NFL

Eric Dickerson Speaks On Saquon Barkley Having A Chance To Break His Single-Season NFL Rushing Record

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LA Rams Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson currently holds the record for most rushing yards in a season, which has been untouched since 1984, when ran for 2,105 yards in his second year in the league.

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That is to say, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has a chance to surpass Dickerson, considering that he is currently at 2,005 yards with one game left in the season.

Last week, Dickerson spoke honestly on the fact that he hopes Barkley doesn't break his record.

"Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don't pull no punches on that," Dickerson said. "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."

And some former players such as LeSean McCoy called out the legendary back.

"Records are meant to be broken," McCoy said on his FS1 Show, The Facility.

"You paved the way for guys like Saquon to break the record. It's going to be a young kid; I don't know, 30 from now, 40 years from now, it's going to break Saquon's record. As running backs we got to stick together because they always trying to break us down."McCoy concluded, "Eric Dickerson, you should do better, homie. Stop the hating and more applauding."

To note, during his first season in an Eagles' uniform, Barkley broke the Eagles' franchise single-season rushing record set by McCoy (1,607 yards) in 2013.

In view of Barkley breaking the NFL record, it has been reported that he may not play in the Week 18 matchup vs. his former team, the New York Giants.

"How ironic would it be for him to break the record on them, the team that let him go," Dickerson said previously about the upcoming matchup. "A true slap in the face."

With this in mind, Dickerson has now cleared up his previous comments.

"I'm a Saquon Barkley fan," Dickerson said in a video posted to X on Thursday. "I never thought he would reach his full potential in New York. I'm glad to see him in Philadelphia and glad to see him get 2,000 yards."

And Dickerson admitted that he surpassed O.J. Simpson's previous record of 2,003 yards in 1973, by playing in one more game.

In view of this, it took Dickerson 15 games to break the record, and it would have taken Barkley 17 games.

"I've always said O.J. did it in 14 games, I did it in 15, one extra game," he said. "I would never hate on another running back. That's not me. So like I said, know your history."

Even so, it's worth mentioning that Barkley has less carries this season (345 carries for 2,005 yards; 5.8 ypc) than Dickerson had in the 1984 season (379 carries for 2,105 yards; 5.6 ypc).

Dickerson pointed out that even if his single-season record did get broken, he still has a couple other records that may hold for a while.

"I've always said that the one that's going to last the longest is me setting the rookie record with 1,808 [yards]," he said. "Because you only get one shot at that. You're only a rookie once."

Not to mention, No. 29 also has the the single-game playoff record for most rushing yards in a single game (248), which he accomplished in the Divisional Round of the 1985 playoffs vs. the Dallas Cowboys.

All in all, Dickerson may be safe for another year as Barkley plans to sit out with the Eagles locking down the top spot in the NFC East.

Related: Saquon Barkley Trolls Giants Owner John Mara In New Commercial

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