As the Philadelphia Eagles prepared to take the ball in the fourth quarter, offensive linemen were buzzing.
“We got 48 more yards,” left guard Landon Dickerson told left tackle Jordan Mailata.
The Eagles led the Dallas Cowboys by 27 points. Forty-eight yards until what, Mailata asked?
“To 2K, you big dummy,” Mailata recalled Dickerson’s response.
Running back Saquon Barkley was on the cusp of becoming the ninth player in NFL history to surpass 2,000 rushing yards in a season.
Barkley heard the chatter as right tackle Lane Johnson told fellow linemen “this mother-F’er needs this to get it” and “let’s go get it,” Barkley said.
Philadelphia then handed the ball to its marquee 2024 offseason signing on six straight plays.
He ripped off six yards, then 11, then three, then nine. And then, with a 23-yard burst up the left sideline, Barkley surpassed 2,000 rushing yards on the season and hit 2,005.
Head coach Nick Sirianni called a timeout to pull Barkley from the game. The Eagles celebrated.
"I'm not going to lie, just being a fan of the game and the running back position, to reach a milestone and put myself up there with eight other backs that I respect, and some of them I grew up watching, definitely means a lot," Barkley said after the 41-7 win. "You can't be great without the greatness of others, and I'm just happy I was able to be a part of the team and be able to reach a milestone like that."
On Sunday, as the Eagles clinched the NFC East, the individual goals of Barkley and team goals of the Eagles largely aligned. Philadelphia needed this win, its 13th of the season, to lock in a home playoff game. Barkley’s production – which included 137 yards after halftime – helped secure the decision.
But as Philadelphia looks to its regular-season finale, the team’s next set of goals poses a dilemma. Another rushing record, even more historic, is in reach. And yet: What if Barkley gets hurt chasing it in a game that won’t impact the Eagles’ playoff seeding? When the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday evening, the Eagles locked in the No. 2 seed in the NFC. No longer will next week impact their postseason standing.
Sirianni has a decision to make as he weighs risks and rewards. Sunday afternoon, he punted it.
“We’ll always do what’s best for these guys, and that could mean playing them, that could mean resting them,” Sirianni said before the Vikings’ win changed the calculus. “I’ve got to think about that. Looking forward to going out on the field and playing catch with my kids after this, though.
“And then I’ll think about that later.”
Will Barkley get chance to break Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old record?
In 1984, Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson set the single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards.
Forty years later, no one has passed him.
With 101 yards next week, Barkley would hit 2,106 and break the longstanding pacecar. Even more poetically, he would do so against the team that drafted him then let him walk in free agency nine months ago. In the Eagles and Giants' first meeting this year, Barkley rushed for 176 yards on just 17 carries.
Breaking Dickerson’s record tempts the second overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. He also understands how chasing it further could jeopardize Philadelphia’s postseason goals.
“The way I look at it, if it's in God's plan, then it is,” Barkley said. “I'm not overly trying to go get it. I’m not scared of it. I would love to. But at the end of the day, also, we’ve got bigger things that we're focusing on.
“I didn't come here and sign here just to rush for 2,000 or break a record. I want to do something special, meaning special with the team.”
Barkley is the latest running back, but not the first, to enter the final week of the regular-season with a real chance to pass Dickerson.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 2,097 yards with the Minnesota Vikings in 2012, but his 199 yards in the regular-season finale helped the Vikings clinch a wildcard spot.
Jamal Lewis played the entire 2003 regular-season finale despite the Baltimore Ravens clinching the AFC North earlier that day. His 114 yards entered him into the 2,000-yard club at 2,066 but not into the single-season recordholder spot.
The closest rusher of the last decade was Derrick Henry in 2020, when he powered for 2,027 yards for the Tennessee Titans. Henry collected a whopping 250 of those in the regular-season finale win that clinched the Titans’ AFC South title. He didn’t reach Dickerson.
