Eric Dickerson called Saquon Barkley and said he wished the Eagles RB got a shot to break his record

Eric Dickerson was not quiet about the fact that he didn’t want Saquon Barkley to break his record.

Dickerson’s single-season rushing yards record has stood for 40 years, and Barkley entered Week 18 just 101 yards away from eclipsing Dickerson’s 2,105-yard mark. But Nick Sirianni ultimately kept Barkley sidelined in the meaningless game for the Eagles to keep key starters rested for the playoffs.

On the Let’s Go! show on SiriusXM, Dickerson told cohosts Bill Belichick and Jim Gray that although he didn’t want Barkley to break his record, he was rooting for Barkley to at least get a shot at it.

“If you have a record, you want to hold onto them. They’re hard to get,” Dickerson said. “… But I did talk to Saquon [on Sunday]. I gave him a call to congratulate him on going into the 2,000-yard club. I told him I would’ve liked to see him play at least a half to see if he had a chance to get it. But I understand the most important thing is winning the Super Bowl. It’s not about records.”

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With offensive linemen Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, and Landon Dickerson and receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith inactive, and Jalen Hurts still progressing through the concussion protocol, Barkley would have been one of the Eagles' only key starters in the game had he played.

Based on Landon Dickerson’s attempted mutiny in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys and Mailata’s postgame comments, it’s possible that more would have agreed to play if it meant going for the record with Barkley, but it also would have meant more injury risk. The Packers, the Eagles’ wild-card opponent, lost receiver Christian Watson for the season to a torn ACL in an ultimately meaningless Week 18 game — and had an even bigger scare when quarterback Jordan Love went down (although he appears to be fine now).

“I’m sure he wanted to play, but like I was trying to explain to other people, you just can’t play him,” Dickerson said. “You have to play everybody. You have to play the offensive line. You have to play the receivers. Especially the offensive lineman. You can’t put a backup up offensive line in there with your star running back because something might happen. It might happen no matter what, but you can’t take a chance of getting someone hurt. That’s the most important part.

“Like I told him, I said, ‘Look, I would trade that 2,000 yards for a Super Bowl in a heartbeat.’ That’s a no-brainer because football is the ultimate team sport. It’s not about the individual. If you get some records along the way, great, that’s fine.”

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Belichick, who knows a thing or two himself about records and winning championships, thinks Dickerson is spot-on.

“I agree with Eric. It’s about championships,” Belichick said. “And the individual records are nice, especially when they come with championships, but I think you play for your teammates, you play for your team, and you play for a championship.”