PHILADELPHIA — Saquon Barkley is within the midst of one of the best season for a operating again in Philadelphia Eagles historical past, and the franchise has had loads of good operating backs over their 91 years of existence.
Barkley is already third in franchise historical past for single-season speeding yards with 1,499, simply 109 yards away from passing LeSean McCoy for essentially the most in a season in Eagles historical past. And Barkley nonetheless has 5 video games to play.
Barkley is in pursuit of two,000 speeding yards as nicely, as he’s 501 yards away from that mark. He is additionally 606 yards away from passing Eric Dickerson for essentially the most speeding yards in a season in NFL historical past (2,105).
As Barkley is in pursuit of these data, he is nicely conscious they exist and in hanging distance of rewriting the document books.
“Once I acquired right here, I appeared up the historical past of the Eagles operating backs,” Barkley stated. “I wasn’t aware of Wilbert Montgomery…so I even acquired to do a dive on him. Study him and [Brian] Westbrook and Shady [LeSean McCoy]. That is your purpose. You wish to are available right here and go away a legacy on a spot, on a franchise.”
Barkley had these identical objectives in New York, however he admitted he “got here up quick.” Tiki Barber had the franchise document for speeding yards in a season (1,860 in 2005), and essentially the most Barkley had in a season was 1,312 (2022). That does not seem like the case with the Eagles, particularly since Barkley has been averaging 124.9 speeding yards per recreation with the Eagles.
“I am conscious of that, however that is not my driving issue of it,” Barkley stated. “The driving issue is to win soccer video games, put ourselves in place to make a run, and go win all of it.
“However I’m conscious of the issues I can accomplish. However the best way I accomplish them is by sticking to the script.”
How has Barkley ready himself for the stretch run forward? The Eagles face 4 of the six worst run defenses over the ultimate 5 video games of the season, beginning with the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Carolina permits 166.8 speeding yards per recreation (thirty second within the nFL), however the momentum does not cease there.
Run defenses Eagles face remainder of season
Barkley has admitted to creating adjustments in his routine for the ultimate stretch of video games in December and January. He has averaged 73.3 rush yards per recreation from video games 13-17, the bottom of his splits amongst the 4 quarter factors of the season (1-4, 5-8, 9-12, and many others.).
“That is type of been my greatest focus, how constant can I be? How lengthy can I stick with the method,” Barkley stated. “Every week goes to current completely different challenges, however I am nonetheless sticking to the script, and preparing for the video games.
“They do a extremely good job right here of listening to the science, listening to the info, and I have been doing a extremely good job of shopping for in to the whole lot they need me to do. At this level, my physique feels actually good. I really feel as recent as you probably may for a Week 14.”
