Saquon Barkley begins to chase Eric Dickerson’s NFL record appeared first on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Some guys don’t care about records. They’re not paying attention, they couldn’t tell you who they’re chasing, they just don’t want to be bothered.
Not Saquon.
Saquon Barkley enjoys studying the NFL and the history of the game and has grown up in the Allentown-Bethlehem area since childhood. He knew exactly how many rushing yards LeSean McCoy had when he set the Eagles record in 2013, and he knows exactly how many rushing yards Eric Dickerson had when he set the NFL record in 1984.
He doesn’t hide from it. He wants to break records.
“I feel like if you want to be great, you have to be able to study the greats and learn from them,” Barkley said Thursday at his locker. “So I try to focus, especially at my position, on the history of the position and learning the position and watching those guys and seeing the things that they’ve been able to accomplish and as a competitor try to go out there and go after them.” “
Barkley is up to 1,623 rushing yards with four regular season games remaining in his first season with the Eagles. Dickerson rushed for 2,105 yards in 16 games with the Rams in 1984, his second NFL season. So Barkley needs 483 yards — or 121 per game — to break Dickerson’s record.
Although the Eagles face the Steelers and their 4Th– on Sunday in run defense rating, their last three games against the Commanders, Cowboys and Giants, who are 28th.Th30Th and the 29thTh in rushing yards allowed, each allowing between 137 and 142 yards per game.
He could really do this.
“I know a lot about Eric Dickerson,” Barkley said. “I know he has a record. He is already 40 years old. I’ve obviously heard the talk. I know the number. I know what it will take to get it.
“I’ve dealt with it a little bit, with the emotions of how I feel about it, but the mindset is not to be afraid of it, to embrace it.” it’s there. Challenge yourself to try to get it. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is to win football games.”
With one huge game in the next three, Barkley could give himself an opportunity to break Dickerson’s mark before the season finale against the Giants, his former team, allowing Nick Sirianni to shut him down a week early if the Eagles are locked into their playoff seed. He would need to average 161 yards against the Steelers, Commanders and Cowboys to set the record in 16 games.
If Barkley doesn’t have a record in the Cowboys game and the Eagles have nothing to play for, Sirianni will have a tough call whether to play him against his former team and chase the record or shut him down to make sure he’s healthy. It will likely depend on how close he is to 2,105 and what Barkley wants to do.
It is important to note that the single-season rushing yards per game record is held by OJ Simpson, who averaged 143.1 yards in 1973 with the Bills. That’s 2,003 yards in 14 games. Dickerson ran for 2,105 in 16 games — that’s 131.6 yards per game — but Jim Brown in 1963 (133.1) and Walter Payton in 1977 (132.3) also had higher averages per game than Dickerson.
Barkley said he started studying great running backs and their accomplishments as a kid and enjoys talking about NFL history and plans to do more when he retires.
“I used to grow up more – you don’t really have that much time when you’re here – but I want to be on TV,” he said. “I want to do something similar to what (Michael) Strahan is doing. Half of my work is about football, half is about other things in life. It kind of stems from there.’
Subscribe to Eagle Eye wherever you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stapler | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube
This embedded content is not available in your region.