Saquon Barkley on Eagles' playoff win over Rams in the snow: 'This is what you dream about. This why I came to Philly.'
With the stakes high and the snowfall heavy, Saquon Barkley gave the Eagles a playoff performance for the ages.
Saquon Barkley took off into the snow, with no one able to catch him.
And the scene was perfect.Â
The sky had grown dark, the flurry was progressing into a blizzard, and the Eagles were trying to hold on to a one-score lead late against the Los Angeles Rams, with the ball in their hands.
Then, on the snap, Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, and Cam Jurgens pushed left to open up a hole at the line. Barkley took the handoff from Jalen Hurts, made a cut to shift through it, and then started sprinting into the open, all as the Lincoln Financial Field crowd of nearly 70,000 quickly realized what was happening.Â
L.A. safety Cam Kurl was the last guy left who had a shot to put a stop to it, but he only went diving after air as Barkley blew right by with the noise of the stadium erupting. He was gone.
Barkley ran 78 yards for the touchdown, his second home-run play of the day, and the new freeze-frame moment to add on to his rapidly building legend in Philadelphia.
The Eagles won, 28-22, needing just a bit more in the form of one more stop from Jalen Carter and the defense, but they got it nonetheless, punching their ticket to the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three years, which will stay right here in South Philly against the division rival and lower-seeded Washington Commanders next week.Â
But the image of Barkley storming off with everyone else far behind him, for what was the second time on Sunday, that was the Divisional Round's defining image – right up there with the backwards hurdle, the sight of him running toward the end zone in L.A. to a sea of green in the seats just a couple of months earlier, and deeper into Eagles history, the memory of LeSean McCoy juking through the Detroit Lions and a completely covered field more than a decade ago.Â
It was perfect.Â
"The atmosphere was crazy," the star running back told the media surrounding his locker postgame. "I mean, it was...it was insane. I got a smile on my face thinking about it.Â
"This is what you dream about. This why I came to Philly. I wanted to be a part of games like this, and I'm just happy to be able to be a part of it."
And to have the guarantee of at least one more this season, with the stakes only getting that much higher.Â
In total, Barkley carried the ball 26 times on Sunday for 205 yards and the two touchdowns, along with four receptions for another 27 yards through the air.Â
He set the Eagles' single-game playoff rushing record with the performance, a milestone previously held by Steve Van Buren for the past 76 years (196 yards in the 1949 NFL Championship), and all after Barkley broke the franchise's regular-season single-game rushing record back in Week 12 against the Rams (255 yards) while on the way to the 2,005 yards that set the new single-season franchise mark and crowned him as the NFL's rushing champ.Â
Barkley has been good ever since he got drafted by the New York Giants going on seven years ago, but never this good.Â
He's never been this far into a season either, nor has the city ever had its heart captured by an athlete quite like him – he at least has to be up there with other legends like Bryce Harper right now with the Phillies, Eric Lindros and Allen Iverson back in the 90s with the Flyers and Sixers, and Randall Cunningham just a bit earlier with the Birds, where it always felt like they were about to do something incredible.Â
Yet, Barkley, the Eagles, and a snow-covered but happy Philadelphia are waking up on Monday morning just one more home game away from the Super Bowl.Â
It feels perfect.
"And the beautiful thing is it's gotta go through Philly," Barkley said. "And I remember after we lost to Washington, some of those guys were looking at us and saying that we're gonna see you again, and here we are."
With two down. Just two more to go.
MORE:Â The pivotal plays from Barkley, Eagles' surge past Rams in Divisional Round
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