When Trey McBride sailed past the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards on Saturday, he teamed with James Conner -- who went over the 1,000-yard mark in rushing yards the week before -- as a relatively rare Cardinals combo. Since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1988, there have only been six seasons in which they had both a pass catcher and runner reach those milestones in the same season.
It last happened in 2016, the year after the Cardinals made the NFC Championship game, when David Johnson had his spectacular season (in which he nearly had a 1,000-1,000 season by himself) and Larry Fitzgerald in the middle of his late-career 1,000-yard spike.
(It's interesting to note that the Cardinals in these seasons have only made the postseason once, and that was the 1998 9-7 team. The Cards were 5-11 in 2006, 8-8 in 2007, 8-8 in 2011, 7-8-1 in 2016 and currently 7-9 this season.)
I would doubt Marvin Harrison Jr. will have the giant game in the finale to get to 1,000 yards (he needs 178), but he could've been a third possibility to reach the mark and is a future candidate for that.
Mostly, it underscores how much the offense has leaned on McBride and Conner this season, tangible numbers put to an ideal everyone really knew just by watching the games.
Year | Rusher | Yards | Receiver | Yards |
---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | James Conner | 1,094* | Trey McBride | 1,081* |
2016 | David Johnson | 1,239 | Larry Fitzgerald | 1,023 |
2011 | Beanie Wells | 1,047 | Larry Fitzgerald | 1,411 |
2007 | Edgerrin James | 1,222 | Larry Fitzgerald | 1,409 |
2006 | Edgerrin James | 1,159 | Anquan Boldin | 1,203 |
1998 | Adrian Murrell | 1,042 | Frank Sanders | 1,145 |