The NFL single-season speeding document has stood for 40 years, far longer than Saquon Barkley has been on this planet.
However now, with two video games to play, the Philadelphia Eagles working again is 268 yards from eclipsing the mark of Corridor of Famer Eric Dickerson, who set the league document of two,105 with the Rams in 1984.
Barkley, 27, who signed with the Eagles final offseason after spending the primary a part of his profession with the rival New York Giants, can also be 162 yards from turning into the ninth participant to run for two,000 yards in a season.
The opposite seven are Adrian Peterson (2,097 with Minnesota in 2012), Jamal Lewis (2,066 with Baltimore in 2003), Barry Sanders (2,053 with Detroit in 1997), Derrick Henry (2027 with Tennessee in 2020), Terrell Davis (2,008 with Denver in 1998), Chris Johnson (2,006 with Tennessee in 2009) and O.J. Simpson (2,003 with Buffalo in 1973).
The Eagles end the common season with house video games in opposition to the Dallas Cowboys and the Giants.
Dickerson spoke to The Instances this week about Barkley, working backs normally, the Rams and the considered his longstanding document going away:
How do you are feeling about the opportunity of Barkley breaking your single-season speeding document?
I don’t assume he’ll break it. But when he breaks it, he breaks it. Do I need him to interrupt it? Completely not. I don’t pull no punches on that. However I’m not whining about it. He had 17 video games to do it? Hey, soccer is soccer. That’s the way in which I take a look at it. If he’s lucky to recover from 2,000 yards and get the document, it’s an amazing document to have.
So the 17 video games half doesn’t hassle you, although you set it with 16 video games?
O.J. Simpson was my favourite participant. He went over 2,000 yards in 14 video games. It took me 15 video games to get to 2,000. I had one further sport to play. Attending to 2,000 is an accomplishment in itself. I acquired near that three different instances.
Eric Dickerson, left, meets together with his favourite participant, O.J. Simpson, at a San Francisco lodge in 1984.
(Paul Sakuma / Related Press)
Do you take a look at it from the attitude that the document is finally going to fall?
I’ve all the time mentioned that the one which’s going to final the longest is me setting the rookie document with 1,808. Since you solely get one shot at that. You’re solely a rookie as soon as.
What do you consider Barkley as a again?
I like him. However I have a tendency to love huge backs. He’s not an enormous again like I used to be. He’s elusive, he’s robust, he runs laborious, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. I feel he’s an amazing participant.
I all the time felt like he’d by no means attain his potential when he was in New York. You possibly can take Emmitt Smith and put him in Cleveland, and he’d have by no means been the Emmitt Smith we all know now.
So it’s location, location, location?
Sure. Even myself. In the event you’d have put me in Cincinnati on a foul group, I’d have by no means been that man. As a result of these dangerous soccer groups with no blocking, I don’t care how nice you’re. In the event you don’t have the blokes in entrance of you, you’ll be able to’t do it.
And that’s why you go to these lengths to thank your blockers?
I noticed what [San Francisco quarterback] Brock Purdy did together with his offensive line, shopping for them these Tundras. I acquired a textual content from Jackie [Slater, Hall of Fame Rams tackle], “Hey, man, where’s my Tundra?” I advised him I used to be making $175,000 on the time. I might afford about two Tundras and be broke.
Will you be tuned in to look at Barkley?
I don’t sit down and watch video games, besides the Rams, and I work for the group. However I’ll don’t have any alternative however to maintain up with it as a result of I get so many textual content messages. Folks blowing up my cellphone like, “Man, it’s not fair. He gets 17 games,” or, “We’re going to put a hex on him.”
Any ideas on Rams working again Kyren Williams?
I like him as a again. He’s capable of carry the ball 29, 28, 27 instances. That takes a toll on you. I used to be capable of do it, however there’s only a few backs which might be in a position to do this. He’s not an actual huge man, so that claims quite a bit about him as a participant, and what Sean McVay thinks of him. I take a look at McVay and assume he’s carried out a improbable job of teaching this group.
Do you assume McVay must be within the Coach of the Yr dialog?
In fact he does. He in all probability gained’t get it as a result of they’re going to present it to a coach who’s 15-2 or 14-3. However McVay has a younger group, a group that at one level was decimated by accidents. They misplaced [four of five] and weren’t trying good. And proper now they’re in place to win the NFC West. What else does it take [to win Coach of the Year]?
The Eagles’ Saquon Barkley runs previous Rams security Quentin Lake in November. He ran for 255 yards in opposition to the Rams.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Instances)
Again to Barkley, are you shocked the Giants let him go?
Let me let you know one thing. If you take a look at sure individuals who run these groups, a few of these guys have as a lot sense as me being the president of the USA. That’s about how a lot they need to be working a soccer group.
In my contract, when the Rams traded me to the Colts, do you know I couldn’t come again to the NFC for 5 years? They put that clause in there.
The Eagles end the common season in opposition to the Giants. If the document is up for grabs…
An actual group could be like, “Oh no, you ain’t gonna get that record on us.” However how ironic wouldn’t it be for him to interrupt the document on them, the group that permit him go. A real slap within the face.
