Saquon Barkley put together his best game of what’s already been a career season on Sunday night against the Rams, accounting for 302 yards from scrimmage in the 37-20 victory.
Barkley rushed for a career-high 255 yards on 26 carries, scoring touchdowns on runs of 70 and 72 yards in the second half. But even without those 142 yards, the running back had 113 on 24 attempts.
He also caught all four of his targets for 47 yards.
“Saquon is a special player,” head coach Nick Sirianni said after the game. “We were able to hit a couple home runs. Saquon has that ability — to hit home runs.
“When you have the type of quickness, lateral movement, that Saquon has, with the ability to accelerate, and the speed to finish, and the power to break through an arm tackle — he has everything you look for in a back. He’s been awesome, and he was awesome tonight.”
Through 11 games, Barkley has now rushed for a career-high 1,392 yards — eclipsing his 1,312 mark set with the Giants in 2022. Averaging 126.5 yards per game, he’s currently on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards set back in 1984.
“I’m probably going to get a lot of credit, and everyone’s going to say this and say that, but in reality, the beauty of this game is it’s a team game,” Barkley said postgame. “My favorite quote that Nick says is, ‘It’s hard to be great without the greatness of others.’ And those guys [on the OL], and the tight ends, and the wide receivers blocking down the field are super amazing.”
While Barkley said he didn’t know he’d have this much success with Philadelphia, part of the reason he wanted to sign with the NFC East club was to be in an environment that could display his full potential.
“I’m thankful to be here. I’m thankful for the fresh start,” Barkley said. “I had conversations where [I said] I think this is the spot where I can kind of rewrite my story — I feel like I can show everyone the type of player I feel like I can be and was meant to be. And it’s working out right now, but the beauty of it, it’s the NFL, and it’s week-to-week.
“I’m surrounded [by] great players,” Barkley added. “I don’t want to be lost in that. I wanted to elevate my play because, I keep saying, I can’t be sitting here watching how great Lane [Johnson] is and watching how great A.J. [Brown] is and Jalen [Hurts] — I want to be along with those guys, and making plays, and do something special.”
With the way he’s playing, Barkley has certainly placed himself in the MVP conversation. But he said he’d much rather end up with team success than an individual accolade.
“We’ll start thinking about that when the season’s over,” Barkley said. “I love being in that conversation. It’s cool and all. But like I said, it’s a team sport. And if you told me that I could have the year I’m having, win an MVP, but not win the Super Bowl, or I could have the year I’m having, not win MVP or offensive player of the year and win the Super Bowl, I’m going to take the other one.”
So Barkley and the 9-2 Eagles will continue down the stretch, looking to keep things rolling. If Barkley continues to play as he has, Philadelphia should be dangerous in January.
“I’m surrounded by great players, and if you look at every single play that I made today, you see so many other players going above and beyond for me,” Barkley said.
“My story’s not finished,” Barkley added. “It’s going to keep going.”
