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In the early to mid-1980s, Los Angeles was home to two NFL franchises in the Raiders and the Rams, each of whom boasted star running backs in Marcus Allen and Eric Dickerson, respectively. During this golden era of football in Los Angeles, Allen and Dickerson were two of the most productive players in the game, setting single-season records for rushing yards (Dickerson in 1984; record still stands) and yards from scrimmage (Allen in 1985, breaking Dickerson’s mark from the prior year; since broken) in consecutive seasons. Though their career paths would eventually diverge and both teams would later relocate to different cities (the Raiders back to Oakland and now to Las Vegas, the Rams to St. Louis and now back to Los Angeles), the careers of Allen and Dickerson are nevertheless connected by their shared time in Hollywood and their status as two of the best running backs in NFL history, thus bringing about the question:
Who was better – Marcus Allen or Eric Dickerson?
The Beginning
Following record-setting college careers, both Allen and Dickerson were first-round draft picks who immediately established themselves as franchise running backs en route to Rookie of the Year honors.
A southern California native who grew up in San Diego, Allen was a high school football star at quarterback and safety; he was subsequently recruited to nearby powerhouse program USC as a defensive back, but quickly made the switch to running back. After winning a national title as a freshman in 1978, he became the starting running back as a junior in 1980 and proceeded to rush for 1,564 yards to earn Second Team All-American honors. Then, as a senior in 1981, Allen rushed for a then-NCAA record 2,342 yards and scored 23 total touchdowns to not only earn First Team All-American honors, but also win Pac-10 Player of the Year honors, the Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award, and most significantly, the Heisman Trophy; in winning the Heisman, he followed in the footsteps of other illustrious Trojan running backs such as Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, and Charles White. Following his standout college career, Allen was drafted 10th overall in the first round of the 1982 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Raiders, who had just relocated from Oakland; as a rookie during the strike-shortened 1982 season, he rushed for 697 yards with a league-high 11 touchdowns and added 38 receptions for 401 yards and 3 touchdowns in just 9 games to earn Offensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Bowl, and First Team All-Pro honors.
Along the same lines, Texas native Dickerson stayed in-state for college at Southern Methodist University (SMU) after originally committing to Texas A&M; at SMU, he teamed with fellow running back Craig James to form the vaunted “Pony Express” rushing attack and proceeded to win back-to-back Southwest Conference (SWC) Player of the Year honors as a junior and senior. After rushing for 1,428 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior in 1981 for Second Team All-American honors, Dickerson improved to 1,617 rushing yards with 17 touchdowns as a senior for First Team All-American honors and a third-place finish for the Heisman Trophy behind Herschel Walker and John Elway. For his college career, he broke Earl Campbell’s Southwest Conference records for rushing attempts and yards, while tying Doak Walker’s SMU record for career touchdowns; a few years later, SMU would infamously be given the “death penalty” for recruiting violations. As for Dickerson, after toying with the idea of playing for the Los Angeles Express in the upstart (and soon-defunct) United States Football League (USFL), he was drafted second overall in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams and went on to have an incredible rookie season – he led the NFL with 390 rushing attempts and 1,808 rushing yards (4.6 yards per carry) plus 18 rushing touchdowns, and added a career-best 51 catches for 404 yards and a pair of touchdowns to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and earn both Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro selections.
Career Comparison
At their peak in the mid-1980s, Allen and Dickerson were two of the best players in the NFL; from their heyday in Los Angeles, both would go on to Hall of Fame careers, with Allen known for his longevity and versatility and Dickerson best-remembered for his electrifying running style.
Allen followed up on his Rookie of the Year season with 1,014 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns, plus a career-high 68 receptions for 590 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 1983. The next year, he returned to the Pro Bowl with 1,168 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground, and 64 catches for a career-best 758 yards and 5 touchdowns through the air, also earning Second Team All-Pro honors in the process. 1985 would be his career-defining season: with a league-high and career-best 1,759 rushing yards, 11 rushing touchdowns, 67 catches for 555 yards, and 3 receiving touchdowns, Allen was not only once again a Pro Bowler and First Team All-Pro, but he also set a then-NFL record with 2,314 scrimmage yards (breaking Dickerson’s record of 2,244 yards from the previous year – more on that shortly) and won both AP Offensive Player of the Year and MVP. As an encore, he followed up with two more Pro Bowl seasons with the Raiders:
- 1986: 759 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, plus 46 receptions for 453 yards and 2 touchdowns in 13 games
- 1987: 754 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, plus 51 receptions for 410 yards in 12 games
However, with the Raiders drafting Bo Jackson in the seventh round of the 1987 NFL Draft (Jackson was originally drafted #1 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1986, but opted to focus on baseball at the time), Allen would split the backfield in the late 1980s. While he still managed to rush for 831 yards and 7 touchdowns with 34 receptions for 303 yards and a touchdown in 1988, this would be Allen’s most productive season for the remainder of his tenure in Los Angeles. After missing half the 1989 season with injury and having the worst statistical season of his career, he bounced back in 1990 to score 12 rushing touchdowns; nevertheless, with tensions worsening between Allen and Raiders owner Al Davis, Allen was relegated to backup status in his last few seasons with the team (ironically, he was actually behind Dickerson on the team’s depth chart in 1992).
