by Vince Verhei

"Given how DYAR loves RB rec yds, I assume Charles broke Quick Reads."

-- FO reader and Twitter user Chris Jones (@CyrisJonfs) after Jamaal Charles' big day against Oakland

No, Jamaal Charles did not break Quick Reads, but he did set a record. Not as a runner, where he had a mundane eight carries for 20 yards and a touchdown. As a receiver, though Charles was a force of nature. The Chiefs threw him eight passes, all complete. The first two receptions resulted in touchdowns of 49 and 39 yards, the latter on third-and-19. He added a 16-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and a 71-yard score (on third-and-1) in the third. His other four receptions netted only 20 total yards and one first down, but that hardly matters. It was just the sixth time in league history that any player at any position had gained 195 yards and four touchdowns through the air, and the first since Jerry Rice against Atlanta in 1990.

Not surprisingly, Charles set a single-game record for receiving DYAR by a running back, surpassing the benchmark set by Marshall Faulk in the 1999 season. In case you've forgotten, Marshall Faulk was a ridiculously good football player, with three of the top ten receiving games in our database going back to 1989. The only other player to appear more than once in the top ten is Brian Westbrook. Westbrook, of course, played for current Chiefs coach Andy Reid in Philadelphia. When Reid was hired in Kansas City, it seemed natural that Charles' opportunities in the passing game would grow. On the other hand, this is a player who finished among the top 30 running backs in receiving DYAR just once in his first five seasons. It was something of an odd mix of scheme and player, and early results were not promising. Through 14 weeks, Charles had only 16 receiving DYAR, total. He had never gone above 24 DYAR in a game, and finished below replacement level six times. Then Oakland came to town, which, as usual, led to better results for all involved. Still, for the season, Charles is only seventh among running backs in receiving DYAR for the season.

Before Charles' game against Oakland, the best receiving game of the year was by Darren Sproles of the New Orleans Saints in Week 4, when he lit up Miami for seven catches in eight targets for 114 yards and a touchdown. Sproles is technically third among RBs with 166 receiving DYAR this year, but he's essentially tied with Detroit's Joique Bell (168) for second place. The runaway leader is San Diego's Danny Woodhead (253). The difference between Woodhead and second-place Bell is greater than the difference between Bell and 13th-place Mike Tolbert. Woodhead hasn't had any Charles-esque monster games, but he has been above replacement level in every game except Week 1, and has at least 24 DYAR in seven different games.

The following table shows the top receiving DYAR games by running backs in FO history. We've already run the top single-game table among wideouts several times this year, so it's about time we ran a new one:

Top 10 RB Receiving DYAR games, 1989-2013 Rank Year Player Team Rec DYAR Pass Rec Yds TD WEEK DEF 1 2013 Jamaal Charles KC 111 8 8 195 4 15 OAK 2 1999 Marshall Faulk STL 101 13 13 204 1 16 CHI 3 2004 Brian Westbrook PHI 84 11 11 156 3 13 GB 4 1991 Robert Delpino LARM 78 9 9 118 1 8 LARD 5 2000 Marshall Faulk STL 78 7 7 116 2 5 SD 6 2003 Brian Westbrook PHI 75 6 5 60 2 11 NYG 7 2001 Marshall Faulk STL 74 7 7 128 3 12 ATL 8 1996 Ronnie Harmon HOIL 73 8 8 108 1 11 NO 9 2003 Moe Williams MIN 71 12 12 113 2 10 SD 10 1990 Barry Sanders DET 69 7 7 135 1 6 KC

RUSHING DYAR LEADERS: The top five running backs in rushing DYAR alone this week, counting up, are San Diego's Ryan Mathews (29 DYAR), Oakland's Rashad Jennings (38), Carolina's DeAngelo Williams (39), Green Bay's Eddie Lacy (40), and best of all -- I am not making this up -- Dallas' DeMarco Murray (48). This makes Dallas' second-half play-calling even more bizarre. In the first half against Green Bay, Murray was stuffed for a loss just once. Among his nine other carries, one was a 1-yard touchdown, and each of the others gained at least three yards. He finished the half with six first downs on the ground, with three gains of 10 yards or more, including a 41-yarder. He didn't get as many big plays in the second half, but each of his seven carries after halftime gained at least 2 yards, and four of those carries gained at least 5 yards.

