Adrian Peterson had the big season last year, coming within 6 yards of Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record. Now what?
It isn't realistic to expect him to crank out another 2,000. Heck, another 1,800 would be very impressive. Only one back in league history has gone over 1,800 two years in a row - Dickerson.
Here's the list of the 19 guys who've run for 1,800 yards in a season. Rather, it's the rundown of how they did the next year.
Only four ran for 1,500 yards again the following year - Dickerson, O.J., Barry Sanders and Tiki Barber.
The overall average, when you include guys getting hurt and whatnot, is 1,237 yards.
So about 1,400 yards. That may seem low, but it seems like a fair over-under for Peterson.
RUNNING FOR OVER 1,800 YARDS -- THE NEXT YEAR
Run Rec Total TD Year
1446 340 1786 9 1963Jim Brown
1125 189 1314 4 1973O.J. Simpson
1503 259 1762 9 1975O.J. Simpson
1359 480 1839 11 1977Walter Payton
2105 139 2244 14 1983Eric Dickerson
1234 126 1360 12 1984Eric Dickerson
1288 171 1459 6 1986Eric Dickerson
1500 398 1898 12 1994Barry Sanders
1491 289 1780 4 1997Barry Sanders
211 26 237 2 1998Terrell Davis
59 34 93 0 1998Jamal Anderson
1372 351 1723 10 2002Ricky Williams
1163 275 1438 8 2003Ahman Green
1006 116 1122 7 2003Jamal Lewis
896 48 944 7 2005Shaun Alexander
1662 465 2127 5 2005Tiki Barber
1474 389 1863 18 2006LaDainian Tomlinson
1364 245 1609 12 2009Chris Johnson
???? ??? ???? ?? 2012Adrian Peterson
^aEUR"Ian Allan
May 15, 2013