As a 33-year-old free agent in 1993, Allen left this purgatory to join the Kansas City Chiefs – sharing the backfield with another grizzled old veteran in quarterback Joe Montana, Allen had his best season in years, rushing for 764 yards and a league-best 12 touchdowns with 34 catches for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns to win Comeback Player of the Year; moreover, with Dickerson’s retirement that year, Allen became the active career rushing leader and would hold that distinction until being surpassed by Barry Sanders in 1997. Though he never rushed for 1,000 yards with the Chiefs, Allen was nevertheless the team’s leading rusher for four consecutive seasons (between 700-900 rushing yards annually) and tallied 1,000+ scrimmage yards each season. During his final season in 1997, despite only rushing for 505 yards, he once again scored double-digit touchdowns (11) before retiring at age 37; in addition to being the first player in league history with 10,000+ rushing yards and 5,000+ receiving yards and scoring a then-record 123 rushing touchdowns, Allen is also the only football player to ever win the Heisman Trophy, a national title, a Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP, and NFL MVP.
Meanwhile, Dickerson somehow managed to improve upon his record-setting rookie season, rushing for a league-record 2,105 yards in 1984 to break O.J. Simpson’s previous record of 2,003 yards (set in 1975, though Dickerson did it in 16 games vs. Simpson’s 14 games; Dickerson’s record still stands today). In addition, he scored a league-best 14 rushing touchdowns and added 21 catches for 139 yards to set a new single-season record of 2,244 scrimmage yards (also breaking Simpson’s previous record of 2,243 yards from 1975, only to be broken by Allen the very next year). Though Dickerson was once again a Pro Bowler and First Team All-Pro, Dan Marino would win both Offensive Player of the Year and MVP by throwing for a then-record 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns. The following season, Dickerson missed the first two games due to a contract dispute and “only” rushed for 1,234 yards and 12 touchdowns, but quickly bounced back in 1986 with another Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro season (a league-high 404 carries and 1,821 rushing yards plus 11 touchdowns, along with 26 catches for 205 yards), amassing another 2,000+ yards from scrimmage and winning AP Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Despite his stellar play, however, Dickerson’s ongoing contract disputes with the Ram resulted in a blockbuster three-team trade midway through the 1987 season that sent him to the Indianapolis Colts: the Colts first traded linebacker Cornelius Bennett to the Buffalo Bills for running back Greg Bell, a 1988 first-round draft pick, and 1989 first and second-round draft picks; then, they traded Bell and all of these draft picks, plus their own 1988 first and second-round draft picks, their 1989 second-round draft pick, and running back Owen Gill to the Rams for Dickerson. In 12 games played across the Rams and Colts that season, Dickerson rushed for 1,288 yards and 6 touchdowns, and was again a Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro selection. His best season with the Colts came in 1988, when he had a league-high 388 carries and 1,659 rushing yards with 14 touchdowns, along with 36 receptions for 377 yards and a touchdown, the fourth and final time Dickerson would pile up 2,000+ scrimmage yards in a season. Dickerson would then put up his final 1,000-yard and Pro Bowl season in 1989 with 1,311 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns, plus 30 catches for 211 yards and a touchdown; that year, he became the fastest player in league history to reach 10,000 rushing yards (91 games) and also became the active rushing leader with Tony Dorsett’s retirement.
Another contract dispute in 1990 limited Dickerson to only 11 games played, and his 677 rushing yards was the first time he did not reach 1,000 yards in a season. Following yet another injury and contract dispute-marred 1991 season, he was traded to the Raiders for fourth and eighth-round draft picks – splitting time with Allen, Dickerson rushed for 729 yards. In the offseason, Dickerson was on the move again, traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a sixth-round pick, though only played four games before being traded once again, this time to the Green Bay Packers; however, Dickerson never played for the Packers, retiring at age 33 as the second-leading rusher all-time behind only Walter Payton.
With his incredible longevity for a running back (in part due to his limited usage in the late 1980s/early 1990s with the Raiders), Allen played 16 NFL seasons to Dickerson’s 11, resulting in 76 additional regular season games played. Despite the large disparity in games played, however, Dickerson actually has more career rushing yards on slightly fewer carries, though Allen has the edge in essentially every other accumulation category: rushing touchdowns, receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and yards from scrimmage. Meanwhile, on a season-by-season basis, Dickerson has more 1,000-yard seasons (8x vs. 3x), although Allen has more double-digit touchdown years (7x vs. 5x). Both running backs were 6x Pro Bowlers and 1x Offensive Player of the Year, with Dickerson earning more All-Pro selections (5x vs. 2x) and a Rookie of the Year award, but Allen winning both an MVP and Comeback Player of the Year. On a per-game basis, Dickerson reigns supreme – in 146 regular season games, he averaged 106 total yards (91 rushing yards, 1.9 receptions for 15 receiving yards) and 0.66 touchdowns per game vs. 79 total yards (55 rushing yards, 2.6 receptions for 24 receiving yards) and 0.65 touchdowns in 222 regular season games for Allen. The Pro Football Hall of Fame recognizes both consistency/longevity and peak greatness, as evidenced by both Allen and Dickerson being first-ballot Hall of Fame inductees (1999 for Dickerson, 2003 for Allen).
