LaDainian Tomlinson Wants Emmitt Smith’s Rushing Record

LaDainian Tomlinson Wants Emmitt Smith’s Rushing Record
by Bunk

The Jay Cutler saga in Denver dominated the headlines earlier this off-season, but one of the bigger stories that got lost in the shuffle of that hysteria was the San Diego Chargers and LaDainian Tomlinson coming to terms on a re-worked contract that will keep LT in a Chargers uniform for the foreseeable future, and perhaps for the remainder of his career. Tomlinson joined XTRA in San Diego to talk about the negotiations, his excitement to remain a Charger, and whether or not he has his sights set on playing long enough to make a run at Emmit Smith’s career rushing record.

On speculation that he might not come back to the Chargers this year:

“I think it was, obviously, a lot of speculation about what was gonna happen because honestly I thought we ended up handling it like it was supposed to be handled where it was an interior deal that we talked about and so there was speculation because nobody knew what was going on.  It was like, what’s gonna happen, is he gonna be here, is he not gonna be here?  But I think all along everybody knew that I was gonna come back.”

On sharing time in the backfield with Darren Sproles:

“What we do, we complement each other, and I think people jump to a conclusion sometimes when you have two guys like us in the backfield. But we have a great relationship, we work well together, we’re gonna make a lot of plays out of the backfield and we’re gonna make it very exciting and tough on people.”

On making a run at Emmitt Smith’s career rushing record:

“I think going through obviously what I went through last year and just seeing how fragile it can be, being out of this league and going through different contract situations, I think you realize that if I was to stop playing today, I would look back and say, “man, I wish I could’ve kept playing and try to go after that record.”  I don’t want to have to do that.  I want to be able to give it all I got and I feel like I’m close enough where I can make a serious run at the record.  Hopefully it comes with three championships, that would be icing on the cake for me, to be able to do that.”
Listen to LaDainian Tomlinson on XTRA Sports San Diego with Brian & Darren.