Will Eagles’ Saquon Barkley break single-season rushing record?

On By Littum

game

The Philadelphia Eagles (12-3) is shaping up to be a top playoff contender in 2024. The Birds have one of the NFL’s deepest and most talented rosters. The NFC East has not had a repeat division champion in 20 consecutive seasons and Eagles is one win away from locking up the division title. They fell short on Sunday d Week 16 against Washington’s commanders (10-5) without quarterback Jalen Hurts, who suffered a concussion in the first half. still, Saquon Barkley continued to storm its way toward history.

In the offseason, the Eagles have equipped the defense to pair with a star-studded offensive lineup, including Hurt, AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. But no move this offseason was bigger than bringing back superstar Saquon Barkley. The last time a non-quarterback earned NFL MVP honors was in 2012, and Barkley has made a strong case to shake up the status quo in 2024.

Will Saquon Barkley break the single-season rushing yards record?

The former no. 2 overall pick is as explosive and electric as it gets in the backfield. Barkley rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday’s loss. He rushed for 109 yards in the first quarter, but was held in check the rest of the game. He has 1,838 rushing yards through 15 games and leads the NFL with 42 runs of at least 10 yards.

Barkley could break the single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards set by Eric Dickerson in 1984. Heading into Week 16, he was averaging 139.3 yards per carry. game to break the record and exceeded that pace against Washington.

On his 68-yard touchdown run in the first half against the Commanders, he tied Adrian Peterson (2012) and Jim Brown (1963) for the most rushing touchdowns of 60 or more yards in a season, with four such instances each. Both Hall of Fame running backs won MVPs in those years.

Barkley runs behind an offensive line that has managed the most rushing yards before contact (3.9) in the NFL. Offensive linemen Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson has helped make this one of the most dominant rushing offenses in modern NFL history. Philadelphia leads the NFL with 554 rushing attempts (Pittsburgh second most 479). Only eight players have rushed for over 2,000 yards in a season, and Barkley is just 162 short of reaching that mark.

Eric Dickerson’s record is in Saquon’s sights with two games left in the regular season.

Barkley has averaged 122.5 rushing yards per game. match to this point and must average 134 per match over the last two weeks to break the record.

The Eagles and Barkley are hosting Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 and finish the regular season at home against New York Giants. In the first meetings this season, he rushed for 66 yards against Dallas and 176 yards against Big Blue. The Cowboys have allowed the fifth-most rushing yards per game (135.9) and the Giants second-most (142.6).

The single-season rushing record could be broken against the team that let him go to their division rivals in free agency.