The Impossible Leap: Barkley’s Acrobatic Feat Wows…
General manager Howie Roseman wasn’t just signing a running back and putting resources into a position he doesn’t often invest too highly in. Saquon Barkley was different.
He was a running back, yet, but Roseman and the Eagles brass viewed him as a weapon, and once again the Eagles deployed him to help win another game, this time a 28-23 triumph over the Jacksonville Jaguars in a Week 9 matchup at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
Barkley continues to dazzle and his backward hurdle over a Jags defender prompted Devin McCourty to say the play was “the highlight of the year” on Football Night in America on NBC. Nick Srianni called it “the best play I’ve ever seen.”
Chris Simms, McCourty’s studio-mate, took a swipe at the New York Giants in praising Barkley. New York had one winning seaso in Barkley’s six years there.
“He is unreal,” said Simms. “What would he have looked like if he had blockers in the first half of his career?”
Nick Sirianni added more.
“What I think is so cool, is there are going to be kids all over the country and all over Philadelphia trying to make that play and talking about that play and simulating that play as they play backyard football or Pee Wee Football,” said the Eagles coach. “They aren’t going to be able to make it because I think he’s the only one in the world that can do that. I’m speechless. It was unbelievable.”
Barkley said he had a similar backward hurdle at Penn State in a game against Iowa. This one, though, was a wow play that began when he escaped a tackle from Tyson Campbell, spun away from Devin Lloyd, leaving the Jags linebacker grasping at air, then came out of his spin and did his backward hurdle over Jarrian Jones.
“You gotta give credit to God,” said Barkley about his highlight reel move. “I ain’t gonna lie. Not in a cocky way. I do believe God blessed me. He blessed all of us, but I feel God gave me ability to play this position. He gave me some instincts. Sometimes you just gotta let go and let your God given instincts take over.”
Barkley ran for 159 yards on 27 carries and a 19-yard touchdown on third-and-long and added another three catches for 40 yards and a 20-yard touchdown as the Eagles won their fourth straight to reach 6-2.
It was his fifth game with at least 100 yards rushing, and three of those have been for at least 145 yards.
Barkley eclipsed 1,000-plus scrimmage yards for the season during the third quarter and became just the third Eagle since the 1970 NFL merger to reach that milestone in the first eight games of a season, joining LeSean McCoy (2011 and 2013) and Brian Westbrook (2007).
He also joined McCoy, who was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame at halftime, as the only Eagles to have 1,000-plus scrimmage yards and at least eight TDs through the first eight games of a season.
Barkley now has eight touchdowns – six rushing and two receiving – and is up to 925 yards rushing on the season (5.89 yards per carry) and 147 receiving. With nine games still to play, Barkley could threaten his career high of 15 touchdowns (11 rush, 4 receiving) set in his rookie season in 2018. He has carried a heavy workload through eight games but is holding up.
“My body feels pretty good,” he said. “I kinda got banged up a bit (Sunday). I don’t want to get too into what happened. Nothing crazy. Just a little TLC this week and I’ll be ready to go.
