Below is a breakdown of every instance of a 3,000+ yard passing , 1,000+ yard rushing and 1,000+ yard pass receiving season since the National Football League's inaugural season in 1920. The first column shows the decade / era in question. The second indicates the number of 3,000+ yard passing seasons during that period. The third column show the same for 1,000+ yard rushing campaigns and the fourth is the equivalent for 1,000+ pass receiving years. For instance we can see that between 1960 and 1969, there were 31 occasions when a player rushed for at least 1,000 yards during any one single season during that ten year period. Clevelands Jim Brown recorded 5 of those 31 occurrences. 2000 - 2006 = 109 Pass / 130 Rush / 142 Rec 1990 - 1999 = 118 Pass / 128 Rush / 170 Rec 1980 - 1989 = 111 Pass / 101 Rush / 119 Rec 1970 - 1979* = 20 Pass / 79 Rush / 30 Rec 1960 - 1969 = 33 Pass / 31 Rush / 75 Rec 1920 - 1959 = 0 Pass / 10 Rush / 14 Rec * 16 of the 20 3,000 yard passing seasons, 23 of the 79 1,000 yard rushing seasons and 16 of the 30 1,000 yard pass receiving seasons came in 1978 or 1979 after the NFL expanded the regular season from 14 to 16 games. A breakdown of the volume of each teams 3K passing , 1K rushing and 1K pass receiving seasons will follow shortly
3K Passing ( Team and number of seasons with a 3,000+ yard passer ) Code: GB 20 SF 19 DEN 18 SD 18 NE 17 PHI 16 CIN 15 DAL 15 IND 15 NYG 15 NYJ 15 TEN 15 WAS 15 MIA 14 MIN 14 STL 14 ARI 13 BUF 13 OAK 13 SEA 13 KC 12 NO 12 CLE 10 ATL 9 TB 9 PIT 7 DET 6 CAR 5 CHI 5 JAX 5 BAL 3 HOU 1 1K Rushing ( Team and number of seasons with a 1,000+ yard rusher ) Code: BUF 24 CHI 24 STL 24 DAL 23 CLE 20 PIT 20 WAS 20 ATL 19 GB 19 TEN 19 DEN 18 IND 18 NYG 18 DET 17 CIN 16 SF 16 SEA 16 SD 15 PHI 14 NE 13 ARI 12 KC 12 MIN 12 NYJ 12 OAK 12 NO 11 MIA 10 TB 9 BAL 6 JAX 6 CAR 2 HOU 2 1K Pass Receiving ( Team and number of seasons with a 1,000+ yard pass receiver) Code: SD 30 STL 29 MIN 27 DEN 26 GB 24 OAK 24 SF 24 WAS 24 NYJ 22 TEN 22 DAL 20 DET 20 ARI 19 SEA 19 PHI 18 CIN 17 PIT 17 ATL 16 IND 16 BUF 15 NYG 15 MIA 14 JAX 13 KC 12 NO 12 CHI 11 TB 10 CAR 9 NE 9 CLE 7 BAL 6 HOU 2
This may interest you and other Niner fans DoubleC. As we know Joe Montana's career in SF ran from '79 to '92 before he left for Kansas City. Young played in the Red & Gold from '87 to '99 after joining the club from Tampa Bay. If we look at SF through the combined period of Montana and Young's respective reigns, 1979 through 1999 there were 13 occasions when a running back exceeded 200+ rushing attempts during a single season... 310 = Roger Craig '88 310 = Garrison Hearst '98 271 = Roger Craig '89 246 = Wendall Tyler '84 241 = Charlie Garner '99 239 = Ricky Watters '94 234 = Garrison Hearst '97 218 = Derek Loville '95 215 = Roger Craig '87 214 = Roger Craig '85 208 = Ricky Watters '93 206 = Ricky Watters '92 204 = Roger Craig '86 Looking closely at the club's rushing numbers between 1979 - 1999 we can see that often the Niners shared the load between it's RB's - rather than soley relying on one man to carry the ground attack alone. 1979: Three men - Paul Hofer, Wilbur Jackson and O.J. Simpson - each carry the ball 110+ times each. 1980: Ranked 27th out of 28 NFL teams in rushing attempts while ranking 1st in passing attempts and completions. 1981: Six RB's had 100+ rushing yards, led by Ricky Patton with 543. 1982: Recorded fewest rushing yards in NFL with 740 in the strike shortened 9 game campaign at just 3.38 YPC. 1983: Tyler and Craig split time evenly at RB. Both RB's had exactly 176 rushing attempts and combined for 1581 yards / 12 rushing touchdowns. 1984: Again the load was shared between Tyler and Craig. 155 carries for RC and 649 yards, 246 carries for WT and 1262 yards. Both men scored 7 rushing TD's. 1985: Craig's record breaking year when he become first man to log 1K rushing and 1K pass receiving in the same year. Again work split between RC and WT - RC = 214 carries for 1050 yards, WT = 171 carries for 867 yards. 