All of which begs the question: Why on earth did Dallas run so rarely in the second half, after building a 26-3 lead at halftime? The Internet is a big place, and you can find all sorts of opinions out there about who's to blame for the play-caling, but for now let's just deal with a few facts. The average offense this season has run the ball 54 percent of the time when ahead in the second half, and 57 percent of the time when ahead by at least two scores. The Cowboys, meanwhile, had 21 passes and seven runs with a lead in the second half, and nine passes and four runs when ahead by two scores. Did we mention that over the course of the season, Murray is now second in rushing DYAR? This is the kind of guy you want killing the clock and moving the chains. Whomever's to blame, there's clearly something askew in the Dallas game plan.

Quarterbacks Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR 1. Tom Brady NE 34/54 364 2 1 176 176 0 Virtually all of Brady's value came on the last three Patriots drives, when he went 17-of-29 for 195 yards with one interception. That doesn't sound like much, but 14 of those completions went for first downs, including a go-ahead touchdown. He had only six first downs up to that point. 2. Ryan Fitzpatrick TEN 36/55 402 4 2 163 159 4 Fitzpatrick completed each of his first eight passes (with one sack mixed in) for 89 yards and seven first downs, including a touchdown. His pick-six to Antoine Cason put Arizona ahead 34-17 with only 6:13 to go, but from that point to the end of regulation he went 15-of-19 for 176 yards with two touchdowns and eight other first downs. (We won't go into his overtime performance here. That would ruin the narrative.) Remember he did all this against the stout Arizona defense; he got the biggest boost this week due to opponent adjustments. 3. Matt Cassel MIN 26/35 382 2 1 156 143 12 On deep passes, Cassel went 6-of-8 for 187 yards, plus a 30-yard DPI. Really! Matt Cassel! 4. Alex Smith KC 17/20 287 5 0 145 143 2 So why is Smith not far and away the top passer this week? A few reasons. The first is a sack-fumble in the fourth quarter. The second is opponent adjustments, where Smith takes a significant hit. Mostly, though, it's simply a matter of opportunity. Most of the top passers this week threw 50 percent more passes than Smith did, and more passes means more opportunities to collect DYAR. The next question: How much of Smith's success was due to Jamaal Charles? Charles caught four of Smith's five touchdown passes, and those four receptions gained a total of 8 yards in the air (three of them were caught behind the line of scrimmage) and 167 yards after the catch. Still, not counting passes to guys with extraneous vowels in their names, Smith went 9-of-12 for 92 yards with a touchdown and four other first downs, plus a 5-yard DPI and two sacks. Which isn't bad. 5. Nick Foles PHI 30/48 428 3 1 120 111 9 Some serious garbage-time production here. Down by at least 18 points in the second half, Foles went 10-of-15 for 185 yards with one touchdown, eight other first downs, and one sack. 6. Ryan Tannehill MIA 25/37 312 3 0 113 113 0 How to finish drives: On New England's half of the field, Tannehill went 12-of-15 for 155 yards with three touchdowns, four other first downs, plus a 2-yard DPI and one sack. 7. Kellen Clemens STL 14/20 158 2 0 110 106 4 On the Rams' first three drives, Clemens went 5-of-6 for 62 yards with two touchdowns and three other first downs. From that point on, with three-plus quarters to go, Clemens threw only 14 passes, including only two on first down. In other words, the Rams are the anti-Cowboys. 8. Philip Rivers SD 12/20 166 2 0 107 99 8 Anti-streaky: At no point in this game did Rivers complete three passes in a row, nor did he ever throw three incompletions in a row. On third downs, Rivers went 5-of-7 for 84 yards, with every completion gaining a first down, including two touchdowns. He also had an 18-yard DPI and one sack. 9. Colin Kaepernick SF 19/29 203 2 0 99 79 19 Kaepernick threw no passes to the deep right zone, but to the short right, he went 9-of-10 for 69 yards with a touchdown and five other first downs. 10. Carson Palmer ARI 20/30 231 1 0 98 98 0 Palmer was at his best in short-yardage situations. He had 10 dropbacks with 7 yards or less to go for a first down and converted seven of them, going 8-of-9 for 79 yards with one touchdown and one sack. 11. Matt Flynn GB 26/39 299 4 1 94 94 0 In five red-zone trips (all in the second half), Flynn went 7-of-9 for 52 yards with four touchdowns and two other first downs. 12. Cam Newton CAR 16/24 273 1 0 91 96 -5 On the other extreme we have Newton, who went 1-of-7 for 6 yards with no first downs and one sack inside the New York 20. Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR 13. Ben Roethlisberger PIT 21/26 192 1 1 87 87 0 Roethlisberger's first incompletion came with 10:30 left in the second quarter. By that point, he had completed each of his first 12 passes for 112 yards, with a touchdown and five other first downs. None of those completions came more than 12 yards downfield, and half of them were thrown to receivers behind the line of scrimmage. 14. Jay Cutler CHI 22/31 266 3 2 85 78 7 Third-down passing: 11-of-12 for 152 yards with two touchdowns and five other first downs. 