PHILADELPHIA – With about five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s NFC divisional-round game, Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Isaiah Rodgers and safety Reed Blankenship were on the bench talking about their desire for the offense to sustain a drive to ice the snowy contest against the Los Angeles Rams.
Saquon Barkley didn’t necessarily help them out much in that regard – yet did so much in the Eagles’ 28-22 win that sets up a date next Sunday against the Washington Commanders in the NFC title game.
“He scored in one play,” Rodgers told USA TODAY Sports. “I looked at Reed, he looked at me, it was just like, ‘All right, let’s go finish the game.’”
Barkley’s 78-yard score, his second long touchdown run of the game, gave the Eagles a much-needed two-possession lead. As he outran the Rams’ defense, the only traces of him were the footprints he left behind in the snow.
Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense came within 18 yards of tying the game minutes later in the fourth. But Barkley’s big play – and big day: 205 rushing yards on 26 attempts – provided enough breathing room and was the main factor in the Eagles hosting the NFC championship game for the second time in three years.
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“Whether it’s the national spotlight or Saturday in the parking lot, it doesn’t really matter,” said Barkley, who never really sniffed this deep of a postseason run over his first six seasons in the league with the New York Giants. “I just want to make plays for the team.”
Barkley said he happened to look up Steve Van Buren’s Eagles playoff rushing record for a single game, which was 196 yards, because he chases greatness. The Penn State product is now the team’s record holder.
‘You want to create a legacy, and I want to have those types of games,’ he said. ‘Just visualizing stuff and wondering what the number is and it’s funny how that happened.’
Barkley is now up to 2,329 total rushing yards including the postseason and is closing in on a different record – most rushing yards in a single season, with Terrell Davis’ 1997 (2,331 yards) and 1998 (2,476) seasons in sight.
The wet conditions, Barkley said, weren’t as bad as he thought it was going to be.
“It was more like hail than it was snow, to be honest,” he said.
It certainly didn’t slow him down. In the first quarter, Barkley ripped a 62-yard touchdown run that featured some mild taunting of Rams rookie defensive lineman Jared Verse, who certainly had earned some talkback.
Barkley didn’t want to divulge what may have been said.
“Nah, nah, I don’t think I said anything. I got in trouble for talking,” said Barkley, who compared it to being called into the principal’s office.
In two games against the Rams this season, Barkley racked up 460 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Typically humble, the first-team All-Pro running back gave credit to his offensive line and the defense.
Right guard Mekhi Becton, who decleated Rams linebacker Carter Rozeboom on Barkley’s first touchdown run, said the story with Barkley has remained the same all season.
“He’s a dog,” Becton said. “We’ve been seeing it since he was in New York. He’s a dog. Ain’t nothing new. … It’s always a great feeling when you’re blocking your man and you see 2-6 running by you.
“Anytime we hand him the ball, it gives you a little extra oomph. So if you give him a little sliver of space, if you just hold your man a little bit longer, he’s going to make a play.”
Quarterback Jalen Hurts actually had the first explosive run of the day, a 44-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening possession.
“Saquon needed a break, so I told him I’d do it first,” Hurts joked after the game. “Get me a piece.”
Playing in the snow was something Becton loved, he said, because it slowed everybody down. All players were at a disadvantage. Technique became paramount. Becton added that he could sense fear from the Rams when they began lining up differently than they normally do; left tackle Jordan Mailata noted how often they stacked the box.
“Pretty special to have Saquon, and Jalen, because he’s so great in the run game as well. They have to respect that,” said Mailata, who called the three long touchdown runs “very satisfying.”
Regardless of the conditions, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said it is a luxury to have Barkley – who signed a three-year deal last offseason and rushed for 2,005 yards in 16 games – in Philadelphia.
“That’s for darn sure,” Sirianni said. “Love him. I can’t say enough good things about him and the leadership he brings to this football team and just everything he brings to this football team. He’s special.”
Hurts was efficient and completed 15 of his 20 pass attempts, but those went for just 128 yards.
The success of the running game was a relief, wide receiver A.J. Brown said, because one play could change the game. The receivers focus on their respective gap and block, they look up, and Barkley is “gone.”
“We just got to finish (the play),” Brown said. “He has that home-run ability. I’m excited. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Fellow wideout DeVonta Smith’s first reaction when asked about Barkley was an expletive, followed by: “He the greatest there is (sic).”
Eagles left guard Landon Dickerson watched Barkley twice a year while the back played for the Giants. But the first week Barkley spent with the Eagles – they weren’t even in pads or helmets, Dickerson said – foretold what could happen with him running behind arguably the league’s best offensive line.
‘I was like, ‘Oh, (expletive),’ this guy’s for real.” Dickerson said.
There is a difference between watching Barkley’s skills and feeling it beside you, said Dickerson, who offered a unique analogy.
“I say it’s kind of like you go to a UFC fight. You can watch it, but you get in the ring, you get punched in the face, it gets really real,” Dickerson said. “That’s more of a negative thing. It’s like, once you experience it firsthand, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah.’”
Like the other Eagles linemen, Dickerson took pride in the explosive plays that came via the ground.
“It’s always a good feeling when you see any of those guys … way down the field,” he said. “Those explosive plays can be big momentum shifts in the game.
“(Barkley has) just got an X-factor to him, when it comes to, really, any of these games or situations. He can break one loose at any time. When he finds that little crease, he doesn’t need much. When he does, it’s a home run.”
And now Barkley has slugged the Eagles – and himself – within one game of the Super Bowl.
“His work ethic and the way he is as not only a football player but just a dude off the football field, he deserves everything that has come to him,” Dickerson said. “It’s an honor to be able to block for a guy like that, that makes you look super good.
“I’m glad that he’s able to experience this now. Because he deserves it.”