1986: After a good career this was Tyler's final season. Former 3 time Pro Bowler Joe Cribbs arrived from Buffalo to replace him and share the load with Craig. Cribbs had 152 carries for 590 yards, Craig logged 204 carries for 830 yards. 1987: Craig began to establish himself as the Niners featured back with 215 carries compared to 70 from Cribbs and 62 from sophomore Nebraska fullback, Tom Rathman. 1988: Craig establishes a franchise record with 310 carries. Rathman chips in with 102. 1989: Craig still dominant in the SF backfield with 271 carries compared to Rathman's 79. 1990: 3 RB's - Craig, Rathman and rookie Dexter Carter log 100+ carries each. 1991: With Craig departed for Oakland the SF backfield lacks a real identity. Four RB's combine for 342 carries led by Keith Henderson with 137. 1992: A new RB king is crowned in SF, namely Ricky Watters. Supported by Rathman with 57 carries and Amp Lee with 91, Watters leads the way with 206. 1993: Watters again dominates with 208 carries. Lee and Marc Logan combine for another 130 rushing attempts as Rathman plays out his final year in SF. 1994: In his final year for the Niners before leaving for Philadelphia, Watters led the way for the last time with 239 carries. Logan, William Floyd and Derek Loville combined for a further 151 rushing attempts. 1995: The Niners ranked just 25th in rushing yards out of 30 NFL teams. Loville leds the team with 218 carries for 723 yards. 1996: Five RB's each recorded 160+ rushing yards, led by Terry Kirby with 559 on 134 carries. 1997: Garrison Hearst takes over as the number one RB with 234 carries for 1019 yards, flanked by Kirby with 418 yards on 125 carries. 1998: Hearst ties the franchise record for rushing attempts with 310. SF led the NFL in rushing yards. 1999: Again the Niners led the league in rushing yards, this time led by Charlie Garner with 241 carries for 1229 yards. Fred Beasley chipped in with 58 rushing attempts for 276 yards.
That's a very interesting breakdown of the Niner's backfields over the years Horrorshow. Going back to the early 80's when Roger Craig was doing it all in the backfield, it's interesting to note that for at least the first year (and I think, second) of his career, Craig was the blocking fullback for Tyler, yet still split the rushes with Tyler which I think showed a pretty good return from Craig right from the start. (I'm aware that I'm completely Craig's pimp and that I loved the man to pieces) Can you tell me how many seasons Craig played fullback, or was listed as fullback? It may have been through Tylers stint with the club, or just the first couple of years.
I'm struggling to help you with an answer to that one Dan, although I suspect that you're entirely correct about Craig's fullback designation coinciding with Tylers' career in Red & Gold. It might be worth us digging out our good old, trusty Ken Thomas Channel Four volumes from the 80's and sifting through some old Niner rosters! It's interesting that RC was never really credited as being a good lead blocking back, probably as these skills were overshadowed by his outstanding rushing and pass receiving exploits. For me though, although I'd rate Craig as a very good player and one that achieved something extremely special in 1985 I probably don't rate him quite as highly as you do. In my opinion, Lydell Mitchell achieved just as much in the 1970's coming out of the backfield for Baltimore as RC did at Candlestick in the 80's...
After a little research, it appears that Craig might have been listed at fullback right up to 1985 - this was his first Pro-Bowl year, and Craig has appeared in the Pro-Bowl at FB and HB I believe. Wendell Tyler retired in 1986, so it's even possible that Craig was the blocking back right up till then, making his '85 season even more commendable if this was the case.
