Barkley is on pace to break one of the NFL’s oldest records. Here’s why.
One of the longest-held individual records in the NFL could fall in the next two weeks as Saquon Barkley needs 268 yards to break Erick Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards — which has held since 1984.
Dickerson doesn’t think his mark is going to fall this season, telling the Los Angeles Times:
“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.”
Despite what Dickerson thinks the odds are on Barkley’s side. The Eagles have two remaining games against Giants and Cowboys, who are common opponents Philly have already faced — so that gives us a baseline to potentially predict how Barkley could perform to close out the season.
Week 7 vs. Giants: 17 carries, 176 yards
Week 10 vs. Cowboys: 14 carries, 66 yards
Barkley falls barely short if we combine these numbers, ending his season with 2,080 yards. The devil is in the details though. It needs to be noted that the Giants allowed a ludicrous 10.4 yards-per-carry to Barkley in their game, and the Cowboys allowed 4.7 yards-per-carry. In addition, Barkley’s usage rate has drastically increased since Week 10. The Eagles have had him carry the ball an average of 25.5 times per game in the last six weeks, and the only thing that could stop that is if Philly tries to save him for the playoffs.
It’s fair to say that the Giants won’t give up 10.4 ypc again, but it’s fair to assume Barkley can hit his season mark of 5.9 ypc against both teams. If that happens, and if Philadelphia keeps up his usage rate here’s what happens to his final season numbers.
365 carries, 2,139 yards — breaking Eric Dickerson’s record.
Also of note, despite claims that Barkley’s record would be “less legit” because he pulled it off in 17 games instead of 16, Dickerson carried the ball 379 times in his record-breaking year, meaning Barkley would break the record and be more efficient.
So while Dickerson’s record would fall under this scenario there remains one record which will never, ever be broken. Of course that’s Night Train Lane’s single-season interception record of 14, which has stood since 1952.
Nobody is ever breaking that one.
