Quietly, because this is how he goes about his business, Thomas Jones is about to eclipse a milestone not many backs in the league have even had a sniff at: five consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
If Jones rushes for 116 yards against the Panthers Sunday at Giants Stadium, it’ll put him over the 1,000-yard plateau for the fifth consecutive year and third with the Jets.
Jones, who won the AFC rushing title last season with 1,312 yards and a career-high 13 touchdowns, is third in the AFC and sixth in the NFL this season with 884 yards and he has eight touchdowns.
He’s on a pace to rush for a career-high 1,414 yards and 13 touchdowns this season.
Impressive numbers, yet Jones is rarely in the conversation about the NFL’s top backs despite the fact that he went to the Pro Bowl last season.
“I think the people that know, that really watch the game, know how good Thomas is,” Jets left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson said. “When those people sit down and talk about the top backs in the league they cannot have that conversation without mentioning Thomas.
“There have been countless games where defenders will come up to him and give him his props and say, ‘Hey, you’re a heck of a back and I want to let you know that.’ ”
Since 2005, only LaDanian Tomlinson has rushed for more yards (6,319) than Jones (5,860). Yet Jones isn’t a guy you see filling the airwaves on ESPN’s SportsCenter during the highlight shows, nor a guy you see in any of the pregame show features.
“He’s probably not on the top of everybody’s list, but he’s one of those guys where people pick up his stat sheet and they’re like, ‘Whoa, he’s up there,’ ” Jets left guard Alan Faneca said. “Guys around the league get the stat sheet and probably wouldn’t have put him in, but there he is in the top six.”
Jets veteran fullback Tony Richardson, who has played in 212 NFL games and blocked for the likes of Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson and Adrian Peterson, said of Jones: “What makes him different is the size of his heart and the desire he has, his will to win.
“We just left the weight room and he’s still in there training,” Richardson said. “I haven’t been around another back that’s worked harder than him in the weight room. Each week he’s trying to get better.”
When Jones did emerge from the weight room, long after his teammates, and the prospect of five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons was brought up to him, he politely and quietly deflected his personal goals.
“It’s cliché, but it’s hard to focus on individual statistics when the team is not winning,” Jones said. “Everything I’m doing during the week getting prepared to play and everything I’m doing on Sunday is to help the team win. So when you don’t win it’s kind of hard to enjoy any type of personal achievements.”