Eric Dickerson Doesn’t Want Saquon Barkley to Break His Rushing Record

Eric Dickerson expects to hold onto the NFL's single-season rushing record for at least another year. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Dickerson said he doesn't expect Saquon Barkley to break his record—and he doesn't want him to do it either.

Barkley is sitting at 1,838 rushing yards through 15 games. Dickerson had 2,007 yards after 15 games in 1984, which was good enough to break O.J. Simpson's previous record of 2,003 yards. Dickerson finished with 2,105 rushing yards, which is now the official record despite the fact that it took two more games than Simpson played in the 1973 season.

Via the LA Times:

How do you feel about the possibility of Barkley breaking your single-season rushing record?

I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it. 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.

So the 17 games part doesn’t bother you, even though you set it with 16 games?

O.J. Simpson was my favorite player. He went over 2,000 yards in 14 games. It took me 15 games to get to 2,000. I had one extra game to play. Getting to 2,000 is an accomplishment in itself. I got close to that three other times.

O.J. Simpson averaged 143.1 yards per game in 1973, which remains 10 yards per game better than Jim Brown's 133.1 per game in the 1963 season. Dickerson averaged 131.6 yards in '84, which remains the fourth best rushing yards per game average in league history. Barkley is currently 14th with 122.5.