The regular-season return of Saquon Barkley is finished.
It would have made for an exciting story if Nick Siriannihad had allowed Barkley to challenge Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old rushing record on Sunday against the Giants, but let’s face it, the star running back didn’t need that record to embarrass his old team or elicit MVP chants from Eagles supporters.
Since the beginning of the season, he has been doing that.
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When asked to sum up Barkley’s first season with the Eagles following his departure as a free agency from the Giants, Sirianni responded, “Yeah, awesome.” Are all nine of the players on the list of 2,000-yard rushers Hall of Famers? I guess I didn’t really know who they were. Do the majority of them play in the Hall of Fame?
Dickerson, Terrell Davis, Barry Sanders, and O.J. Simpson are the four members of the Hall of Fame. Derrick Henry and Adrian Peterson will be two more when they are eligible. Jamal Lewis ought to be.
Barkley still has two seasons left on his contract, so the Eagles are fortunate that he has work to do in that area because greatness is his long-term goal.
Perhaps he can spend the rest of his life as an Eagle.
But let’s take a minute to concentrate on the past and forget about the future.
By posing the following query, we may attempt to put Barkley’s exceptional season into perspective: Was it the best offensive season ever for the Eagles?
With a few additional outstanding seasons thrown in for context, here are my top picks:
*Barkley, 2024: The Eagles rushing back is expected to win the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award if past performance is any guide. When was the last time a Philadelphia Eagle experienced that?
Never.
Since 1972, the award has been given out by the Associated Press. In 1992, the Pro Football Writers Association began distributing its own edition. In 2008, Sporting News became a member of the OPOY party. This indicates that despite the honor being given out 100 times, no Eagles player has ever received it.
If that run doesn’t end this year, it will be stunning.
The AP’s Offensive Player of the Year award went to seven of the eight other players who ran for 2,000 yards in a season. Just the one who wasn’t? In the same year that Dan Marino passed for a record 48 touchdowns and 5,084 yards, Dickerson had the displeasure of shattering Simpson’s rushing record. Dickerson’s record will survive another year, and Marino’s marks are now owned by Peyton Manning, if that helps him feel better.
Josh Allen of Buffalo, the front-runner for the MVP award, has had an outstanding season. However, unless a quarterback has had a very strong season, the best non-quarterback has won the award in previous years. Allen has performed admirably, but not exceptionally.
On Sunday against the Cowboys, Barkley not only became the first Eagles player to carry for 2,000 yards, but he also established the franchise mark for yards from scrimmage with 2,283. On the NFL list, that ranks 12th all-time.In 2013, LeSean McCoy set a new franchise record with 2,146 yards. Considering that 539 of those yards were in the air, where he averaged 10.4 yards per reception, he was outstanding that season.
The only Eagles players to surpass 2,000 yards and lead the league in scrimmage yards are Barkley, Wilbert Montgomery, Brian Westbrook, and McCoy. Steve Van Buren led the league in yards in 1947 and 1948, while Ricky Watters led in 1996.
I would contend that Van Buren was denied any MVP honors during his time because OPOY was not given out at the time, but Barkley’s 2024 campaign was somewhat superior to any of Supersonic Steve’s outstanding seasons. It was the best running back season in Eagles history.
* Randall Cunningham, 1990: Since 1938, six different organizations have given out MVP honors; the only Eagles to have won the title are quarterbacks Randall Cunningham in 1990 and Norm Van Brocklin in 1960. The AP, Sporting News, UPI, and Jim Thorpe Trophy all voted for Van Brocklin as MVP, making him a clear winner. In 1990, Cunningham received the PFWA’s MVP award, but Warren Moon won the Jim Thorpe Trophy, Jerry Rice won the Sporting News Award, and Joe Montana was voted the AP MVP.
Although, like Barkley, Van Brocklin was not selected by the Eagles, he rose to fame in the city after leading the team to the NFL title in 1960 after defeating Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers at Franklin Field. It was the only postseason defeat for Lombardi. In 12 games that season, the Dutchman tossed a career-high 24 touchdowns, and he added another in the championship game. By the standards of the 1950s and 1960s, it was a fantastic season, but Cunningham’s 1990 year was superior.
In a cover story that season, Sports Illustrated called him “The Ultimate Weapon.” Randall was the first of the great dual-threat quarterbacks, throwing for almost 3,500 yards and 30 touchdowns while also rushing for 942 yards.
For comparison, Cunningham was ninth in rushing yards, second in passing touchdowns, and sixth in passing yards in the league. However, Cunningham was benched during the Eagles’ 20-6 loss to the Rams in the first round of the playoffs, which ended the Buddy Ryan era and dampened the season as a whole.
Jalen Hurts has a chance to rival Donovan McNabb, who still holds the record for best quarterback in franchise history. In 2000, McNabb ran for a career-high 629 yards and six touchdowns and threw for 21 touchdowns and 3,365 yards, finishing second in the MVP voting. However, his best season came in 2004 when quarterback tossed for a career-high 31 touchdowns and led the Eagles to the Super Bowl.
Two years ago, Hurts led the team to the Super Bowl and finished second in the MVP vote. That season was also unique and reflected the dual-threat explosiveness that we originally witnessed in Philadelphia from Cunningham. However, Cunningham’s 1990 campaign continues to stand as the greatest Eagles quarterback season ever.
We still believe that Barkley’s performance this season was even more remarkable than Cunningham’s in 1990, even if we do not yet know what he and the Eagles will accomplish in this postseason. If the Eagles were eliminated in the first round, it would be stunning.
*Terrell Owens, 2004: Following an awkwardly enacted trade with the Ravens that also included the 49ers, Owens had a fantastic debut season with the Eagles. His 1,200 receiving yards and 14 receiving touchdowns still stand as a team record. Perhaps that year seemed even better than it was because the Eagles had been stuck with such mediocre to poor receivers for such a long time during their quest to get to the Super Bowl.
Owens also had his magical Super Bowl moment, catching nine passes for 122 yards with a screw keeping his fractured fibula together, but that effort came in a loss to the Patriots. The time of T.O. was past before we realized it.
The current generation would contend—and with good reason—that A.J. Brown is the greatest receiver in franchise history as a result of his 2022 and 2023 seasons. Two years ago, he set a franchise record with 1,496 yards, and in 2023, he added 1,456 yards. However, Brown placed fifth last season and fourth in 2022 in terms of receiving yards.
Mike Quick was the last Eagle to lead the league in receiving in 1983, but that was for a 5-11 team with few other advantages. Harold Carmichael (1973), Harold Jackson (1972 and 1969), Ben Hawkins (1967), Tommy McDonald (1961), Pete Pihos (1953 and 1955) and Don Looney (1940) also led the league in receiving yards while playing with the Eagles. With the exception of 1953 and 1961, however, all those individual achievements came with losing teams.
Winning makes every individual achievement better and that s why Barkley s season with the 2024 NFC East champs is now the greatest in franchise history by an offensive player.
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Bob Brookover can be reached [email protected]
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