15. Andy Dalton CIN 25/44 230 2 0 60 54 5 Amazing juxtaposition here between Dalton and his rival on Sunday night. We already talked about Roethlisberger's hot start. Dalton, though, did not pick up a first down through the air until the Bengals were down by 24 points in the second quarter. Up to that point, he had gone 2-of-10 for 15 yards with a sack. 16. Kirk Cousins WAS 29/44 381 3 2 36 36 0 Anyone who says that Kirk Cousins had a great game on Sunday should be told the following, in a loud, clear voice: "It's the Falcons." If you take nothing else away from this article, dear readers, take that. Cousins took the largest hit due to opponent adjustments of any quarterback this week. He completed 64 percent of his passes against Atlanta, for 8.5 yards per pass. The average quarterback against Atlanta this season has completed 67 percent of his passes, for 8.1 yards per pass. Given the quality of his opponent, it was really a pretty mediocre game for Cousins. Throwing to his right, in the first half, he went 6-of-6 for 136 yards, with every completion going for a first down, including a 23-yard touchdown to Fred Davis and a 62-yard completion to Aldrick Robinson. Throwing that way in the second half, though, he went just 4-of-7 for 29 yards and one first down. 17. Peyton Manning DEN 27/41 289 2 1 34 34 0 What kind of third-down performance do you get when DYAR's favorite quarterback takes on the NFL's worst defense by DVOA? Somehow, you get 3-of-8 for 32 yards with two first downs and a sack. No, that makes no sense. Manning also had one fourth-down play, a 15-yard gain on fourth-and-six. 18. Jason Campbell CLE 23/39 273 1 2 32 26 6 Campbell threw only one pass to Josh Gordon in the first half, an incompletion on third-and-4. He threw Gordon nine more passes in the second half, but completed only three of them, although each of those passes went for a first down, including a 43-yard touchdown. Gordon now trails Calvin Johnson in receiving yards per game this season (going into Monday night, anyway), and seems to be a long shot to break that record. 19. Mike Glennon TB 18/34 179 2 1 30 30 0 Glennon was competent enough in the middle portion of this game, but his performance on the first five drives of the game, and again on the last two drives, was straight out of football hell. On those seven possessions, he went 5-of-17 for 32 yards with no first downs, three sacks, and one interception. 20. Geno Smith NYJ 15/28 167 1 1 23 2 22 Some dramatic directional splits for Geno here. To his right, he went 10-of-15 for 121 yards with a touchdown and seven other first downs. up the middle, he went 3-of-5 for 43 yards with one first down and a pick-six. And to his left, he went 2-of-8 for 3 yards with one first down, plus a 9-yard DPI. If you're curious about Santonio Holmes, he had two receptions for 14 yards in eight targets, one of the bottom ten receivers of the week. 21. Russell Wilson SEA 18/27 206 1 1 19 7 12 Third downs: 4-of-9 for 36 yards with only one first down (including a touchdown) and one sack. 22. Andrew Luck IND 19/32 180 2 1 14 1 13 Luck had similar splits to Geno Smith. (Now there's a sentence I don't expect to ever write again.) To his right: 9-of-12 for 11 yards with a touchdown and four other first downs, plus a 25-yard DPI. Up the middle: 2-of-6 for 27 yards with one touchdown, one other first down, and one interception. To his left: 8-of-14 for 42 yards and only two first downs. Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR 23. Joe Flacco BAL 20/38 222 0 0 11 6 4 24. Chad Henne JAC 21/36 238 2 2 6 1 6 Not listed in his statline, but accounted for in his DYAR: Henne was sacked five times. Surprising fact: The Bills now lead the league in sacks. Henne's numbers when throwing to his left: 6-of-13 for 37 yards with one first down (a touchdown) and two interceptions. Most overused punctuation symbol in this comment: the colon. 25. Drew Brees NO 39/56 393 1 2 6 -3 9 Inside the Rams' 20-yard line, Brees went 5-of-12 for 28 yards with one touchdown, one other first down, one interception, and two sacks. By DYAR, only two quarterbacks have had worse games in the red zone this season: Andrew Luck in Week 10 (also against the Rams, by the way) and Chad Henne in Week 3 against Seattle. Both of those quarterbacks threw two red-zone picks in a game. 26. E.J. Manuel BUF 17/24 193 2 1 -1 -13 12 Manuel completed 5-of-6 deep passes for 112 yards, plus a 31-yard DPI. That's very good. On short passes, though, he went 12-of-18 for 81 yards with two touchdowns and three other first downs, with an interception and a 9-yard DPI. That's very bad. Add in the four sacks, the two fumbles, and the fact that all this came against the lowly Jaguars, and, well, here we are. 27. Tony Romo DAL 29/48 358 2 2 -40 -40 0 We've already talked about how pass-wacky Dallas was on Sunday, and now we're going to talk about it more. Romo had plenty of short-yardage throws against Green Bay, plays that easily could have been runs instead. Twelve times Romo threw with 7 yards or less to go for a first down, nine of them on first or second down. He produced a 5-yard touchdown and a 37-yard gain (both to Dez Bryant), but otherwise went 2-of-10 for 5 yards with no first downs and two interceptions. 28. Matt Ryan ATL 29/38 210 1 1 -44 -44 0 After the Falcons' first two drives, Ryan was 9-of-11 for 83 yards with a touchdown and five other first downs, and Atlanta was up 14-0. He had only five other first downs for the rest of the day, going 20-of-27 for just 127 yards, with one 18-yard DPI and three sacks, and Atlanta came within one two-point conversion of losing. 29. Matthew McGloin OAK 18/36 297 2 4 -54 -54 0 Throwing to the short middle of the field, McGloin went 8-of-17 for 68 yards with two touchdowns and two other first downs, plus all four of his interceptions, including a pick-six. 30. Matthew Stafford DET 18/34 235 1 3 -65 -62 -3 31. Eli Manning NYG 18/31 156 0 5 -163 -163 0 Manning didn't even have a pass inside the Seattle 40 until the Giants were down 23-0 in the fourth quarter. He proceeded to go 3-of-5 for 17 yards with one first down and an interception. On third downs, he went 3-of-6 for 19 yards with one first down, three sacks, and two fumbles. 32. Case Keenum HOU 18/34 168 0 2 -210 -213 3 Keenum did not have a pass inside the red zone. He had only one pass inside the Indianapolis 40; it was incomplete. All told, on the Colts' side of the 50, he went 3-of-9 for 24 yards with two sacks, one interception, and exactly no first downs, including failures to convert on third-and-1, third-and-2, and second-and-7.

