Maurice Jones-Drew has announced his retirement on his Twitter account. He didn’t do much of anything last year with the Raiders, where the lone highlight I remember was a touchdown of about 40 yards in the preseason against the Packers. But MJD had a whole bunch of great years with the Jaguars.
Jones-Drew was only 5-foot-7 (if even that tall) but he weighed 210 pounds and ran with good power and explosiveness.
Looking back, my favorite MJD game would have to be a 2009 game at Tennessee. That was the year Chris Johnson was tearing up the league, and he went for 228 yards to lead the Titans to a 30-13 win. But Jones-Drew was just as good in defeat, busting loose for long runs and finishing with 177 yards, for a rare game in which two runners combined for over 400 yards.
I’ve got a database with all of the 100-yard rushing games since 1978 in it, and the 177 yards represents the most by any back with single-digit carries. (Why the Jaguars didn’t get him the ball more than 8 times remains a head-scratcher.)
| MOST YARDS WITH UNDER 10 CARRIES (since 1978) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Opp | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2009 | Maurice Jones-Drew, Jac. | at Ten. | 8 | 177 | 22.1 | 2 |
| 2014 | Colin Kaepernick, S.F. | S.D. | 7 | 151 | 21.6 | 1 |
| 1997 | Steve Broussard, Sea. | Ten. | 6 | 138 | 23.0 | 2 |
| 1979 | Leroy Harris, Phil. | at G.B. | 9 | 137 | 15.2 | 0 |
| 2003 | Thomas Jones, T.B. | G.B. | 9 | 134 | 14.9 | 0 |
| 1999 | Tim Biakabutuka, Car. | Cin. | 8 | 132 | 16.5 | 2 |
| 2006 | Fred Taylor, Jac. | Ind. | 9 | 131 | 14.6 | 1 |
| 2004 | Tiki Barber, NYG | at Phi. | 9 | 125 | 13.9 | 1 |
| 1990 | Randall Cunningham, Phil. | N.E. | 8 | 124 | 15.5 | 1 |
| 1983 | Stump Mitchell, St.L. | S.F. | 8 | 123 | 15.4 | 0 |
| 1986 | Herschel Walker, Dall. | S.F. | 6 | 122 | 20.3 | 1 |
| 1999 | Napoleon Kaufman, Oak. | T.B. | 8 | 122 | 15.3 | 2 |
| 1991 | Barry Foster, Pitt. | at Buf. | 9 | 121 | 13.4 | 1 |
| 1995 | Charlie Garner, Phil. | Wash. | 9 | 120 | 13.3 | 3 |
—Ian Allan