It was written in the stars that Saquon Barkley would carry the Philadelphia Eagles to the NFC Championship Game. Barkley had another monster game against the Los Angeles Rams, while the Eagles' defense came up with a huge stand on the game's final drive to clinch the win.
Barkley's 205 rushing yards is an Eagles playoff record and the fifth-most rushing yards all-time in a single playoff game. He ripped off touchdowns runs of 62 and 78 yards, the latter of which put Philly up 28-15 and proved to be the difference in the 28-22 victory.
With Jalen Hurts battling a knee injury and struggling to combat the Rams' pass rush, A.J. Brown having a brutal game for his standards and star cornerback Quinyon Mitchell getting knocked out early with a shoulder injury, the Eagles needed every bit of Barkley's 200-yard performance.
It has become second nature for football fans to eviscerate the Giants for letting Saquon walk in order to build around quarterback Daniel Jones, who was released in November.
Well, Barkley did that himself shortly after the game ended.
Saquon Barkley buried the Giants after the Eagles' Divisional Round win
"It feels amazing," Barkley said, via Elliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP Radio. "This is the reason why I came here. Me and my family went through the pros and cons and [decided] this is where we wanna be. We thought that this would be the best opportunity to be able to play in games like this... "
Can someone mail that to Joe Schoen's desk, please?
The Giants' general manager has been raked over the coals for letting Barkley out the door and there is no end in sight. Schoen is famously on the record saying he isn't paying Daniel Jones $40 million per year to "hand the ball off to a $12 million back."
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That quote will go down as an all-timer. Barkley is currently making $12.583 million per year with Philadelphia. That is fifth-most among running backs. While Barkley's $26 million in fully guaranteed money tops the position, he should be the highest-paid RB across the board. His annual average salary is criminal relative to his production.
Sunday's win was the latest evidence Barkley is the most valuable player on the Eagles' roster. Considering how close the game was in the fourth quarter despite the turnover discrepancy, Philly probably loses if Barkley didn't put the offense on his back.
In no universe should the Eagles have been in a position to sign Barkley. Teams don't let players of that caliber out the door, but the Giants are a special breed of incompetent. The best part? They couldn't even muster the gal to fire Schoen after one of the worst personnel decisions in recent NFL history.
Eagles fans will never let the Giants live it down. Nor should they.