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How'd He Do: Maurice Jones-Drew & Crew

I'm bored. It's the for real lockout. Nothing of merit is going to happen until June 3rd, and probably not even then will anything of merit happen. So, I figured I'd look and see how various players did week to week, based on where the opposing teams stacked up at the end of the season, defensively. I'm curious to see who feasted off the poor, and who went at it no matter the challenge. Typically, this first one would just be focused on Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, but he missed a few weeks to we need to count his back ups. We'll can't the player by who had the most carries in the game.

OPPONENT PLAYER RUSH DEF RANK PRODUCTION
Denver Broncos Maurice Jones-Drew 31st 22c - 98yds
at San Diego Chargers Maurice Jones-Drew 4th 12c - 31yds
Philadelphia Eagles Maurice Jones-Drew 15th 22c - 88yds
Indianapolis Colts Maurice Jones-Drew 25th 26c - 105yds - 1TD
at Buffalo Bills Maurice Jones-Drew 32nd 19c - 84yds
Tennessee Titans Maurice Jones-Drew 20th 17c - 57yds
at Kansas City Chiefs Maurice Jones-Drew 14th 16c - 47yds
at Dallas Cowboys Maurice Jones-Drew 12th 27c - 135yds
Houston Texans Maurice Jones-Drew 13th 24c - 100yds - 2TD
Cleveland Browns Maurice Jones-Drew 27th 23c - 133yds - 1TD
at New York Giants Maurice Jones-Drew 8th 21c - 113yds
at Tennessee Titans Maurice Jones-Drew 20th 31c - 186yds
Oakland Raiders Maurice Jones-Drew 29th 23c - 101yds - 1TD
Oakland Raiders* Rashad Jennings 29th 5c - 109yds - 1TD
at Indianapolis Colts Maurice Jones-Drew 25th 15c - 46yds
Washington Redskins Rashad Jennings 26th 15c - 32yds
at Houston Texans Rashad Jennings 13th 22c - 108yds - 1TD

 *I included Jennings vs. Oakland because he went over 100 yards.

One thing that immediately stands out to me, is that the Jaguars faced only two defenses that finished in the Top 10 against the run. Against the Chargers, they couldn't run the ball at all. Against the Giants, they couldn't run the ball in the second half. Against the two top 10 rush defenses they faced, Maurice Jones-Drew was able to gain 144 yards on 33 carries, for 4.36 yards per carry. He gained 11% of his season total against top rushing defense, albeit only two games. The Jaguars were 0-2 against the Top 10 rush defenses they faced.

Jones-Drew faced 6 teams that ended up in the bottom 10 of the NFL in rush defense. In 4 of those 6 games, he rushed for over 100 yards (2 yards shy of 100 against Denver). He totaled 567 yards on 128 carries for 4.4 yards per carry. He racked up 43% of his season total rushing yards in only 6 games, against the bottom of the leagues rush defenses. The Jaguars also were 5-1 in these games, the only loss being to the Indianapolis Colts. He also scored 3 of his 5 rushing touchdowns against the bottom 10.

The remaining 54% of his yards and other 2 rushing touchdowns came in the other 6 games he played. Against the middle tier of rush defenses in the NFL, he gained 613 yards on 138 carries for 4.44 yards per carry. The Jaguars were 3-5 against the middle tier of the NFL's rush defenses.

Jones-Drew rushed for over 100 yards in only 6 of his 14 games. The Jaguars went 5-1 in those six games, losing to only the New York Giants.