ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was watching the Detroit Lions play on Thanksgiving when he saw the stat pop up on the screen. Four years. It had been four years since the Lions had had a 100-yard rusher, a span of 60-plus games where players have gotten close but none had hit triple digits.

The Lions are the only team in the league to not have at least one player eclipse 100 yards rushing since Thanksgiving Day in 2013, when Reggie Bush gained 117 rushing yards against Green Bay.

Halfbacks, fullbacks, quarterbacks and even a wide receiver, Cordarrelle Patterson, have reached the triple-digit mark. So did Johnny Manziel (once) and Colin Kaepernick (twice).

LeSean McCoy has had 20 100-yard games in that span and Le'Veon Bell 17. Meanwhile, the Lions have had none from anyone.

“It’s interesting,” Flacco said. “I think you look at the way [the Lions] play, it’s not too surprising. I mean, the bottom line is you want to have successful plays as an offense and really, no matter how you do that, it doesn’t matter.

“There’s different ways you can run the ball without actually handing the ball off. You can run screens and you can get the ball in the back’s hands out of the backfield. A lot of those things work in similar ways.”

The Lions have done that -- particularly with backs and receiver Golden Tate. But it still doesn’t explain the 63-game drought the Lions have had between 100-yard rushers, especially considering Lions coach Jim Caldwell said he wants to have a “respectable” run game.

But when Caldwell was asked this week how difficult it is to have a 100-yard rusher in a game, he begged off the question.

“How difficult is it? I’m not sure,” Caldwell said. “I’m not sure. Next question.”

This isn’t to say the Lions haven’t been close. Twice this season, Ameer Abdullah had a chance to break the drought, a 94-yard game at Minnesota and an 86-yard game at the Giants. Three times, Lions backs have gotten over 90 yards rushing in those four calendar years. And 13 times, a Lions running back has had a combined 100 yards rushing and receiving.

But as far as straight rushing yards -- it just hasn’t happened.

“I feel like there’s a few games where we probably could have had Ameer but we have multiple backs that run the ball,” receiver Marvin Jones said. “So when you look at the whole body in terms of 100-yard rushing games, if you add each one’s up in that particular game, then you get 100, you know what I’m saying.

“Like, I don’t know. If you would do that, then you add [Ameer] and you add Theo, boom, there you go. People, they are trying to, I don’t know. I don’t even know what to say about how people saying he hasn’t had a runner.”

In using Jones’ metric, the Lions as a team have rushed for 100 or more yards 18 times during the single 100-yard rusher drought. For perspective, DeMarco Murray has had 20 100-yard games by himself between Dallas and Tennessee during the same stretch and despite playing less than two NFL seasons, Ezekiel Elliott has 11.

The person who would benefit most from a 100-yard rusher -- or a consistent run game -- is quarterback Matthew Stafford. He said, though, he’s not keeping track of how many games it has been since the Lions last had a triple-digit rusher in a game with him.

“I’m just going out there and playing every game like it’s a new game,” Stafford said. “And you never know what’s going to happen.”