So Sirianni’s most recent parallel to consider in his decision dates back more than two decades. His decision to keep Barkley in long enough to hit 2,000 yards on Sunday but no longer may indicate his tolerance threshold for the individual record.
“I'll do what I think is necessary and best for the team to put ourselves in that position, but I also am very sensitive to records and all the things there,” Sirianni said. “So, we'll see how it goes.”
The Eagles locker room was split.
To play or not to play? That is Eagles’ Barkley question
Barkley’s right tackle understands how rare it is to play with the rushing champion.
When Johnson blocked for the 2013 title holder his rookie year, he figured such greatness was par for the course.
Then more than a decade passed before he could reclaim that achievement. Also notable: LeSean McCoy led the league with 1,607 rushing yards that season. He was nearly 500 yards removed from the history books.
So Johnson celebrated Barkley crossing the 2,000-yard mark as “special.” That didn’t sway his opinion on Barkley playing a playoff-meaningless game to catch Dickerson.
“I mean, Eric Dickerson’s record was 16 games, so if it was 17 games, it’s not going to make sense anyways,” Johnson said. “Eric Dickerson is who he is. Saquon is who he is. We just wanted to get to 2,000. We were fine with that.
“Better be safe than sorry.”
Barkley disputed the asterisk with still broader historical context, noting that yes, he has a 17th regular-season game his record-setting predecessors did not – but also he’s not the first to benefit from a schedule expansion.
Of the eight prior 2,000-yard rushers, seven played 16 games. O.J. Simpson rushed for 2,003 yards in 1973 with just 14 on his slate. Dickerson crossed the 2,000-yard threshold in his 15th game and then hit 2,105 after 98 more in try 16.
“I know we don't really speak about that, but in reality, [Simpson] rushed for 2,000 in 14 games, [Dickerson], it took him 15,” Barkley said. “So if anything, it's like, why are we even having the conversation? Or if you're trying to get [Dickerson]'s record, if that's the conversation, it should be, ‘You’ve got to do it in 14.’
“The way football is right now, it's kind of hard to rush for 2,000 yards in 14 games. So, whether it's 16, whether it's 17, it's a feat that you can never take away from what I was able to do with the O-line. And only eight other players did it, so it's a special moment.”
Teammates agreed. Receiver A.J. Brown told Barkley to “get it done but be safe” as he returned to the field to cross the plateau against the Cowboys, Brown also eager to join in updating the history books.
“I’d like to say when I'm talking to my kids, ‘Oh I was a part of Saquon’s team when he did that,’” Brown said. “I want to be a part of it.”
Cornerback Darius Slay said he’d “never witnessed nobody getting 2,000 yards before” and that he believed Barkley could have passed Dickerson on Sunday if he played the remainder of the fourth quarter.
When asked by the Los Angeles Times last week if he wanted Barkley to pass his record, Dickerson answered "absolutely not," and added, "I don't think he'll break it."
That motivated Slay’s encouragement of Barkley, too.
“Of course we need him way bigger than the record,” Slay said. “But I would love for him to have the record, especially after what Dickerson said – that was not cool.”
Barkley said he didn’t see the comments “as a shot” or “throwing shade” because: “You shouldn’t want me to break your record.”
The bigger question will be how strongly Sirianni feels about the risk and reward as the Eagles hope to return to the Super Bowl two years after their last appearance, and win it seven years after their last title.
Barkley understands how difficult that postseason road is after playing with a Giants team that won fewer than seven games five of his six years. He played in just two playoff games, winning one, in six years. Barkley only learned Sunday that division champions receive hats and T-shirts to celebrate. He wants to learn how to celebrate a Super Bowl championship, too.
His best career season stands independent of his finale participation.
“I came here to do something special, and obviously breaking the record is special,” Barkley said. “But I want a banner up there. I think we all do. But we gave ourselves a chance with that and clinched the playoffs before and now with the division.
“Now it's up to Nick, and we’ll see where his mindset is.”
