Nobody has ever begun their Eagles career like this.
Nobody’s been close.
Saquon Barkley has been spectacular.
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Barkley rushed for 147 yards with two touchdowns, including a 65-yarder early in the fourth quarter and the game-winning four-yarder with a minute left, in the Eagles’ 15-12 win over the Saints Sunday at the Superdome.
If you’re looking for an NFL MVP three games into the season, look no farther than No. 26.
“I got a fresh start and I'm excited to show the world what I'm able to do,” Barkley said on the FOX postgame show. “I’ve got great teammates, I’ve got a great offensive line. They've been doing a great job for me. We're going to keep picking each other up and keep rolling.”
Other than his costly drop last Monday in the loss to the Falcons, Barkley was very good in his first two games this year.
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But that explosive 65-yarder elevated him onto another plane.
It was his fifth career 60-yard touchdown run. Only 10 players in NFL history have had more.
Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson carved out the hole, and Barkley sprinted away from Marshon Lattimore, Alontae Taylor and Will Harris, hitting 21 mph on his way to the end zone.
“I knew I had a lot of space to the right,” he said. “Then the o-line blocked it perfectly. You know, against Green Bay, if I would have just went right, I probably would have had two long runs, so I learned from my mistakes.”
Barkley’s 406 scrimmage yards are the most by anybody in their first three games in an Eagles uniform in the franchise’s 91-year history. Charlie Garner previously had the most with 331 back in 1994.
Barkley is only the eighth player in NFL history with 350 rushing yards, a 5.5 rushing average and five touchdowns three weeks into a season.
He’s the first Eagle with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a one-possession game since LeSean McCoy in the Snow Bowl vs. the Lions in 2013.
What made Barkley’s performance even more impressive is that 5 ½ days earlier he had that costly drop that cost the Eagles a game against the Falcons in the home opener.
He bounced back beautifully.
“We understand that when things like that happen, everyone thinks the world is ending, but it really doesn't matter what the outside world thinks,” he told reporters in New Orleans after the game. “It matters what happens in that locker room.
“And you see it today. We just kept trusting each other and kept having each others’ back and that's what team football is about. And coach always says you can't be great without the greatness of others, and we did that today.”
Barkley’s last few years with the Giants were up and down, but he’s now in a place where he’s got an elite offensive line, a play caller who knows how to play to his strengths and the type of winning culture he never had with the Giants.
The last time he had 400 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns in any three-game span with the Giants was late in the 2019 season.
Now he has that in his first three games in an Eagles uniform.
Last time he had a game with 8.7 yards per carry and two touchdowns with the Giants? How about never.
Three weeks in, Barkley leads the NFL with 354 rushing yards, trails Alvin Kamara by 13 yards for the NFL total yardage lead and shares the NFL touchdown lead with Kamara and the Rams’ Kyren Williams. His 5.6 average trails only J.K. Dobbins, who’s at 7.4 but with only 42 carries.
The numbers are the numbers. What’s most impressive is that when the Eagles desperately needed a big play Sunday in New Orleans, Barkley delivered. And with the game on the line in the final seconds, he delivered again.
Wilbert Montgomery, Brian Westbrook and Barkley are the only Eagles with 400 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns in any three-game span.
“Obviously the game wasn't going our way, but we just never gave up,” Barkley said. “We kept trusting each other, kept grinding.
“You know, we saw (DeVonta Smith) go down with a late hit, which I believe, and we rallied behind that. We wanted to go out there and grind off of Schmitty. And all phases, especially defense, you know, played lights out. We rallied behind that and embraced the opportunity.”