Plenty of running backs have tried to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record but all of them have come up short. Saquon Barkley is trying to change that. He’s having one of the best seasons ever at the position, racking up 1,838 rushing yards with 15 total touchdowns through 15 games.
With two weeks remaining, Barkley needs 268 rushing yards in order to break Dickerson’s mark of 2,105 yards, which was set in 1984. Barkley is averaging 122.5 yards per game so it’s not unreasonable for him to average 134 yards per game in the final two weeks.
Dickerson spoke to Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times about the possibility of Barkley breaking his record 40 years later and he was brutally honest about it. He’s not rooting for Barkley to get it done, nor does he think the Eagles running back will eclipse his record.
“I don’t think he’ll break it,” Dickerson said. “But if he breaks it, he breaks it. Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t pull no punches on that. But I’m not whining about it. He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football. That’s the way I look at it. If he’s fortunate to get over 2,000 yards and get the record, it’s a great record to have.”
There have been eight running backs who eclipsed 2,000 yards rushing in a single season, with Derrick Henry (2,027) being the latest to do so in 2020. Only four have done it since 2000, so Barkley is trying to become the fifth this century – and the first in a 17-game season.
Dickerson set his record in 16 games and he broke O.J. Simpson’s record of 2,003 yards, which was accomplished in only 14 games.
“O.J. Simpson was my favorite player. He went over 2,000 yards in 14 games,” Dickerson said. “It took me 15 games to get to 2,000. I had one extra game to play. Getting to 2,000 is an accomplishment in itself. I got close to that three other times.”
Barkley’s final two games are against the Cowboys and Giants, so he’ll try to break the record against two division rivals – including the team he played six years for. Dickerson said he doesn’t “sit down and watch games” except for the Rams, but he feels like he has to watch Barkley’s pursuit of the record because of how often he gets texts about it.
“I don’t sit down and watch games, except the Rams, and I work for the team,” he said. “But I’ll have no choice but to keep up with it because I get so many text messages. People blowing up my phone like, ‘Man, it’s not fair. He gets 17 games,’ or, ‘We’re going to put a hex on him.’”
Dickerson’s record has stood for 40 years but there’s real chance it falls in the next two weeks.