PHILADELPHIA — Normally, Saquon Barkley would have thrown his game-used cleats to a kid who had asked for them as the Philadelphia Eagles star running back ran off the field and back to the locker room.
ごめんなさい、子供。 Today is different.
There was a good reason Barkley continued to wear dirty cleats. He became the ninth running back in NFL history to eclipse 2,000 yards in a season, reaching the milestone with a 23-yard run in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 41-7 win over New York.ダラス・カウボーイズ。
The rush gave Barkley 2,005 yards with one game left, moving him just 100 yards shy of tying Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105, set in 1984 with the Los Angeles Rams. Barkley left the game with 167 yards on 31 carries after rushing for over 2,000 yards.
“We definitely knew the numbers to get at least 2,000,” Barkley said. “I wasn't going to leave this field without at least achieving that. Those are not my words, but those of the players up front.”
Whether Dickerson likes it or not, and the Hall of Famer made it clear last week that he isn't, Barkley will have a shot at the record next weekend against the New York Giants.
Well, maybe.
The game was largely meaningless as the Eagles clinched the NFC East championship and the conference's worst No. 2 seed. Coach Nick Sirianni may choose to rest Barkley to protect him from injury heading into the playoffs.
「彼の決断が何であれ、私はそれに賛成です」とバークレーは語った。 “If his mindset is, let's go out and try it, then let's go out and try it. If his mindset is, 'Let's rest and get ready for this run.' 、私も全力で賛成します。 ”
Sirianni simply said, “Let's see.”
With his hat tipped back, Barkley laughed when asked if he wanted to break the record in a tasty twist against his old team.
“I'm not trying to get too much out of it,” Barkley said. “I'm not scared. I want to. But at the end of the day, we're focused on something bigger.”
Barkley will have a chance to attempt the record Dickerson and the NFL failed to achieve in 1984 thanks to his 17th game of the season.
Barkley, who left the Giants to sign a three-year contract with the Eagles with $26 million guaranteed, set an NFL record Sunday for most rushing yards in his first season with his new team.
He ran for 176 yards and one touchdown in his first career game against the Giants.
“I didn't come here or sign here just to go for 2,000 (yards) and break records,” Barkley said. “I came here to do something special.”
Barkley was selected No. 2 overall in the 2018 draft out of Penn State. He found immediate success in New York, rushing for 1,307 yards in his rookie season. Barkley threw for 5,211 yards and 35 touchdowns in six years with the Giants, and had 288 receptions for 2,100 yards and 12 TDs.
“I was in the dark,” Barkley said. “I don't know what's going to happen, I don't know where I'm going to go. Everything feels like it's up in the air.”
Wearing his trademark goggles and jheri curl, Dickerson racked up seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in the 1980s, and the Hall of Famer is widely considered one of the greatest running backs of all time.
Dickerson gained 13,259 yards, which ranks ninth in NFL history. Emmitt Smith holds the career record with 18,355 yards.
“I don't think he's going to break it. But if he's going to break it, he's going to break it,” Dickerson told the Los Angeles Times. “Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I have nothing to say about it. But I'm not whining about it. Did you have 17 games? Hey, football is football.”
In 1984, Dickerson eclipsed 100 yards rushing 12 times, breaking O. J. Simpson's record of 2,003 rushing yards in a season, set in 1973.
Simpson set a career record by playing 14 games with the Buffalo Bills before the NFL expanded to 16 games in 1978. NFLは2021年に17試合に移行した。
“The way football is right now, it's kind of hard to rush for 2,000 yards in 14 games,” Barkley said. “So what I was able to accomplish on the O-line, whether I was 16 or 17, is a feat that can never be taken away from me, and only eight other players have done it, so特別な瞬間です。」
