January 02, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Saquon Barkley is going to rest against the Giants on Sunday. That's probably for the best.
Nick Sirianni sat down on Wednesday and told everyone the decision: The Eagles' starters will rest Sunday against the Giants, including Saquon Barkley.
He won't be going back out there to try for those last 100 yards he needs to reach Eric Dickerson's NFL single-season rushing record. The Eagles are shifting into playoff mode, and they want to keep the roster as healthy as possible for it.
Is it the smart decision? Yeah. This team wants to win the Super Bowl, and this is a sound step they've earned the right to take to gear up for it.
Is it disappointing? Well, even though he initially said it wasn't that big of a deal, Barkley admitted that, after sleeping on it, there was a part of him that wanted to go get the record – he said that his family and the Eagles' offensive line wanted him to go get it, too.
"They probably wanted it a little bit more than me," Barkley joked to the media around his locker at the NovaCare Complex on Wednesday.
But Sirianni made the call to have the starters sit. Barkley is at peace with that.
"We're in the playoffs," the star running back said. "I got a bigger goal in mind anyway."
The Eagles do, too, which is why they're not taking any risks against a Giants team with nothing to lose.
Saquon Barkley reacts to the team deciding to not play him in the final game
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) January 1, 2025
Sounds like he told Nick Sirianni he wanted to do it, but is OK with the team’s decision to rest the starters: pic.twitter.com/5kYGANKj1E
Lane Johnson didn't need a reminder of what could go wrong.
Last season, when the Eagles were spiraling through the back half of the schedule, they opted to play their starters Week 18 against the Giants at MetLife Stadium, figuring they needed the live reps as one last shot to get back on track.
But they didn't, and then they lost No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown to injury. A week later, Tampa Bay trounced them out of the playoffs.
"That's what you're looking at as far as the Saquon situation," Johnson said. "That's the way I see it."
"You can get greedy if you want to," the veteran right tackle added. "This league will quickly humble you and put you back in place."
So the players are just going with the call from upstairs, as tough as that might be with history looking them in the face – so long as it gives them their best shot at a title.
"I wanted to do it," Barkley said. "But once I found out that we're not, it's just like 'OK.' Kinda made it easier for me because it's not my decision. It's a coach's decision, and I'm glad I didn't have to make that decision because say you got out there for a selfish reason and something negative happens, and I'm the one that's out there trying to get the offensive line to go play and beat the record for me, it sounds crazy.
"So I'm just happy I didn't have to make that decision. Nick made it pretty easy on me. I'm truly at peace with it."
A few other Eagles thoughts...
Barkley is capping out at 2,005 rushing yards for the season, which is still remarkable, record or not – along with easily being an Eagles franchise best.
But as he was pushing further and further toward Eric Dickerson's record mark of 2,105 yards, a consistent argument against Barkley's run arose: had he broken it, he would've done it in 17 games, whereas Dickerson did it with one less under the old 16-game schedule.
That logic, though, might be a bit misguided, and at the very least, is pretty surface-level.
Here's the thing: Yes, the NFL season is a game longer now, so in theory, Barkley had more time and opportunity to work with than Dickerson did.
However, Dickerson set the single-season rushing record with 379 carries. Barkley, after Week 17, was at 345, which is a career-high for him, sure, but still well short of how many Dickerson took. It also stands to reason that Barkley, with the way he's played all year, wouldn't have needed the full difference of 34 carries to break the record had he been set to play this Sunday.
And since both played 16 games, Barkley averaged 21.6 carries per game this season, while back in 1984, Dickerson averaged 23.7 carries.
Time is a factor, too. The NFL of today isn't the NFL that existed back in 1984 when Dickerson set the record with the Rams.
Today's game is pass-happy. The game then was far more grounded – granted, with the 49ers and Bill Walsh's West Coast offense taking over.
So look, had Barkley broken the record, the path he took to it would've been no less valid than Dickerson's because of that extra game.
Also, the '72 Dolphins are still held up as the perfect team, yet they had a shorter schedule than now so 🤷.
On Tuesday morning, the Eagles announced through their social media channels that the team will wear their all black uniforms (jersey, pants, and helmets) for Week 18 to close out the season.
Flip the Switch ⬛️@FanDuel | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/NonaGWYXkq
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 31, 2024
The black jerseys themselves have been kept as an alternate ever since the Eagles opened Lincoln Financial Field more than 20 years ago, with some slight tweaks or upgrades here and there, like adding the black pants and then the black helmet once the NFL finally eased up its equipment rules.
It's a bit of an aging relic from the early 2000s though, when it felt like every team had a black alternate uniform because that was just the style.
But now? The Kelly Green throwbacks entered the fold, and it seems pretty safe to say that everyone would much rather see, and buy, those.
It just seems like the black uniforms have ran their course, which isn't helped by the fact that this Sunday's game doesn't really mean anything.
Jalen Hurts, as of Wednesday, was still in concussion protocol and Kenny Pickett is dealing with that rib injury that eventually knocked him out of last week's win over Dallas.
Tanner McKee closed that 41-7 thrashing out with some beautiful throws, including his first two NFL touchdown passes to A.J. Brown and then DeVonta Smith, and looks to be in line to take this last start at quarterback on Sunday, which would also be his first in the NFL.
That should be enough for fans to still tune in for.
"This is my chance to play a significant amount of snaps, reps, and to go out and show what I've been working for this whole year," McKee told the media on Wednesday.
GO BACK TO AJ BROWN.
— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024
Great throw by Tanner McKee.
📺: #DALvsPHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/ZeW6Syi6nF
McKee has been developing in the background as the third-string QB for the past couple of years now, and has looked great in the past two preseasons, very arguably outplaying backup Marcus Mariota in 2023 and then Kenny Pickett this year.
He's been kept to that third spot down on the depth chart though, but if he can carry his work from last week over into a full, and official, NFL game, QB2 could be his role to step into in 2025.
As the season has worn on, voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2025 class has been progressing in the background.
Eric Allen, who was a stellar cornerback for the Eagles during the defensively dominant era of the late-80s through the mid-90s, has made it onto the ballot of Modern Era finalists.
Allen has been around in the Hall of Fame picture for a while, but has never gotten enough of the vote to break through.
Looking at this year's ballot, however, this really should be his time, or his best shot – with all due respect to Luke Kuechly and Eli Manning.
2025 is the year for Eric Allen & the stats speak for themselves.@ProFootballHOF, it's time. pic.twitter.com/rQmW9qkH87
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 1, 2025
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