Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman found Eagles 2024 NFL rushing champion Saquon Barkley and gave him an emphatic hug with snow flakes falling as the clock hit zero on Philadelphia’s 28-22 NFC divisional round victory vs. the Los Angeles Rams.
Why wouldn’t Roseman? It feels like each and every week the 2024 first-team All-Pro running back Roseman signed in free agency this past offseason (three years, $37.75 million) makes him look smarter by the week. That’s certainly the case with the Eagles set to host the NFC championship game in a week’s time against the Washington Commanders following Barkley’s historic divisional round output: 205 yards rushing and two touchdowns (62 yards and 78 yards) on 26 carries. Barkley’s 205 yards rushing are now the fifth-most in league history for a single playoff game, and that’s not the only history he made.
He is also now just the fifth player, since at least 1950, with two 200-yard rushing games against the same team in a season, per CBS Sports Research. However, Barkley going for a career-high 255 yards rushing in Week 12 against the Rams and then 205 on Sunday afternoon makes him the first to ever do so with one occurrence coming in the regular season and another coming in the playoffs of that same year.
Barkley’s second of two scores, his 78-yard rushing touchdown with 4:36 left to play that put the Eagles up 13 (28-15), also became the longest rushing touchdown in Eagles history. That score broke a record co-held by his 62-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter and Brian Westbrook’s 62-yarder in the 2006 divisional round at the New Orleans Saints.
Barkley also became only the second player with two rushing touchdowns of 60 yards or longer in a single playoff game in NFL postseason history, joining Cardinals running back Elmer Angsman. He did so in the 1947 NFL Championship game against the Eagles. Barkley now has four career rushing touchdowns of 60 yards or longer against the Rams, making him the first player in NFL history to have four 60-plus-yard rushing scores against a single opponent in his entire career, including the postseason, per Opta Stats.
Up next for Barkley’s Eagles is a third matchup with an NFC East rival in the Commanders. The two teams split the two meetings with Philadelphia winning 26-18 at home in Week 11, and Washington winning 36-33 in Week 16 at home. However, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts did suffer a concussion at the tail end of the Week 16 matchup. Barkley totaled 296 yards rushing and four rushing touchdowns on 55 carries for an average of 5.4 yards per carry against Washington in those two games. One thing is certain: the team that will represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX will be determined by how far Barkley does or doesn’t carry the Eagles next week.
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