for 13 completions on 22 attempts for 158 yards.
329: Keith Lincoln, San Diego Chargers vs. Boston Patriots -- January 5th, 1964
(Dick Raphael-USA TODAY Sports)
Lincoln had his historic day on the most important occasion possible — he gained his 329 yards in the AFL Championship game, as the Chargers beat the brakes off the Boston Patriots, 51-10. Lincoln had 206 rushing yards and a touchdown on just 13 carries, adding 123 yards and another touchdown on seven receptions.
329: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys -- October 27th, 2013
(Syndication: Detroit Free Press)
This was Peak Megatron, as Johnson completely befuddled Dallas’ secondary for 14 catches on 16 targets for 329 yards and a touchdown. The Lions were able to eke out a 31-30 win, as quarterback Matthew Stafford, and running backs Reggie Bush and Joique Bell stole rushing touchdowns away from Johnson’s total, and Stafford threw two picks to his one touchdown pass.
330: Billy Cannon, Houston Oilers vs. New York Titans -- December 10th, 1961
(Darryl Norenberg-USA TODAY Sports)
Back when the Tennessee Titans were the Houston Oilers, and the New York Jets were the New York Titans (and almost went out of business), Houston’s team — which won the first two AFL championships — very much enjoyed the efforts of Cannon, the 1959 Heisman Trophy winner from LSU. This was never more so than in this 48-21 Oilers win, in which Cannon ran 25 times for 216 yards and three touchdowns, adding 114 receiving yards and two more touchdowns on five catches.
336: Flipper Anderson, Los Angeles Rams vs. New Orleans Saints -- November 26th, 1989
(Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
Anderson wasn’t a Hall of Famer, but he did have two explosive seasons with the Rams in 1989 and 1990, when he averaged over 20 yards per catch in each of those seasons. 1989 was his crowning achievement, as he caught 44 passes… for 1,146 yards, five touchdowns, and a preposterous 26.0 yards per catch average.
Of course, none of that would have happened without his game against the Saints — and this was the Dome Patrol Saints of Sam Mills, Pat Swilling, Rickey Jackson, and Vaughan Johnson! But on this day, Anderson riddled that defense for 15 catches, 336 yards and a touchdown in Los Angeles’ 20-17 win.
Which still makes him the all-time single-game yards from scrimmage champion.
