There have been 25 seasons in NFL history where a quarterback has rushed for at least eight touchdowns. Cam Newton, through eight games of the 2020 season — though he's only played in seven — has already reached that mark. And while that factoid is exceptional in itself, it's the rest of his stat line that makes his campaign truly remarkable.
And it's not exactly remarkable in a good or bad way, either. It's just... weird. As Heath Cummings of CBS Sports points out, he's currently on pace for a truly odd year based on the split between his rushing touchdowns and his passing touchdowns, the latter of which you'd expect to be fairly high, considering that's what a quarterback does.
More than four times as many rushing touchdowns as passing touchdowns? And 17 rushing scores, a feat that has only been accomplished by 24 different running backs throughout NFL history? A number that would break the previous QB record for rushing touchdowns in a season, set by Cam Newton himself in his rookie 2011 campaign?
It's just wild. And though it's not likely that Newton completely replicates what he did in the first half to a T, the year that is 2020 has shown us that nothing is impossible.
Putting Newton's prospective 16-game stat line in the context of NFL history reveals just how unprecedented such a display would be. Here's the full list of "quarterback" seasons — I'll explain the quotation marks shortly — that have resulted in at least eight rushing touchdowns.
| Game | Pass | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Year | Lg | TD | GS | TD |
| Cam Newton | 2011 | NFL | 14 | 16 | 21 |
| Steve Grogan | 1976 | NFL | 12 | 14 | 18 |
| Johnny Lujack | 1950 | NFL | 11 | 12 | 4 |
| Tobin Rote | 1956 | NFL | 11 | 11 | 18 |
| Kordell Stewart | 1997 | NFL | 11 | 16 | 21 |
| Daunte Culpepper | 2002 | NFL | 10 | 16 | 18 |
| Billy Kilmer | 1961 | NFL | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Cam Newton | 2015 | NFL | 10 | 16 | 35 |
| Josh Allen | 2019 | NFL | 9 | 16 | 20 |
| Greg Landry | 1972 | NFL | 9 | 14 | 18 |
| Michael Vick | 2010 | NFL | 9 | 12 | 21 |
| Frankie Albert | 1948 | AAFC | 8 | 9 | 29 |
| Josh Allen | 2018 | NFL | 8 | 11 | 10 |
| Bobby Douglass | 1972 | NFL | 8 | 14 | 9 |
| Vince Evans | 1980 | NFL | 8 | 10 | 11 |
| Otto Graham* | 1954 | NFL | 8 | 12 | 11 |
| Jack Kemp | 1963 | AFL | 8 | 12 | 13 |
| Jack Kemp | 1960 | AFL | 8 | 12 | 20 |
| Steve McNair | 1997 | NFL | 8 | 16 | 14 |
| Steve McNair | 1999 | NFL | 8 | 11 | 12 |
| Player | Year | Lg | TD | GS | TD |
| Kyler Murray | 2020 | NFL | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| Cam Newton | 2012 | NFL | 8 | 16 | 19 |
| Cam Newton | 2020 | NFL | 8 | 7 | 2 |
| Tobin Rote | 1954 | NFL | 8 | 12 | 14 |
| Michael Vick | 2002 | NFL | 8 | 15 | 16 |
A couple of the above stat lines obviously raise some eyebrows, and that's why the quotations around "quarterbacks" are so important. Billy Kilmer, who you'll see had zero passing touchdowns in the season he ran for 10 scores, wasn't really much of a quarterback at all that year. He attempted 34 passes in that 1961 season, but still registered as a quarterback. He'd obviously become much more of a notable passer, as he led the NFL with 19 TDs through the air with Washington in 1972 and was named to the Pro Bowl.
The closest comparison, statistically based on the touchdown differential, is probably Johnny Lujack... and that came in 1950. He earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro recognition for that campaign, in which he rushed for a league-high 11 scores, added four more through the air... and tossed 21 interceptions.
So, no, Cam's expanded 2020 stat line really doesn't have a comparison in modern NFL history as far as I can see. Whether or not it continues on its current path and reaches those projections is another matter altogether, but it's been an undeniably wild ride in his Patriots debut to this point.
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