ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WROC) — The Bills quarterback room might include not only the league’s MVP, but also the NFL’s worst rusher.
There are 318 players who have recorded a carry this season. At the top is Saquan Barkley with 2,005 yards. And at the very bottom is Bills backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Most of his attempts have come at the end of blowout wins when he relieves Josh Allen and takes quarterback knees to close out the game. He has -11 yards on 13 carries this season.
“That’s thanks to Josh [Allen],” Trubisky said with a smile. “I think that was one of his goals early on. If I’m coming in at the end of the games and we’re taking victory kneels and I have negative rushing yards, then it ends up being a pretty good season.”
“That’s typically a positive stat when you’ve got those,” Allen said. “For his sake, he’ll get a couple of yards. He’ll be fine.”
With Allen only playing a “very, very short-lived amount of time” against the Patriots per head coach Sean McDermott, it’s a prime opportunity to get out of the basement for Trubisky.
He needs four yards to tie Chicago backup QB Tyson Bagent at -7 yards and five yards to move all the way up to 317th of 318 players.
“I’ve got a chance to get rid of the rushing total this weekend,” said Trubisky.
While Trubisky doesn’t mind the honor of having negative rushing yards in such a positive manner, it is something that he notices.
“After every game we take knees, Mitch is saying he looks up and just sees “Mitch Trubisky: -1 yards”. For him to go out there and hopefully get a few yards on the ground would be sweet for him,” said offensive tackle Ryan Van Demark.
Of Trubisky’s 13 carries this year, 12 are QB kneels. He registered -1 yards on 11 of those plays. The statistician was kind to Trubisky on his first kneel-down against the Jets last week as it did not result in a loss of a yard. Trubisky also had a scramble for 0 yards against the 49ers.
“I don’t think it’s really that big of a priority, everyone just wants to focus on winning,” said Bills center Connor McGovern. “If we get rid of that stat, we get rid of that stat. He will tell you that first.”
This actually isn’t even the first time in recent memory a Bills backup QB has been near the bottom of the league for rushing yards. Last year, Kyle Allen had 13 carries for -13 yards, second-worst in the league.
Kyle Allen was in last place heading into the final week of the regular season when Texans punter Cameron Johnston recorded -23 rushing yards while taking an intentional safety.
Trubisky’s last-place status and how cool he is with it is another example of how the Bills offense believes in the “Everybody Eats” philosophy.
“He’s fine with the role that he has now,’ said McGovern. “Everyone buys into what they do. Everyone just loves being a part of it.”
“I’ll do what I’ve got to do to take those negative rushing yards on the victory kneels,” said Trubisky. “It’s the best play in football, but it does tally up. It’s good for the team.”
Trubisky would also need eight rushing yards to match Reggie Bush’s total in 2016 when the running back infamously had -3 yards on 12 carries that season with the Bills.