Familiar bedfellows can make for some strange stats—and that’s what the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons were staring at on Thursday night.
These two NFC South foes last played each other on Oct. 30, leaving just 11 days between their Week 8 and Week 10 matchup. And, as a result, Panthers running back D’Onta Foreman took advantage of the small window with a bizarre piece of history.
His standout performance in the latter meeting made him the first player since Buffalo Bills running back Carlton “Cookie” Gilchrist to run for at least 100 yards against the same opponent in a span of 12 (regular-season) days or less. (Gilchrist lit up the New York Jets twice in seven days back in December of 1963.)
That Week 8 tilt saw Foreman notch 118 yards and three touchdowns in Atlanta. Then, on Thursday night, he went for 130 more (and another score) on 31 carries.
While this isn’t the most glorious, mind-blowing stat—it does speak to what Foreman has meant for the Panthers here in 2022. And now, it’ll be pretty hard to sleep on the red-hot rusher.
