James White had 16(!) Targets in AFCCG

by Chase Stuart on January 28, 2016

It wasn’t shocking that Patriots running back James White played a big role in the AFC Championship Game. In my preview article at the Washington Post, I wrote that the Broncos were well-equipped to pressure Brady, which could lead to a lot of passes to his safety valve. Of course, I was thinking of a different safety valve:

But the difference-maker may wind up being Julian Edelman, who is Brady’s security blanket against the pressure. Without a pass-catching running back like a Shane Vereen (now with the Giants) or Dion Lewis (36 receptions in six games before tearing his ACL), Brady looks to Edelman as his hot receiver to understand how to get open quickly against the blitz.

As it turns out, White was only able to convert 5 of his 16 targets into receptions, for a paltry 45 yards. It’s fair to wonder if a Vereen or Lewis would have been more productive, including on deep throws (where Tom Brady went 0/5 on passes intended for White). To be fair, some of those “targets” were Targets In Name Only: they were throwaways as Brady was under pressure. But still, it turned out to be a wildly inefficient game. Pro-Football-Reference.com has target data going back to 1992, and White gained the fewest receiving yards in playoff history among the 51 players with 15+ targets in a game.

But the bigger shock is that James White — James White(!) — had 16 targets in a playoff game. The Patriots running back averaged just 29 receiving yards per game, so he’s hardly the guy you expect to receive 16 targets in a playoff game. As it turns out, that’s the third lowest number among the 51 players with 15+ targets in a playoff game.

Rk	Player	Year	Tm	Opp	Boxscore	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Yr Rec Yds	Yr G	Rec Yd/G
1	Joseph Addai	2007	IND	SDG	Boxscore	15	9	67	0	364	15	24.3
2	Ernie Mills	1994	PIT	SDG	Boxscore	16	8	106	0	384	15	25.6
3	James White	2015	NWE	DEN	Boxscore	16	5	45	0	410	14	29.3
4	Andre Hastings	1995	PIT	DAL	Boxscore	15	10	98	0	502	16	31.4
5	Matt Forte	2010	CHI	GNB	Boxscore	15	10	90	0	547	16	34.2
6	Jordy Nelson	2010	GNB	PIT	Boxscore	15	9	140	1	582	16	36.4
7	Robert Brooks	1994	GNB	DAL	Boxscore	15	8	138	0	648	16	40.5
8	Ronnie Harmon	1995	SDG	IND	Boxscore	17	10	133	0	673	16	42.1
9	Jermaine Kearse	2015	SEA	CAR	Boxscore	15	11	110	2	685	16	42.8
10	Darren Sproles	2011	NOR	SFO	Boxscore	19	15	118	1	710	16	44.4
11	J.J. Birden	1993	KAN	HOU	Boxscore	15	6	60	1	721	16	45.1
12	David Patten	2001	NWE	OAK	Boxscore	16	8	107	0	749	16	46.8
13	Owen Daniels	2012	HOU	NWE	Boxscore	15	9	81	0	716	15	47.7
14	Justin McCareins	2004	NYJ	SDG	Boxscore	15	8	87	0	770	16	48.1
15	Willie Richardson	1968	BAL	NYJ	Boxscore	15	6	58	0	698	14	49.9
16	O.J. McDuffie	1995	MIA	BUF	Boxscore	17	11	154	1	819	16	51.2
17	Shawn Jefferson	1997	NWE	PIT	Boxscore	15	9	104	0	841	16	52.6
18	Justin Gage	2008	TEN	BAL	Boxscore	17	10	135	0	651	12	54.3
19	Pierre Garcon	2009	IND	NYJ	Boxscore	15	11	151	1	765	14	54.6
20	Derrick Mason	2000	TEN	BAL	Boxscore	15	7	88	0	895	16	55.9
21	Shannon Sharpe	1993	DEN	RAI	Boxscore	15	13	156	1	995	16	62.2
22	Marques Colston	2013	NOR	SEA	Boxscore	16	11	144	1	943	15	62.9
23	Bert Emanuel	1995	ATL	GNB	Boxscore	17	6	62	0	1039	16	64.9
24	Isaac Bruce	2003	STL	CAR	Boxscore	16	7	116	0	981	15	65.4
25	Julian Edelman	2013	NWE	DEN	Boxscore	15	10	89	1	1056	16	66.0
26	T.Y. Hilton	2013	IND	KAN	Boxscore	18	13	224	2	1083	16	67.7
27	Jordan Reed	2015	WAS	GNB	Boxscore	17	9	120	1	952	14	68.0
28	Martavis Bryant	2015	PIT	DEN	Boxscore	15	9	154	0	765	11	69.5
29	Andre Johnson	2011	HOU	BAL	Boxscore	15	8	111	0	492	7	70.3
30	James Lofton	1991	BUF	WAS	Boxscore	17	7	92	0	1072	15	71.5
31	Darrell Jackson	2004	SEA	STL	Boxscore	18	12	128	1	1199	16	74.9
32	Julian Edelman	2015	NWE	KAN	Boxscore	16	10	100	0	692	9	76.9
33	Michael Irvin	1994	DAL	SFO	Boxscore	26	12	192	2	1241	16	77.6
34	Cris Carter	1999	MIN	STL	Boxscore	15	7	106	1	1241	16	77.6
35	Rob Gronkowski	2015	NWE	DEN	Boxscore	15	8	144	1	1176	15	78.4
36	Cris Carter	1994	MIN	CHI	Boxscore	16	8	61	1	1256	16	78.5
37	Mike Wallace	2010	PIT	GNB	Boxscore	16	9	89	1	1257	16	78.6
38	Jerry Rice	1988	SFO	CIN	Boxscore	15	11	215	1	1306	16	81.6
39	Ed McCaffrey	2000	DEN	BAL	Boxscore	15	8	75	0	1317	16	82.3
40	Reggie Wayne	2012	IND	BAL	Boxscore	18	9	114	0	1355	16	84.7
41	Eric Moulds	1998	BUF	MIA	Boxscore	15	9	240	1	1368	16	85.5
42	Roddy White	2008	ATL	ARI	Boxscore	16	11	84	1	1382	16	86.4
43	Michael Irvin	1996	DAL	MIN	Boxscore	15	8	103	0	962	11	87.5
44	Emmanuel Sanders	2014	DEN	IND	Boxscore	15	7	46	0	1404	16	87.8
45	Demaryius Thomas	2013	DEN	SEA	Boxscore	18	13	118	1	1430	16	89.4
46	Victor Cruz	2011	NYG	SFO	Boxscore	17	10	142	0	1536	16	96.0
47	Jimmy Smith	1999	JAX	TEN	Boxscore	16	5	92	0	1636	16	102.3
48	Marvin Harrison	1999	IND	TEN	Boxscore	18	5	65	0	1663	16	103.9
49	Calvin Johnson	2011	DET	NOR	Boxscore	15	12	211	2	1681	16	105.1
50	Herman Moore	1995	DET	PHI	Boxscore	15	7	133	1	1686	16	105.4
51	Jerry Rice	1995	SFO	GNB	Boxscore	17	11	117	0	1848	16	115.5

It’s pretty weird seeing Jordy Nelson so high on the list, but hey, he was not yet a star back in 2010. Anyway, what stands out to you?

Tagged as: James White, Patriots

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