ASHBURN, Va. – Saquon Barkley has boxing in his blood, and the Philadelphia Eagles’ All-Pro running back has operated like a prizefighter during his record-setting 2024 season.
Jab, jab, jab, cross, jab, jab … knockout upper-cut. Five-yard run, 4-yard run, 3-yard run, 10-yard run, 4-yard run, 5-yard run … 60-plus yards to the end zone.
In that case, consider the Washington Commanders defense ready for a fight.
“That’s the whole thing. You watch when they played the (Los Angeles) Rams, they brought him up some and then he knocks one – he does it against everybody,” Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. said. “And so, what we have to do is just make sure we’re disciplined upfront. We’re ready to flow at the second level.”
Barkley’s two long touchdown runs in the divisional round – 62 and 78 yards, respectively – accounted for 140 of his 205 rushing yards, meaning he had 65 yards on his other 24 attempts.
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Discipline will be the most important thing in Washington’s effort to contain Barkley, who led the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards during the regular season (16 games). His six touchdowns (including the playoffs) of more than 60 yards are the most in a single season in NFL history.
“He’s waiting for that one person to pop out of the gap,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “He’s waiting for that one person to be undisciplined. As soon as he sees it, he’s gone. So that’s going to be our challenge, is going to be disciplined the whole time, the whole game, understanding that he has the ability and the talent to break a run at any given point.”
The way Barkley breaks the middle-field safety off, Whitt said, is one of his superpowers. A timid angle has no chance, while an overconfident one is susceptible to a cutback Barkley can manage with ease thanks to his natural athletic gifts.
“You have to be able to get to his inside hip in a confident way and get him down,” Whitt said. “If not, you’re not going to make the tackle. So, it’s 11-man football to stop this man. And if you don’t do it, you’re going to see those explosive runs, which you’ve seen against everybody else.”
In the teams’ Week 16 meeting, Barkley burst for a 68-yard touchdown in the first quarter and ended the day with 150 rushing yards on 29 carries. A few weeks earlier, on “Thursday Night Football,” the Commanders bottled him up for 3½ quarters until he had two touchdowns of 23 and 39 yards, respectively, that took the game from a two-point contest to a comfortable Philadelphia lead.
“It’s all about just gang-tackling him,” defensive tackle Daron Payne said. “Everybody coming in and just trying to square him up and get him down.”
Barkley displayed some of that “home-run ability” during his first six seasons with the New York Giants, but with the Eagles’ superb offensive line clearing the way for him, along with the threat of Jalen Hurts’ running abilities, he’s had the best season of his career.
“I think there’s a combination of vision and then the ability to start and stop, like, super quickly,” head coach Dan Quinn said. “He has this quickness of a smaller back and the size of a big back, if that makes sense, to say, like, that’s an unusual combination. But it’s not the size alone of this guy that is so powerful. It’s both.”
The Commanders ranked 26th in defensive DVOA and last against run plays that went outside the numbers, according to ESPN. They were 30th in rushing yards allowed per game (137.5).
Quinn and Whitt became familiar with Barkley’s prowess while facing him over the pass three seasons while they coached for the Dallas Cowboys, another NFC East team.
“Every single time that I’ve coached against him, he’s been the emphasis,” said Quinn, adding that he’s a reason why Washington has harped on tackling and gap-discipline even as the season enters its final stages. “ … You have to be able to do it right over and over again and not get bored with just being in the right spot over and over again.
“Tackling in games like this, it’s just a premium. That’s why we do work so hard at those things to make sure our fundamentals are staying. Like, if other teams are deteriorating at that, I want it just the opposite, that we’re tackling at a higher level today than we were months ago.”
Neutralizing Barkley starts with winning upfront “because they can move people” in the gap scheme Eagles offensive line coach and run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland has mastered. That includes duos and double-teams. Add “two great receivers” (A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith) and “a really good tight end” (Dallas Goedert) and “a quarterback that can do it” in Hurts, “there’s issues all over there that we have to make sure we take care of,’ Whitt said.
Even with a knee injury that caused him to look beleaguered at the end of the Rams game, Hurts can do damage with his legs. Washington is also prepared for that.
“If he’s going to run the ball and if the coordinator makes a decision for him to run the ball,” Whitt said, “we’re going to treat him like a running back and we’re going to hit him that way.”
Barkley, however, is Priority A.
“It starts with No. 26,” safety Jeremy Chinn said, referencing Barkley’s jersey number. “We have to be able to stop the run and stop him, primarily.”
Facing an elite running back forces a defense to collectively look in the mirror and find out what it’s made of, linebacker Frankie Luvu said.
“Going against the best is going to bring out the best in you, and he’s one of the best by far to ever play the position,” he said. “He’s balling out this year, so hat’s off to him, but every time we play him it’s going to be a dog fight. That’s the type of game we bring: run around and hit.”
The Commanders know that stopping Barkley doesn’t guarantee a trip to New Orleans. But as Ric Flair – a wrestler and not a boxer, to be fair – once said: to be the man, you gotta beat the man.