By AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston
AP/PHILADELPHIA The framed pictures are displayed over the sofa in the lounge area at the far end of the Philadelphia Eagles locker room. Saquon Barkley is shown in the action image from a game against the Commanders on the left. A piece of masking tape bearing the words “THE CHOSEN ONE” is located beneath the frame. Another Barkley photo from a game against the Rams is seen on the right, with the words “OUR SAVIOR” written on the tape underneath it.
In part as a joke, but mainly as a tribute to the best running back season in Eagles history, an offensive lineman built the shrine.
Perhaps arguably, at least in the history of the NFL.
Any sports talk radio show can dispute which individual season was the best. Barkley’s performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s Super Bowl can only help his credentials. Starting with his 2,005 yards of rushing and his seven (postseason included) touchdown rushes of 60 yards or more, the figures are already astounding. Only two NFL players in history have scored five touchdowns and rushed for at least 400 yards in a single postseason.
The other one? Terrell Davis.
Barkley is just 30 yards away from surpassing the NFL season rushing record established by Davis with the Denver Broncos in 1998, which includes the postseason. Barkley had 2,447 yards, including 442 in the playoffs; Davis led the Broncos to the Super Bowl with 2,476 yards.
Barkley stated that winning a Super Bowl is the one thing that makes it unique.
After the Eagles’ 38-35 setback to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs two years ago, Barkley might make the difference this season. On the flight home from Arizona, the location of that Super Bowl, where the former New York Giants great spent several days doing various media rounds promoting this and that but definitely not playing, Barkley caught a little of that game.
“Radio row and all that stuff is fun,” Barkley remarked. This is slightly more to my liking.
In fact, Barkley only made the playoffs once in his six seasons in New York, when he and the Giants were defeated by the Eagles in the NFC divisional round. Instead of even considering supporting Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, and the other infamous NFC East opponents, Barkley may have been more inclined to don a Travis Kelce jersey on the plane ride home.
Barkley remarked, “I was definitely rooting against them.” I didn’t have any desire for them to prevail.
After his televised Hard Knocks separation with the Giants, Barkley is an MVP finalist in his first season with the Eagles two years later.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen informed Barkley in the pivotal moment that the team would neither extend an offer to him nor place the franchise tag on the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL draft. Instead, the Giants allowed Barkley to test the free-agent market, which led to his signing the richest running back contract in franchise history with the Eagles on a three-year contract worth $26 million.
The Giants ended 3-14 without Barkley.
In NFL history, Barkley became the ninth player to reach 2,000 yards of rushing. Chris Johnson, a former Tennessee Titans star, was one of the others who welcomed him to the club with a text message of congratulations. Barkley is exactly as good today as he was with the Giants, according to Johnson, who ran for 2,006 yards in 2009 and had 11 straight games with at least 100 yards.
Johnson stated that there is no difference. Since entering the league, Saquon has always been Saquon. Because of this, everyone thinks the Giants are jerks for allowing him to go in the first place. Everyone knew what he would do in that offense when he joined the Eagles. Nobody in the league is shocked by what he’s doing, in my opinion.
Johnson claimed that he would have worked harder to play in the regular-season finale and surpass Eric Dickerson’s 2,105-yard rushing record, which was set in 1984 with the Los Angeles Rams, if he had been in Barkley’s shoes. Barkley came within 101 yards of breaking the record when Eagles coach Nick Sirianni chose to bench Barkley and most of the starting lineup in a game with no stakes.
The six-time 1,000-yard rusher in his career, Johnson, acknowledged he couldn’t change Barkley’s final outcome.
He wanted to win a Super Bowl. He said, “You can tell that’s what his entire mindset is on.”
Barkley arrived, but the Chiefs are now preventing him from winning one.
With TD runs of 62, 78, and 60 yards, Barkley, who turns 28 on Super Bowl Sunday, has been a threat in the playoffs. However, he now faces a Chiefs defense that has prevented any player from rushing for 90 yards in a single game.
“Building it, setting it, and tracking it is what we always talk about,” said Steve Spagnuolo, defensive coordinator for the Chiefs. constructing a wall by tracing the hip and establishing the edge. He has some of his best runs when he cuts back, as you have witnessed. It will be crucial for us to prevent him from making these seams and to let him discover it.
With so many of the Eagles he supported two years ago now painting the locker room in his honor, Barkley is a dangerous player who can rip off a long one all the way into the end zone.
Barkley remarked, “It’s crazy to think of how close I am to a lot of these guys when I just walked into the building so many months ago.” It has been crucial to be able to build connections and relationships with these guys despite being familiar with many of them, competing against them, and getting to know them.