Five most valuable running backs Rk Player Team Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR 1. Jamaal Charles KC 20 1 195 4 117 6 111 Not much left to talk about here except his rushing numbers. He had a 1-yard touchdown and a 5-yard gain on second-and-4, and those were his only first downs on the day. His only other successful carry was an 8-yard gain on second-and-10. Putting those three carries aside, he ran five times for 6 yards. I never promised you anything exciting here. 2. DeAngelo Williams CAR 81 0 87 1 78 39 39 Like Charles, Williams had his biggest plays in the passing game, with a 72-yard touchdown and a 12-yard gain on second-and-8 in four targets. Unlike Charles, he was also an effective runner, with gains of 16 and 18 yards, plus two other first downs on the day. Only two of his 15 carries failed to gain positive yardage, but 11 of them gained at least 4 yards. 3. Andre Ellington ARI 71 0 87 0 64 22 42 Only two of Ellington's ten carries failed to gain positive yardage, but he had four first downs on runs of 11, 13, 14, and 22 yards. He also had four receptions in five targets for 87 yards and three more first downs. 4. Chris Johnson TEN 40 0 51 1 49 10 39 Johnson's longest run gained 15 yards, and he had only one other first down on the day, while five of his 13 carries were stuffed for no gain or a loss. He had three receptions in three targets though: a 25-yard touchdown, a 19-yard gain on second-and-10, and a 7-yard gain on first-and-10. 5. Edwin Baker CLE 38 1 46 0 45 13 32 A seventh-round draft pick by by San Diego out of Michigan State in 2012, Baker made his regular-season NFL debut on Sunday and produced 84 yards from scrimmage. Trent Richardson was the third overall pick in the same draft, and in he only gained 84 yards from scrimmage eight times in 17 games in Cleveland before they traded him away. Each of Baker's eight carries against Chicago (seven of them on first down) gained positive yards, including a 2-yard touchdown and gains of 10 and 15 yards. The Browns threw him four passes, all on second down, and he caught them all for 46 yards. Three of those catches picked up first downs; the fourth was a 4-yard gain on second-and-5.

