Through 12 games, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley leads the league in rushing attempts, rushing yards, and yards per rush. He’s been great throughout his first season in Philly, but last week against the Los Angeles Rams Barkley wasn’t just great, he was historic.
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What made the outing so impressive is that both of Barkley’s TDs on the day were rushes of 70+ yards (a 70-yarder in the 3rd quarter and a 72-yarder in the 4th quarter). That puts him in a special class, as he became just the 6th player ever to have multiple 70+ yard rushing TDs in a single game, per Pro Football Reference.
In that contest, a 37-20 win that came largely on the back of Barkley’s performance, the running back put up 255 rushing yards and a pair of scores on 26 carries. He also added four receptions for 47 yards, including a 31-yard reception.
Barkley became the first player to achieve the multi-70+ yard TD game in over 15 years. The last man to do it was Jacksonville Jaguars icon Maurice Jones-Drew, back in 2009. On that day, “Pocket Hercules” received just eight carries. But he turned them into 177 yards, including TDs of 80 and 79 yards. Somehow, the Jags still lost that game, 30-13.
A few weeks before that, an even more unlikely player achieved the feat in September 2009: Frank Gore. The San Francisco 49ers back was one of the best in the league for over a decade, but he was never known as a home run hitter. He was on this day, however. In a 23-10 win over the Seahawks, Gore had TD runs of 79 and 80 yards as he went for 207 yards on just 16 carries.
If you asked NFL people all over the continent who they guessed would join Barkley on this list, many would say Barry Sanders. And they’d be right. One of the most exciting home run-hitting RBs to ever grace the league, Sanders got it done in 1997 during his 2,000-yard MVP season. Sanders rushed for TDs of 80 and 82 yards in a Week 7 win. He went for 205 yards total on the day, his 5th in a streak of 14 straight games with 100+ yards that year.
Hall of Famer Lenny Moore was the first to accomplish the feat way back in 1956. Lesser known Pittsburgh Steelers back John “Frenchy” Fuqua also did it in 1970.
Saquon Barkley is the 6th player in our database to have multiple 70+ yard rushing TDs in the same game. 💪
🔗 https://t.co/dXJTELltUo pic.twitter.com/WY4dgGF2GY
— Pro Football Reference (@pfref) November 25, 2024
Saquon Barkley’s place on that historic list was later discussed by NFL brothers Travis and Jason Kelce on their New Heights podcast this week. Jason, a former Eagle, simply called Barkley “f****** incredible”. Travis got a little more specific to explain Barkley’s greatness on that day against the Rams.
“He’s the 6th player in NFL history to record multiple rushing touchdowns of 70+ yards in a game. That’s a f**** LeBron stat…. When you give Saquon Barkley an opportunity to make one guy miss and he’ll go 70 to the house, good things are gonna happen.”
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Jason, a former NFL offensive lineman who used to block for a living, pointed out the key block made by Philly WR Britain Covey at the second level, which helped spring Barkley on one of his big TDs. Travis also noted that Barkley showed love to the “boys up front” after the game. As the Chiefs TE said, that’s always smart, considering those offensive linemen literally “pave the way” for guys like Barkley to put up big numbers.
