Saquon Barkley has only ever been to the playoffs once with the Giants, but that was more than enough to realize how important home-field advantage is.
They had to play the Vikings in Minnesota for the Wild Card round, and that was loud, but New York survived.
Then they had to come to Philadelphia and Lincoln Financial Field for the divisional game, and came nowhere close. Jalen Hurts, playoff Kenny Gainwell, and a 2022 Eagles team on a mission pummeled Barkley and the Giants, 38-7, with the South Philly crowd of nearly 70,000 on top of them the entire time.
The Giants were already dead in the water by then, down 28-0, but Barkley took off on a 39-yard run in the third quarter, one that he could've taken all the way to the end zone, yet got stopped well shy of it at midfield when a diving Marcus Epps took a swipe at his feet.
"I got a lot of crap for it," Barkley recalled of the play as he was getting up from it.
So the star running back, now very much on the favorable side of that crowd, knows as well as anyone how big of a difference-maker home-field advantage can be, and how serious the Eagles' current pursuit of it is down the home stretch of the regular season.
"It's not a myth about home-field advantage," Barkley told the media from his locker at the NovaCare Complex on Wednesday. "And it's not a myth about the energy and the vibe that you have playing at home. You definitely want to secure that."
Another win over the Commanders down in Landover on Sunday would be another step toward it.
The Eagles are approaching the Week 16 matchup at 12-2, on a 10-game winning streak, and in a scenario where one more win or a tie would secure them the NFC East title.
Barkley has never played for a division winner. The furthest he's ever gone in his six seasons with the Giants was that lone Wild Card berth and push into the divisional round in 2022, where the Eagles were there to cut them off.
"It'd be cool, I guess," Barkley said of the prospect of finally having a division title to his name, but it ultimately isn't what he and the Eagles are after.
"My mindset is you get yourself in the playoffs, you give yourself a chance to win the Super Bowl," Barkley said. "The beauty of winning the division is you guarantee a locked-in home playoff game, obviously that's a big difference, but if we do what we gotta do, that's gonna take care of itself."
And ideally, the Eagles want home-field advantage through the whole run, plus a bye through the Wild Card round.
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They need the No. 1 seed in the NFC to get those, however, and are in a final sprint after it with the Lions and the Vikings, who are also each 12-2.
Realistically, the Eagles will need to win at least two more, starting with the Commanders this week and then the Cowboys in a return home the next, along with some help in the form of Detroit and Minnesota losses – the Lions face the Bears (4-10) in Chicago on Sunday, and the Vikings will be in Seattle to play the Seahawks (8-6).
Barkley said the Eagles' focus is on staying their course, continuing to play, and continuing to try and put themselves in the best position possible.
"What happens is no surprise because we talked about it and we worked for it," Barkley said of where the team is at to this point late in the season. "Success is not an accident, I truly believe in that. It's a big week against a division opponent. We gotta go out there and get a win."
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