NFL’s Play of the Year: Eagles Star Dissects Saquon Barkley’s Jaw-Dropping Reverse Hurdle
There are still eight weeks left in the 2024 NFL regular season, but it’s going to be hard for any highlight to top Saquon Barkley’s reverse hurdle.
The Eagles star running back easily has the frontrunner for play of the year. Barkley stunned everyone in Week 9 when he leapt backwards over Jaguars CB Jarrian Jones during the team’s win.
It was the cherry on top of a stellar day for Barkley, who collected 159 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries while tacking on 40 receiving yards and one TD through the air.
Barkley was asked about the thrilling reverse hurdle during an episode of “Air It Out.” The Eagles running back detailed that it wasn’t his intent, but he had to adjust on the fly — no pun intended.
“What really happened was, I was going to hit a double spin,” Barkley said. “I aborted it. I spun, I went to spin again, and I just like — it probably is going to take away how cool the play is — I thought he was going low, so I was just [thinking] I’ll be cool if I did jump up. My body kind of took over.”
While Barkley may have downplayed the action, his coaches certainly took notice. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni could not stop praising the play after the win.
“It was the best play I’ve ever seen,” Sirianni said, via 94 WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks. “There’s going to be kids all over the country and all over Philadelphia really [thinking] about that and trying to make that play…as they play backyard football or pee wee football.
“I think he’s the only player in the world that can do that. I’m speechless. It was unbelievable.”
While kids all over the world may be trying to recreate the electric move, will Barkley ever replicate the juke again? Unfortunately for fans, probably not.
“I don’t know. I kind of don’t want to dub it because I ain’t trying to do that again, to be honest with you,” Barkley said.
If that’s true, football fanatics will have to settle for watching the replay of his sensational leap over and over again … and maybe a few times more.
