Teammates react to star runner's big games last year and the chances he is able to duplicate in Week 3.
PHILADELPHIA – He is still a threat to hit a home run every time he touches the ball, and he might hit one out soon enough. Saquon Barkley went deep four times last year against Sunday’s opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, with four touchdown run over 60 yards and had 460 rushing yards in two games against them, including a franchise-record setting 255 in a regular-season win.
He’s still in the league’s top 10 in rushing with 148 yards after two games, but it just feels different from his 2,000-yard season. “Saquon's a phenomenal football player,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “He's not any less of a football player because he rushed for 2,000 yards last year. He's the same guy getting better, he's continuing to get better.” Asked if he thinks the rams will try to come up with something different defend Barkley, center Cam Jurgens said: “Yeah, if I were them, I would.” Like Sirianni, Rams coach Sean McVay isn’t tipping his hand. McVay said that to have success against Barkley, his defense needs to prevent him from gaining access to a vertical seam and to the second and third levels. Sometimes, eight-man boxes lend themselves to home runs if Barkley can get to that level of the defense. “He's so explosive because of the speed and the ability to finish,” said McVay. “I think he's really good in close quarters. You see why he had more production, when you look at his season combined, than there ever was in the history of this league. He was excellent. “He obviously did a lot of great things against us in both games that he played. Like it always will be, it’s going to be a big emphasis on playing 11 as one and being able to swarm to the football. Easier said than done, but I know our guys are excited.” The Eagles have gotten a lot of unscouted looks from the Cowboys and Chiefs, so there’s no reason to expect the Rams not to try to give them that same dose of defense. “Last week, we had great game plan and we had to throw most of that stuff out just because of what we were getting on the field,” said left tackle Jordan Mailata. “So, we'll see. We'll see how they play us. I will say this time and time again. Teams play us differently than other teams because of our O-Line and that's a fact. “I'm not going to back down on that. I'm gonna die on that hill. They play us differently. All of us. Us five up front. We'll see how they scheme up and we'' just go from there.” Barkley set such a high bar in against the Rams last year, it’s probably unrealistic to see him clear that on Sunday. But like Sirianni said, that doesn’t mean he isn’t any less of a player. “With Saquon, a big game is in his future,” said tight end Dallas Goedert. “We never know when it’s going to happen, but it’ll happen plenty of times. It’s something that I’m sure they’re looking at those games and trying to make sure it doesn’t happen.”Ed Kracz has been covering the Eagles full-time for over a decade and has written about Philadelphia sports since 1996. He wrote about the Phillies in the 2008 and 2009 World Series, the Flyers in their 2010 Stanely Cup playoff run to the finals, and was in Minnesota when the Eagles secured their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2017. Ed has received multiple writing awards as a sports journalist, including several top-five finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards.
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