Saquon Barkley Is Superman Again

Saquon Barkley ran for 255 yards on Sunday as his Philadelphia Eagles cruised to a 37-20 victory over the Rams. The New York Giants, Barkley’s former team, had 245 yards total in their tank-tastic loss to the Buccaneers. In fact, over the Giants’ last two games, they’ve put together only 243 rushing yards, still fewer than Barkley had all by himself last night.

Is this entirely fair to the Giants? No, not really. Is it funny? Yes, extremely so.

The cruel irony here, of course, is that the Giants let Barkley—their former first-round draft pick and erstwhile face of the franchise—walk away this offseason for nothing in return. Most of the saga played out on HBO’s Hard Knocks, putting New York’s organizational ineptitude on display for all the world to see. Barkley was on the record, several times, about his desire to be a Giant for life. That went out the door when he signed a three-year, $37.5-million deal to go elsewhere. The fact that he landed an hour south, with division rival Philadelphia no less, only twisted the knife deeper. Somebody get Giants owner John Mara, last seen on Hard Knocks mentioning that he’d have trouble sleeping if Barkley went to the Eagles, the world’s biggest dose of melatonin.

Now, with Barkley leading the NFL in rushing and scrimmage yards—well on his way to an All-Pro nod, a playoff berth, and maybe even some MVP votes—he’s reminded not just the Giants but the entire football world that he’s unbelievably nice with it.

Barkley, whose face is currently splashed all over the NFL’s official Twitter page, set the Eagles’ all-time record on Sunday with his 255 yards on the ground. The Rams had no answer for the superhero wearing Philly’s no. 26 jersey, who showed up ready for business in his best Paul Smith suit. By the end of his big night, he not only had the Eagles’ franchise mark, he also had the ninth-most rushing yards in a single game in NFL history. In his first 11 games with the Eagles, Barkley has amassed 100 yards from scrimmage in nine of them. He has five games with multiple touchdowns, averages an NFL-best 6.2 yards per carry, and could very well end the regular season with the most yards and touchdowns in the league.

What we’re witnessing here is living proof that sometimes you have to leave the past behind in order to fully actualize, not unlike Shohei Ohtani departing the Angels for the Dodgers and immediately winning the World Series. The Eagles still have a long way to go before entertaining serious championship thoughts, but with Barkley beasting like this, it’s obvious they have a player capable of doing things the rest of the league cannot.