Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record is in serious danger of falling to Saquon Barkley, and the legendary former Los Angeles Rams running back is not necessarily happy about it.
Dickerson offered a brutally honest response to the possibility of Barkley breaking the single-season record of 2,105 yards, which was set in 1984. Barkley is 268 yards from breaking the record with two games to play. While Dickerson does not think Barkley will get there, he will not be thrilled if the Eagles star does.
“I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it,” Dickerson told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. “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.”
Dickerson achieved his mark of 2,105 yards in just 16 regular season games. The NFL has since expanded the season to 17 games, which is what Dickerson noted in his comment.
Dickerson has seen off multiple challenges to his record. Adrian Peterson came closest to breaking it in 2012, but he ultimately finished just nine yards short of surpassing Dickerson’s mark.
Barkley is averaging 122.5 rushing yards per game this season, so he will need to beat that pace to overtake Dickerson. That could be further complicated if the Eagles clinch the NFC East this week and limit Barkley’s Week 18 workload to protect him ahead of the playoffs.
Interestingly, the single-season rushing record is under threat this year at the college level as well. The current holder of that record is taking a much different approach to the threat than Dickerson is.
