Saquon Barkley has hurdled loads of defenders all through his soccer profession, even relationship again to a contest at Kinnick Stadium when he was at Penn State.
However on Sunday afternoon, Barkley did one thing only a few (if any) working backs have ever efficiently pulled off. He whipped out a backward hurdle.
Barkley, early within the Philadelphia Eagles’ matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars, caught a move from Jalen Hurts and began working his well past a pair of defenders. As he received to his third, Barkley turned utterly round and hurdled cornerback Jarrian Jones together with his again to him earlier than he was lastly introduced down.
Listed here are some extra angles.
All Jones may do was stare in disbelief behind him after what ought to’ve been a positive sort out become an entire miss.
“It was the very best play I’ve ever seen,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni stated, via ESPN. “What I feel is so cool, there’s going to be youngsters all around the nation and throughout Philadelphia attempting to make that play and speaking about that play and simulating that play as they play yard soccer or peewee soccer. They ain’t going to have the ability to make it — I imagine he is the one one on the planet that may try this. I am speechless. It was unbelievable.”
Barkley turned that play right into a 14-yard achieve, which gave the Eagles the primary down and stored their drive alive. Jake Elliott hit a 43-yard area objective to finish the drive to place Philadelphia up 10-0 early within the second quarter. Barkley put the Eagles on the board on their first drive of the sport, too, after he caught a 20-yard landing move from Hurts within the nook of the tip zone. Barkley added a 19-yard speeding landing simply earlier than halftime.
Barkley entered Sunday’s contest at Lincoln Monetary Subject with 766 speeding yards and 5 touchdowns this season, his first with the Eagles after he spent the primary six of his profession with the New York Giants. Barkley has run for greater than 100 yards in 4 video games this season — together with in opposition to the Giants final month, the place he put up a near-career-high 176 yards on just 17 carries. That was his finest speeding efficiency in years, and it marked the second-best rushing day for a running back against their former team in NFL historical past.
Whereas Barkley completed the sport with 159 speeding yards on 27 carries, and one other 40 receiving yards on three catches, the Eagles almost their lead within the second half. The Jaguars put up 16 factors within the third quarter, after which have been in place to attain a game-winning landing contained in the two-minute warning, however Trevor Lawrence threw an interception in the long run zone.
That sealed the Eagles’ 28-23 win and pushed them to 6-2 on the season. They’ve now gained 4 straight heading into subsequent week’s battle in opposition to the Dallas Cowboys.