Regular Season Statistics
| Marcus Allen | Player | Eric Dickerson |
| 16 (1982-1997) | Seasons | 11 (1983-1993) |
| 222 | Games Played | 146 |
| 3,022 | Rushing Attempts | 2,996 |
| 12,243 | Rushing Yards | 13,259 |
| 4.1 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.4 |
| 123 | Rushing Touchdowns | 90 |
| 587 | Receptions | 281 |
| 5,411 | Receiving Yards | 2,137 |
| 21 | Receiving Touchdowns | 6 |
| 6x | Pro Bowls | 6x |
| 2x | All-Pro | 5x |
| 1x | MVP | – |
| 1x | Super Bowls | – |
| 1x Super Bowl MVP, 1x Offensive POY, Offensive ROY, Comeback Player | Other Awards | 1x Offensive POY, ROY |
| 2003 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1999 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
In addition to their regular season greatness, Allen and Dickerson both had their share of memorable playoff moments, though only the former was able to win a Super Bowl title.
Over his long career, Allen made 10 playoff trips (6x with the Raiders, 4x with Chiefs), with his most notable postseason performance coming in 1983 with the Raiders – over three playoff games, he rushed for 466 yards and 4 touchdowns, and added 14 receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown. This culminated in Super Bowl XVIII, where Allen earned Super Bowl MVP honors in a 38-9 thrashing of the Washington Redskins by rushing 20 times for 191 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a breathtaking 74-yard touchdown run, while also adding 2 receptions for 18 yards; the 191 rushing yards are second-most all-time in a Super Bowl behind only Timmy Smith’s 204 yards for the Redskins in Super Bowl XXII.
Across his five postseason appearances (4x with the Rams, 1x with the Colts), Dickerson fell short of a Super Bowl, but had a shining moment in 1985: in a 20-0 Divisional victory over the Dallas Cowboys, he rushed 34 times for a playoff-record 248 yards and 2 touchdowns. However, the Rams would proceed to be shut out 24-0 by the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship Game, with Dickerson getting stuffed by the “Monsters of the Midway” defense to only 46 yards on 17 carries.
Playoff Statistics
| Marcus Allen | Player | Eric Dickerson |
| 16 | Games Played | 7 |
| 267 | Rushing Attempts | 148 |
| 1,347 | Rushing Yards | 724 |
| 5.0 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.9 |
| 11 | Rushing Touchdowns | 3 |
| 53 | Receptions | 19 |
| 530 | Receiving Yards | 91 |
| 2 | Receiving Touchdowns | 1 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Allen’s career was more “V-shaped” due to his feud with the Raiders, while Dickerson had clearly declined by the early 1990s and spent his last few seasons bouncing around from team to team. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams, of which Dickerson is on for the 1980s), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years. However, given the shorter careers most running backs have due to the physical toll of the position (very few running backs are effective after age 30), I have modified it in this comparison to a “(half)-decade of dominance”.
(Half)-Decade of Dominance
| Marcus Allen | Player | Eric Dickerson |
| 1982-1985, 1993 | (Half)-Decade of Dominance | 1983-1986, 1988 |
| 73 | Games Played | 78 |
| 1,287 | Rushing Attempts | 1,853 |
| 5,402 | Rushing Yards | 8,627 |
| 4.2 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.7 |
| 56 | Rushing Touchdowns | 69 |
| 271 | Receptions | 154 |
| 2,542 | Receiving Yards | 1,251 |
| 16 | Receiving Touchdowns | 3 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Even when you normalize across each player’s five best years, the same career trends are generally true – Dickerson was clearly the superior runner, but Allen was the more versatile backfield weapon (i.e. a better receiver), and both running backs scored touchdowns at roughly the same rate.
My Thoughts
While they shared the spotlight together in Los Angeles during their primes in the 1980s, Marcus Allen and Eric Dickerson were very different in their playing styles, yet both extremely effective. On one hand, Allen is one of the best all-around backs in NFL history, one of only three running backs with 10,000+ career rushing yards and 5,000+ receiving yards (the other two being Marshall Faulk and Tiki Barber); on the other hand, Dickerson is one of the greatest pure runners in football history and continues to hold the single-season rushing yard (with Adrian Peterson coming within eight yards of that mark in 2012). Despite the greatness that comes with Allen’s longevity (there is a bit of “what if” had he remained the featured back throughout his time with the Raiders – what would his career numbers look like then?), peak Dickerson in the 1980s was simply incredible – seven straight 1,000-yard seasons and at the time of his retirement in 1993, three of the top 10 rushing seasons in league history (#1, 6, and 8). In this case, on the pendulum of greatness between duration and zenith, peak performance wins out.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Eric Dickerson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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