Everybody’s in love with the Jonas Gray story this week, and who can blame them? Few things are more fun than seeing a guy who’s worked his way up from the practice squad — in his case, multiple practice squads — have a breakout game on a national stage. And Gray’s 201-yard, four-touchdown performance in the Patriots’ 42-20 erasure of the Colts was certainly a stunner. (It made you grateful for names on the backs of jerseys, just so you could keep reminding yourself who was doing all this damage.)
A performance like that tends to produce a bunch of cool stats. Here’s one: Gray scored a TD in every quarter, making him one of just a dozen players to do that since the 1970 merger. (Note: In the chart below, the numbers represent yards, R = run and P = pass reception.)
PLAYERS WHO SCORED A TD IN EVERY QUARTER OF A GAME SINCE 1970
[table]
Date,Player\, Team,Opponent,1st Q,2nd Q,3rd Q,4th Q
11-16-14,RB Jonas Gray\, Patriots,Colts,4R,2R,2R,1R
10-29-06,RB Larry Johnson\, Chiefs,Seahawks,3R,9P,2R,3R
12-14-03,WR Joe Horn\, Saints,Giants,50P,13P,7P,18P
12-7-03,RB Clinton Portis\, Broncos,Chiefs,11R,1R,59R,28R\, 53R
12-18-00,RB Marshall Faulk\, Rams,Bucs,2R,16R,27P,9R
10-29-00,RB Marshall Faulk\, Rams,49ers,1R,1R,19P,16P
9-4-95,RB Emmitt Smith\, Cowboys,Giants,60R,1R,1R,1R
11-24-94,WR Sterling Sharpe\, Packers,Cowboys,1P,36P,30P,5P
10-14-90,WR Jerry Rice\, 49ers,Falcons,24P\, 25P,19P,13P,15P
9-7-80,WR Earnest Gray\, Giants,Cardinals,10P,37P,42P,20P
9-16-79,RB Clarence Williams\, Chargers,Bills,5R,1R,55R,2R
10-23-77,RB Wayne Morris\, Cardinals,Saints,2R,9R,1R,12R
[/table]
Would you look at Marshall Faulk? He did it twice in six games. (He missed two after his first four-touchdown day.) And really, who can get enough Clarence Williams in these charts? I know I can’t. I just wish it was the same Clarence Williams who played Linc on Mod Squad.
By the way, you know who else accomplished the feat — before the merger? Cowboys running back Dan Reeves.
Source: pro-football-reference.com
Jonas Gray, the Patriots’ off-the-practice-squad rookie, got to do this in every quarter Monday night.
