The Philadelphia Eagles’ offense opened the NFC Championship in the best possible way. The unit scored points on its first play, courtesy of do-it-all running back Saquon Barkley. He took a toss down 60 yards for a touchdown to give Philadelphia an early lead over the Washington Commanders. Seven rushing scores later, the Eagles celebrated a 55-23 victory and a Super Bowl LIX berth.
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Former Philadelphia defensive end Chris Long analyzed the impact of Barkley’s long touchdown on The Rich Eisen Show. Eisen informed Long the score was Barkley’s seventh touchdown of 60 yards or more this season, an NFL record. He then declared Barkley was the Eagles’ most important player.
“Saquon Barkley is the MVP of this team. It’s just kind of that simple. And I think [Jalen] Hurts just had the best game that he [has] had, I think, since the Super Bowl [LVII] loss… the Commanders start with 18 plays… make a couple fourth downs… Saquon ripping one off from 60 yards out… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Long discussed how Barkley’s run took the wind out of Washington’s sails and “flipped the script” of the matchup. The Commanders produced an 18-play, 54-yard drive that ended with a 34-yard field goal. They milked 6:59 off the clock and were feeling good about their game plan. Then, in the blink of an eye, they were trailing and never led again.
Barkley’s 60-yard scamper to open Sunday’s contest was his seventh touchdown of 60 yards or more this season (including playoffs). That broke a tie with Jerry Rice for the most such scores in NFL history. No running back had posted more than four 60-plus yard touchdowns in a single season prior to Barkley.
Part of the reason Barkley signed with the Eagles in free agency was the chance to play postseason football. As Eisen detailed on Monday, Barkley has unsurprisingly taken his opportunity and ran with it. He has set NFL playoff marks in his first playoff run with Philadelphia.
“Saquon Barkley. This guy: un-be-lievable. I don’t even know how to put it into words… Barkley is the first player in NFL history with three or more rushing touchdowns of 60 or more yards in their playoff career, and he [has] done it in two weeks… he’s also the first player all-time with three or more [60-plus] yard touchdowns of any type in a single postseason.”
Barkley needs 30 rushing yards in Super Bowl LIX to surpass Terrell Davis (2,476 yards in 1998) for the most rushing yards (including playoffs) in NFL history. If he wins Super Bowl MVP honors, his terrific campaign may go down as the greatest of all time for a running back. He’ll try to carry the Eagles past the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. E.T.
