Catchy title, I know. Bill Barnwell sent out a pair of tweets on Cleveland Cavs player Dahntay Jones, who played in just one game this season but logged 42 minutes. Barnwell used the Basketball-Reference Play Index to note that it was the most time any player had seen in a single game, among the group of players who played in exactly one game in a season.
So, naturally, I started wondering about one-game superstars in the NFL. Courtesy of PFR, the table below shows all players with at least 60 yards from scrimmage in a season in which they played in just one game:
| Games | Total Yds | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Year | Age | Draft | Tm | Lg | G | GS | Touch | TotOff | YScm ▾ | APYd | RtY | |
| 1 | Ed McCaffrey | 2001 | 33 | 3-83 | DEN | NFL | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 94 | 94 | 0 |
| 2 | Adrian Peterson | 2014 | 29 | 1-7 | MIN | NFL | 1 | 1 | 23 | 75 | 93 | 93 | 0 |
| 3 | Olandis Gary | 2000 | 25 | 4-127 | DEN | NFL | 1 | 0 | 16 | 80 | 90 | 90 | 0 |
| 4 | Chuck Muncie | 1984 | 31 | 1-3 | SDG | NFL | 1 | 1 | 18 | 51 | 89 | 89 | 0 |
| 5 | Stanley Wilson | 1984 | 23 | 9-248 | CIN | NFL | 1 | 0 | 19 | 74 | 89 | 89 | 0 |
| 6 | Lance Ball | 2008 | 23 | IND | NFL | 1 | 0 | 14 | 83 | 88 | 88 | 0 | |
| 7 | Vincent Alexander | 1987 | 23 | NOR | NFL | 1 | 0 | 23 | 71 | 86 | 86 | 0 | |
| 8 | Eddie Lee Ivery | 1981 | 24 | 1-15 | GNB | NFL | 1 | 1 | 16 | 72 | 82 | 82 | 0 |
| 9 | Keith McKeller | 1987 | 23 | 9-227 | BUF | NFL | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 80 | 80 | 0 |
| 10 | Adrian Arrington | 2010 | 25 | 7-237 | NOR | NFL | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 79 | 79 | 0 |
| 11 | Lavale Thomas | 1987 | 24 | GNB | NFL | 1 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 71 | 74 | 0 | |
| 12 | Larry Joe | 1949 | 26 | 26-240 | BUF | AAFC | 1 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 70 | 82 | 12 |
| 13 | Jim Levey | 1934 | 28 | PIT | NFL | 1 | 1 | 9 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 0 | |
| 14 | Eric McCoo | 2004 | 24 | PHI | NFL | 1 | 0 | 11 | 54 | 69 | 69 | 0 | |
| 15 | Milton Wynn | 2001 | 23 | 4-116 | TAM | NFL | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 69 | 69 | 0 |
| 16 | C.R. Roberts | 1959 | 23 | 14-166 | SFO | NFL | 1 | 0 | 10 | 67 | 67 | 67 | 0 |
| 17 | Tony Cherry | 1987 | 24 | 9-240 | SFO | NFL | 1 | 1 | 13 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 0 |
| 18 | Lowell Tew | 1949 | 22 | 1-4 | NYY | AAFC | 1 | 1 | 15 | 65 | 65 | 82 | 17 |
| 19 | Donte’ Stallworth | 2012 | 32 | 1-13 | NWE | NFL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 63 | 0 |
| 20 | Joey Galloway | 2000 | 29 | 1-8 | DAL | NFL | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 62 | 64 | 2 |
| 21 | Curtis Adams | 1985 | 23 | 8-207 | SDG | NFL | 1 | 0 | 19 | 49 | 61 | 111 | 50 |
| 22 | Nate Burleson | 2008 | 27 | 3-71 | SEA | NFL | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 60 | 114 | 54 |
| 23 | Steve Smith | 2004 | 25 | 3-74 | CAR | NFL | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 60 | 60 | 0 |
Not a lot of surprises on the list: it’s mostly good players who were injured in their season openers or encountered off-the-field situations after that game.
- Ed McCaffrey broke his leg in gruesome fashion on Monday Night Football the day before the September 11th attacks.
- Peterson was limited to just one game in 2014 after — well, you probably remember what happened.
- Against the Rams in 2000, Olandis Gary tore his ACL in the third quarter but kept on playing; his injury opened the door for Mike Anderson, who wound up having a magical season of his own.
- Muncie was suspended for the rest of the 1984 season after game 1 due to testing positive for cocaine.
- Wilson was limited to just one game that year as well, due to a combination of a shoulder injury and drugs/suspension.
Anything memorable stand out to you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.