Eric Dickerson talks about his single season rushing record
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In 1984 Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson rushed for a record 2,105 yards, he spoke about it recently and if he thinks his record can be broken. I love this stuff!
Eric Dickerson Reveals Who Could Break His NFL Single-Season Rushing Record
In 1984, Eric Dickerson rushed for 2,105 yards with the Los Angeles Rams, and it remains the single-season rushing record in the NFL. There have been a few running backs who have come close to breaking the record over the years, but will it happen anytime soon? PopCulture.com recently caught up with Dickerson, who posits how there could very likely be a running back today that could become the new record-holder for most rushing yards in a season.
"Someone could possibly break that record," Dickerson told PopCulture. "Derrick Henry had a shot at it, Adrian Peterson had a shot at it. I mean, when you look at a Derrick Henry, even this year, they ran the ball a lot, they were the old school running football team. I hated to see Derrick get hurt. You know, people asked me about the record, I said, 'Look, I would rather see him shatter that record than get hurt.' I don't want to see any player get hurt because he plays my position.
"And as a running back, you respect another great running back. But it's hard to get 2000 yards, it's very hard, it's a lot that has to go perfect. You can get hurt, you can fall behind, you have to have the right offensive line in place even if you don't have a quarterback. You don't want to have to see those eight-and nine-man fronts every game. You have to try to break the long run, sometime."
Henry, running back for the Tennessee Titans, came close to breaking the record last year, rushing for 2,027 yards in 2020. That total ranks fifth on the all-time list, and he was on pace to have a better season in 2021. However, Henry suffered a foot injury last week and could miss the remainder of the season."
Currently, there likely isn't another running back who will rush for over 2,000 yards in a season. Teams today don't run the ball as much as they did 30 years ago and they use multiple running backs instead of just one featured back. Dickerson, who is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, knows the game is much different from what it was in the 1980s.
"One thing I see, the running backs don't want to run the football as much," Dickerson said. "They don't want to run the ball 20 times this week, 25 times the next week, 30 times. I wanted it. If they called it, I had no problem doing it. I think that's one of the big things. And they want to throw the football. The league doesn't want to see a 17-10, 7-3 game, 14-17, they want a 45-42, a 51-51 shootout. You can't touch the receiver, you can't touch the quarterback."
Comments
Great read!
Erik Dickerson doesn’t get mentioned enough in my opinion.
He was a beast, here's some highlights for those interested.
Electric
Lots of single season records will be broken in the next few years. the 17 game schedule guarantees it.
that was my biggest gripe with adding the extra game. I guess it is no different than when they went up to 14 and then 16. I think the difference is that the 16 game schedule had been around for 40 years.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
fun fact. in 1997, Barry Sanders rushed for exactly 2000 yards in the final 14 games of the season.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Agreed 100%
Off topic, but I think the preseason games should be eliminated. The players would be in favor of that. And....teams scrimmage against each other in preseason training camps and the action there is sometimes (mostly?) better than the actual preseason games......but as someone here noted earlier, the preseason games are for the refs. I agree. But.....from what I see from all the yellow flags flying around needlessly...... It doesn't help them. They're just a terminally confused group of people.
Dickerson is still fourth all time in yards rushing per game.
Led the league five times in yards per game.