January 13, 2025
Saquon Barkley finally had his break.
He took the handoff, made a quick cut inside, then followed his block into the open field.
No one was in front of him. The runway to the end zone was all clear, and Lincoln Financial Field had the cue to go berserk. But instead of going for it, the running back slid down at midfield.
The Eagles were up 12 and there was only a minute left. Sunday's Wild Card game against the Packers – and Barkley's first-ever playoff victory – was in the bag, 22-10.
He wanted to wrap up, celebrate, and then move on to the Divisional Round.
The points, the stats, those really don't matter anymore. What does is that, after Sunday, the Eagles are still playing.
"At the end of the day, the opinions, that's for you guys," Barkley told the media huddled around his locker postgame. "The only thing that really matters is how we win, whether we throw for 400 yards, we rush for 400 yards, we win the game 3-0, I don't give a f---, to be honest. I just want to win."
Now the Eagles just need to do it three more times.
— 🤙🤙🤙 (@burnacity2025) January 13, 2025
Barkley still got his on Sunday.
The NFL's rushing champ for the regular season took 25 carries for 119 yards in Sunday's playoff opener.
He was a constant threat that the Packers' defense, at the least, always had to stay alert about, and at the most, would have to fully sell out on stopping up front.
But that was all as the Eagles' passing game, in Jalen Hurts' return from a concussion, struggled to find a consistent rhythm.
Green Bay's secondary covered tight, the offense seemed to rarely dial up a play that got a throw out quickly, and the top passing threats in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert were hardly involved until late into the third quarter – when Smith finally broke free for a couple of chunk-play completions, and Goedert took in a screen and stiff-armed a DB all the way down across the goal line.
The Eagles got by, taking away clock and outlasting their opponent once again, but the offensive operation stagnated for a good stretch, all while the defense stepped up to lock Green Bay down as Sunday's true stars of the show.
Case in point: The Eagles' defense came up with two interceptions from Darius Slay and Zack Baun before halftime, and forced a turnover on downs late into the fourth quarter.
Not including the touchdown that resulted from the recovered fumble off the opening kickoff and Quinyon Mitchell's pick at the end that essentially sealed the game, the offense produced only a field goal off those middle three changes of possession.
Barkley knows that can't fly.
"I think we all agree on that," he said. "Playing complimentary football, but like I said, at the end of the day, get a win and we got it."
The cleanup will get worked on this week.
Saquon Barkley celebrating his first taste of playoff victory with the Eagles! pic.twitter.com/4r8sQhfFfu
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 13, 2025
Barkley's teammates wanted him to take off and score at the end.
He jogged back to the sideline after taking the slide to keep the clock running, but Brown and Smith, with the biggest grins on their faces, were immediately there to give him an earful, pointing at the end zone and telling him he had to take that in.
But Barkley looked like he was in his own world.
The final seconds ticked off, Brown and Smith kept smiling and pointing at the end zone. Barkley shrugged it off and jammed out on an air guitar in celebration of the win instead.
"It wasn't tempting," Barkley said of that last run into the open. "Situational football. No más. It's first down, you win the game. So get the first down and get down. Don't matter."
Not the points, not the stats. Just the result.
The Eagles got that first one. Three more to go.
Onward. pic.twitter.com/BEUN0iiksD
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 13, 2025
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