Saquon Barkley talks about chasing Eric Dickerson’s NFL record originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Some guys just don’t care about records. They don’t pay attention, they can’t tell you who they’re chasing, they just don’t want to be bothered.
Not Saquon.
Saquon Barkley loves studying the NFL and the history of the game, and has done so since he was a kid growing up in the Allentown-Bethlehem area. 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 you want to be great, you have to be able to study the greats and learn from them,” Barkley said Thursday from his locker. “So I try to focus, especially in my position, on the history of the position and learning the position and watching those guys and seeing the things they were able to accomplish and as a competitor I try to go there and to get hold of them. ”
Barkley has reached 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 faced the Steelers and their 4e-ranked run defense Sunday, their final three games are against the Commanders, Cowboys and Giants, who are ranked 28the30e and 29e in rushing yards allowed, with each allowing between 137 and 142 yards per play.
He really could do this.
“I know a lot about Eric Dickerson,” Barkley said. “I know he has the record. He’s had it for 40 years. Of course I heard the conversation. I know the number. I know what it takes to get it.
“I’ve messed around with it a little bit, with the emotions of how I feel about it, but the mentality is: don’t be afraid of it, embrace it. It’s there. Challenge yourself to try and get it. But in the end, winning football matches is the most important thing.”
With one big game in the next three, Barkley could give himself a chance to break Dickerson’s mark before the season finale against the Giants, his former team, allowing Nick Sirianni to take him out a week early if the Eagles are stuck in their battle . playoff seed. He would need to average 161 yards against the Steelers, Commanders and Cowboys to achieve the record in 16 games.
If Barkley doesn’t have the Cowboys’ record and the Eagles have nothing to play for, Sirianni will have a tough choice whether to play his former team and chase the record or shut him down to ensure he does. does. healthy. Will probably depend on how close he is to 2,105 and what Barkley wants to do.
It is important to note that the record for rushing yards per game in a single season belongs to OJ Simpson, who averaged 143.1 yards with the Bills in 1973. 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 the great running backs and their achievements as a kid, and that he enjoys talking about NFL history and plans to do more of that after he retires.
“I used to grow up – 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 does. Half of my work is about football, half about other things in life. That’s kind of where it comes from.”
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