In
gridiron football, a carry or rushing attempt is a statistical term equivalent to a single
rushing play. The term is typically used in reference to "yards per carry", meaning yards per attempt rushing the ball. Although
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball,
and block. Ther ...
s are typically tasked with carrying the ball, any offensive player who performs a carry is known as a ball-carrier for that play, regardless of position. The yards gained on a carry are referred to as rushing yards. In the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL),
Emmitt Smith holds the record for the most career carries, with 4,409. The current leader in yards-per-carry in NFL history with at least 750 carries is
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
Michael Vick
Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980) is a former American football quarterback. Regarded as having transformed the quarterback position with his rushing abilities, he is the NFL leader in quarterback rushing yards and was the league's firs ...
.
The statistical treatment of yardage lost on
sacks differs between the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
and NFL. Under NCAA rules, sacks count as rushing yards for both the player and his team. In the NFL, sacks are not counted in the quarterback's passing or rushing yardage, but are counted as part of the team's passing yardage.
See also
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Glossary of American football
The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see '' Glossary of Canadian football''.
0–9
...
*
List of National Football League rushing yards leaders
This is a list of National Football League running backs by total career rushing yards, and includes the 31 running backs who have rushed for at least 10,000 yards, for which sixteen of them have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. ...
*
List of National Football League rushing champions
In American football, rushing and passing are the two main methods of advancing the ball down the field. A rush, also known as a running play, generally occurs when the quarterback hands or tosses the ball backwards to the running back, but oth ...
References
American football terminology
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