What Eagles' OL loves so much about Saquon Barkley

What Eagles’ OL loves so much about Saquon Barkley originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

It was tough sledding.

Through three quarters on Thursday night, Saquon Barkley was averaging just 3.5 yards per carry and it was looking like it just wasn’t going to be one of those special performances for the Eagles’ very special running back.

But Barkley never lost faith that he was going to break it open.

And then he did.

“When stuff wasn’t going good, he was like, ‘Come on, keep attacking, O-line, keep attacking, it’s gonna break open for us, it’s gonna break open,’” veteran right tackle Lane Johnson said. “And eventually it did. That’s what kind of guy he is. When things aren’t going good, I think that’s when you really tell a lot about a person. And he never wavered.”

Barkley went off for 76 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help the Eagles take down the Commanders 26-18 in an important NFC East battle on Thursday Night Football.

Give credit to Kellen Moore for sticking with the run. Give the offensive line credit for blocking. But give credit to Barkley for never losing faith. Because, according to his offensive linemen, that went a long way on Thursday night.

When asked what Barkley is like when things aren’t going well in the run game, Jordan Mailata said the star running back is “very encouraging.”

“His will and want-to is on display 24/7,” Mailata said. “It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t waver. He’s very encouraging, always talking to us, always communicating on what he’s seeing on what he wants. And as an offensive line, you love that. Just the communication-side, the honesty. And it’s Saquon Barkley, man, whatever he says, you’re like, ‘Yes, sir.’”

Barkley ended up with 146 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 26 carries and he added 2 catches for 52 yards on top of that.

Through 10 games this season, Barkley has gone over 100 rushing yards in six. That’s the most 100+ yard games ever for an Eagles running back through 10 games.

And the crazy thing is that on Thursday night, it was just looking like that wasn’t going to happen.

Quarters 1-3: 20 carries, 70 yards (3.5)

Quarter 4: 6 carries, 76 yards (12.7), 2 TD

Barkley busted touchdown runs of 23 and 39 yards in the fourth quarter. He’s the first Eagles player to have two 20+ yard touchdown runs in the same game since LeSean McCoy in the Snow Bowl against the Lions in 2013.

And Barkley also reached 20+ mph on both of those touchdown runs, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. He now has six such runs this season, tops in the NFL.

“Eventually, after a while,” Johnson said, “it’ll break open for you.”

While Barkley isn’t a captain for the 2024 Eagles after joining the team as a free agent pickup, he clearly has strong leadership qualities. The Eagles have been seeing them all season.

“I think the thing that continues to impress me is that every time we’re going off to the sideline and something not working or something is working, [Barkley] always over there talking to us,” center Cam Jurgens said. “We’re figuring out how we can get it to work, what’s going on. It’s constant communication. It’s awesome. There’s a lot of little things that we could have had better in that first half. We just kept at it, kept at it.”

While Barkley ended up popping those two long touchdown runs, it was actually Kenny Gainwell who got the run game going in the fourth quarter. Gainwell had three straight runs in the fourth quarter for a total of 34 yards to help set up the Eagles’ go-ahead touchdown.

As a team, the Eagles had 111 rushing yards through the first three quarters but added 117 in the fourth to give them a 228-yard performance on the night. They have now gone over 200 rushing yards three times during their six-game winning streak since the bye.

What’s the key to the strong rushing performance in the fourth quarter?

“To be honest, I think it’s just will,” Mailata said. “You have to want it more than the other team. I think that’s what it comes down to. We could talk about X’s and O’s but we always talk about the gotta-have-it moments. It comes down to will. Do you want to do it? Do you want to? I think we showed out there on the film that we wanted it more.”

No one wanted it more than Barkley. And he never doubted it would come.

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