Least valuable running back Rk Player Team Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR 1. Steven Jackson ATL 38 2 5 0 -43 -13 -30 The good news for Jackson is that he had a pair of goal-line touchdowns, one of which included a humiliation of Washington cornerback Josh Wilson. The bad news is, well, almost everything else. His other 13 carries produced only two first downs and nine runs for 2 yards or less. His receiving numbers were particularly impotent: four receptions in six targets, no first downs, no successful plays, 5 total yards, long gain of 3 yards.

Five most valuable wide receivers and tight ends Rk Player Team Rec Att Yds Avg TD Total

DYAR 1. DeSean Jackson PHI 10 16 195 19.5 1 56 Jackson had eight first downs on the day (including his touchdown), including three third-down conversions. Four of his catches gained at least 20 yards, including gains of 30 and 51 yards. 2. Greg Jennings MIN 11 13 163 14.8 1 54 Jennings had a 57-yard touchdown, plus gains of 22 and 31 yards, but those were his only 10-yard catches on the day. Among his eight shorter catches, though, two gained first downs, and four others were still considered successful plays. 3. Cordarrelle Patterson MIN 5 6 35 7.0 1 49 Man, that Philly-Minnesota game was a good one for receivers. Patterson's receiving numbers were a big snooze, but he also ran the ball twice against Philadelphia, both for first downs: a 3-yard gain on third-and-3 and a 12-yard gain on second-and-8. His first four targets resulted in three targets for 19 yards and no first downs. His last three targets resulted in a 5-yard touchdown, an 11-yard gain on third-and-10, and a 30-yard DPI on third-and-10. 4. Mike Wallace MIA 6 9 105 17.5 1 47 Wallace's biggest play was a 39-yard touchdown on third-and-2, and he had three other first downs on the day. He also had one run, a 13-yard gain on second-and-6. 5. Jarrett Boykin GB 6 6 83 13.8 0 46 All of Boykin's targets came on second down. He produced four first downs, a 9-yard gain on second-and-10, and a 10-yard gain on second-and-13.