INGLEWOOD – I suppose Sean McVay warned us. And maybe in reading the interview transcripts it was easy to presume this was just the normal pregame buildup, the Rams’ coach demonstrating his respect for one of the other team’s top offensive threats.
“He’s been outstanding and I think they’ve embraced him,” McVay said Wednesday. “He’s a huge energy spark plug for them. … I mean, he’s so explosive that before you know it, it’s a downhill inside zone run and he’s 60 yards out the gate.”
And then the rhetoric became reality Sunday evening.
We could ask how the New York Giants let Barkley get away at the end of last season (hint: it involved money). But, then, that’s Gotham’s problem, or at least one of them.
Now he’s on the Philadelphia Eagles, and it would be easy to say Sunday that he was a one-man wrecking crew in Philly’s 37-20 victory over the Rams, but we know football doesn’t work that way.
Still, 255 yards on 26 carries? And the second and third longest runs of his career, touchdowns of 70 and 72 yards? The complementary pieces – Jalen Hurts’ multiple threat capability at quarterback, the danger of A.J. Brown as a receiver, and the Vic Fangio defense that tormented the Rams once again, and particularly Matthew Stafford to the tune of four sacks – were indeed complimentary.
This was Saquon’s show, live to a national audience. He took the ball over and over and over. He broke off a couple of runs that had observers on social media suggesting a mere mortal’s knees wouldn’t possibly hold up under that stress.
The two killers? A 70-yard scoring run on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, a play where he got through the Rams line, changed direction once to avoid a fallen teammate, and then was … just gone. That gave Philadelphia a 20-7 lead after the extra point.
And then there was the 72-yard touchdown run with 2:44 left in the game to make it 37-14 and start the spasms of celebration among the many – many – Eagles fans among the announced crowd of 74,400. On this one, he swept around left end and turned on the afterburners, putting the finishing touches on not only a career-high rushing day but an Eagles team record for rushing yards in a game and the ninth-best rushing day in NFL history.
If you’re watching from the other sideline, you tip your cap and say a prayer of thanks that you aren’t seeing him again this regular season.
“He’s getting tough, hard-earned yards, and then you give him a vertical seam like he got a couple of times and he’s got the explosiveness and the long speed and the ability to be able to finish,” McVay said afterward. “And that was really what opened up and really blew the game open for them. He was outstanding tonight.
“You get him the ability to get to the second level unabated, and he gets enough speed and he’s … as good as there is as a slash runner to be able to work edges and then be able to erase angles and be able to finish. That’s why he had the production that he had and that’s why he’s had, you know, arguably an MVP type of season so far.”
Outside linebacker Jared Verse, who had too close a view of the damage, concurred.
“He’s a different type of player,” he said. “I’ve never seen a running back like that. He can go downhill, he can bounce, and he did both of those on us. So we have to be a little better.”
Among other things, Barkley hoisted himself to the top of the NFL rushing yardage list with Sunday’s performance, moving ahead of Baltimore’s Derrick Henry, 1,392 yards to 1,185. Henry, of course, has the opportunity to frame his rebuttal Monday night on the same patch of SoFi Stadium turf when the Ravens face the Chargers.
Oh, and how about this: Barkley was the first NFL player with two 70-yard or better runs in a game since Maurice Jones-Drew did it in 2009, with 80- and 79-yard scoring runs for Jacksonville against Tennessee (in a game the Jaguars lost 30-13). And Jones-Drew just happens to be the color analyst for Rams radio broadcasts. If anyone happens to monitor his reaction, please pass it along.
It is probably not embellishing things to suggest that a happy Barkley is one that is more dangerous to his opponents. He’s with an organization that has shown its respect – in this game, and especially at the often undervalued position of running back, a lucrative contract even with bonus clauses usually does the trick – and he has responded in kind, one reason why the Eagles are 9-2 and have won seven in a row.
“I mean, it definitely puts a smile on your face,” he told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt Sunday evening. “They told me on the sideline I broke the Eagles’ franchise record. These are the things I train for … I’m just in a spot right now where I’m happy, thankful to the organization to bring me in here, and just being consistent.
“It’s all great now, to get MVP chants and rush for 255 yards. But it’s the beauty of the NFL – you gotta get ready for next weekend.”
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On that, McVay will concur.
“There’s humbling nights like this in football,” he said. “It’s all about how you respond. I do know that this team has the capability to be able to respond, and we’ll get ourselves off the mat and and we’ll have a good week of preparation this week.”
In the NFL, after all, time waits for no man. And success is fleeting.
jalexander@scng.com