The handoff hits Eric Dickerson’s chest, those famous goggles glint under the lights, and suddenly the defense looks like it’s running in slow motion. One cut, long strides, and he’s gone again. That was the feeling of watching the Rams in 1984. Every carry felt like history waiting to happen.
Rams fans didn’t just witness a great season that year. They watched a running back rewrite what dominance looked like.
By the time the 1984 season kicked off, Dickerson was already a star. He had rushed for 1,808 yards as a rookie in 1983, setting expectations sky high. But nobody could have predicted what came next. The Rams built their entire identity around him. Head coach John Robinson leaned fully into the ground game, and defenses knew exactly what was coming every Sunday. It didn’t matter. Dickerson kept slicing through them anyway.
Game after game, the numbers stacked up in ways that felt unreal for that era. The offensive line created lanes, but Dickerson turned small creases into huge gains. His running style was different from most backs. Upright posture, smooth acceleration, and that gliding stride that made him look effortless even when he was outrunning linebackers.
The record chase didn’t feel forced. It felt inevitable.
On October 28, 1984, against the Dallas Cowboys, Dickerson rushed for 208 yards, one of several monster performances that season. Defenses started loading the box, daring the Rams to throw, yet he kept finding daylight. By December, the entire league was watching the yardage total climb closer to O.J. Simpson’s 2,003-yard record from 1973.
The moment that sealed immortality came late in the season against the Houston Oilers on December 16, 1984. Dickerson broke Simpson’s mark, finishing the year with 2,105 rushing yards. Even now, decades later, that number still sits at the top of the NFL record book. Think about how much the game has changed since then. Rule changes, offensive explosions, pass-heavy schemes. Through all of it, nobody has run for more yards in a single season.
That’s what makes 1984 feel almost mythical for Rams fans.
Back then, the league wasn’t built for gaudy rushing numbers. Defenses were physical, games were slower, and teams rarely committed so completely to one player. Yet the Rams leaned into Dickerson’s talent because they knew they had something special. He carried the ball 379 times that year, an incredible workload by modern standards, and somehow still averaged 5.6 yards per carry.
The playoff run added to the legend. The Rams finished 10-6 and beat the New York Giants in the Wild Card round before falling to the Chicago Bears. Even in defeat, Dickerson’s season felt bigger than wins and losses. He had already changed the expectations for what a running back could accomplish.
What makes his record even more impressive is how many great backs have come close without surpassing it. Barry Sanders hit 2,053 yards in 1997. Adrian Peterson ran for 2,097 in 2012. Both seasons were incredible, yet Dickerson’s mark still stands. Every year when a runner gets hot late in the season, Rams fans start doing the math again, wondering if this will finally be the year someone breaks it.
And every year, the number holds.
There’s something uniquely Rams about that season too. The franchise has always had a flair for unforgettable offensive eras. From the Fearsome Foursome to the Greatest Show on Turf, the Rams find ways to leave fingerprints on football history. Dickerson’s 1984 season sits right in the middle of that legacy, a reminder that long before high-flying passing attacks took over, the Rams dominated the league with a running back who looked unstoppable.
Fans who watched it live still talk about how defenses seemed exhausted by halftime. Dickerson didn’t just pile up yards. He wore teams down, turning games into endurance tests. And when he hit the open field, the crowd knew what was coming. Long strides. A slight lean forward. Another highlight run that would be replayed for years.
The craziest part is how normal it started to feel. Week after week, 150 yards here, 180 yards there. The extraordinary became routine, and by the end of the season, the record felt less like a surprise and more like a statement.
Football has evolved in every way imaginable since 1984, yet that rushing total still looms over the sport like a challenge nobody has quite solved. For Rams fans, it’s more than just a stat line. It’s proof that once upon a time, one player carried the entire league on his back and made history look effortless.
Records come and go, but 2,105 yards still belongs to number 29, and every season that passes only makes that run feel more untouchable.