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PHILADELPHIA — Saquon Barkley’s final play Sunday was, appropriately, a handoff.
The Eagles running back left the Siberian swirl happening on the field and ran up the locker room tunnel, a cluster of handlers and TV cameras in his wake.
Just before he made a hard left to head to the locker room, he handed a commemorative NBC football to the young son of the equipment manager. The kid was awestruck, delighted and slack-jawed as he held up the keepsake for photos.
Clearly, Barkley doesn’t need the memento or accolades. Already, those are pouring in. Plus, the job isn’t done. The Washington Commanders are coming to town Sunday for the NFC Championship, an I-95 showdown with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake.
The Rams had an opportunity to beat the Eagles on their last drive, reaching the red zone, but came up short in a 28-22 NFC divisional round playoff loss.
“Whether it’s the national spotlight or we’re playing out in the parking lot, it doesn’t matter,” Barkley said. “I just want to make plays for the team.”
In his two games against the Commanders this season, which the teams split, Barkley gained 150 and 146 yards, scoring a pair of touchdowns in each.
Barkley was built for this. He’s having one of the greatest seasons of any player, at any position, in NFL history. The chants of MVP pouring down from the frigid upper reaches of Lincoln Financial Field were richly deserved, particularly after his 205-yard rushing performance in a 28-22 victory over the Rams in the divisional round.
On the kind of day that NFL Films voice-of-God John Facenda would have loved, in a snow globe of a stadium, Barkley was all but unstoppable.
“It’s what you’ve been seeing all year,” Eagles guard Mekhi Becton said of the running back who spent the first chapter of his career with the New York Giants. “It’s just rinse and repeat. He’s a dog. We’ve been saying it since he was in New York. Ain’t nothing new.”
Certainly not new to the Rams, who were trampled for 255 yards rushing and 302 all-purpose yards when they faced that human Acela train in late November.
Barkley is the fifth player in league history with multiple 200-yard rushing games against the same team in the same season, joining Tennessee’s Derrick Henry (versus Houston in 2020), Miami’s Jay Ajayi (vs. Buffalo, 2016), Baltimore’s Jamal Lewis (vs. Cleveland, 2003) and Buffalo’s O.J. Simpson (vs. New England, 1973).
The Rams did what they could to keep Barkley under wraps.
“They loaded the box, they created movement up front,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “You have to do that against us. And that’s a great D-line. I ain’t gonna lie. They did a great job of playing downhill, making sure we weren’t getting up there and clearing them out.”
The Rams put all kinds of defensive heat on the Eagles, even without standout rookie defensive end Braden Fiske, sidelined early with a knee injury. They sacked Jalen Hurts seven times, just as they brought down Minnesota’s Sam Darnold nine times in last week’s wild-card game.
Still, corralling Barkley was an entirely different challenge. He had a 62-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and a 78-yarder in the fourth.
On that second score, TV cameras had a close-up of Barkley casually saying something to Hurts just before the snap. Turns out that even when he was wrong, Barkley wound up right.
“I think I was on the wrong side,” Barkley said with a smile. “That one worked out pretty well. That was the conversation we were having.”
It would seem Cooper Kupp, not what he used to be, might not be with the Rams next season unless his contract is redone. Matthew Stafford wants to come back.
On the first touchdown, Barkley glanced back as he neared the goal line and noticed the player in closest pursuit was rookie Jared Verse, who made headlines in the week before the game by saying he hated Eagles fans. So Barkley played a little cat and mouse with him, slowing just a bit before stepping on the gas again and scoring.
On the second touchdown, Barkley had a 15-yard lead on any defenders once he crossed the 50, so he gleefully slapped his own helmet a couple of times as he cruised down the field.
He has had five rushing touchdowns of at least 60 yards this season, and three of those came against the Rams. His first touchdown of the day broke a tie with Adrian Peterson (2012) and Jim Brown (1963) for the most such touchdowns in a single season.
“It’s always fun when you’re blocking your man and you see two-six running by you,” Becton said of Barkley, who wears 26. “It’s a great feeling.”
Go beyond the scoreboard
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