Saquon Barkley Proves Once Again Why He’s The NFL’s Real MVP In Philadelphia Eagles Playoff Win

Saquon Barkley won’t win the MVP award, but it’s hard to argue that he’s not the NFL’s real MVP this season.

Barkley once again came up huge, this time in the Philadelphia Eagles’ tight 28-22 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in their snow-filled playoff game in the divisional round on Sunday. The MVP candidate rushed for 205 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-sealing 78-yard touchdown run that put Philly up by two scores late in the fourth quarter.

While the huge playoff performance won’t have any implications on the actual MVP race, it illustrated once again why Barkley should be the league’s MVP after becoming just the ninth player in NFL history to break 2,000 yards in a single season. Had the Eagles not faced a meaningless situation in Week 18 against the New York Giants, it’s safe to assume Barkley would have broken the single-season rushing record by Eric Dickerson.

“…You want to create a legacy, and I wanted to have one of those types of games,” said Barkley after the game. “Just visualizing stuff and wondering what the number is. It’s funny how that happened.”

In this fast-paced sports world, people have quickly forgotten how down in the dumps this Eagles team was at the end of last year and at the start of this season. Nick Sirianni was on the hot seat and people were questioning whether or not Jalen Hurts was a one-season wonder.

Fast forward to now and no one is questioning Sirianni as a head coach or whether or not Hurts is a franchise quarterback. That’s all due to the impact and presence of Barkley.

Despite finishing last season losing six of their final seven games after a league-best 10-1 start, the Eagles have rallied off 14 wins in their past 15 games. If there was ever a statistic that demonstrated Barkley’s value to Philadelphia, it’s that very statistic right there.

That’s not even mentioning how Hurts has quickly negated his turnover-prone ways from last season with the presence of Barkley in the backfield. After ranking fourth in the NFL last season with 20 turnovers, Hurts had a total of just 10 turnovers this season.

We all know this is a two-MVP race between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Voters ignorantly lean almost purely on the quarterback position by default, with only one non-quarterback having won the award since the 2007 season (Adrian Peterson in 2012).

Allen is considered the favorite and will likely win the award after having a tremendous season despite a mediocre offensive supporting cast. The Buffalo Bills star quarterback managed to lead the team to a No. 2 seed in the AFC with victories over two of the league’s best teams in the regular season in the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions.

It also helps Allen’s case that he’s lacking any bonafide star players on offense, with the Bills lacking a single Pro Bowler or All-Pro selection (outside of Allen) when it comes to their skill position players. He also has yet to win a major award in his career, despite being considering one of the best quarterbacks in the league over the past five years.

But there’s little doubt that Barkley’s value and impact on a free-falling Eagles squad combined with his near record-setting season makes him the real MVP in the league. In a league that has seen the running back position devalued over the past 20 years — it was once the golden position in football — Barkley has managed to bring value back to the position.

Prominent former players such as Reggie Bush and Thurman Thomas have recognized Barkley as their pick for MVP. Meanwhile, Barkley’s former teammate, Eli Manning, acknowledged how impressive his season has been considering it’s a pass-happy league now.

“The fact that he’s in the mix and close to breaking a rushing record that’s been around for a long time in a pass-happy league where they’re not rushing the ball as much as they used to, it’s so impressive,” said Manning in a one-on-one interview.

Just ask the New York Giants how valuable Barkley is after deciding to place more emphasis upon re-signing Daniel Jones than Barkley a couple years ago.

“The atmosphere was crazy,” said Barkley after being serenaded with MVP chants from the Philly crowd during the game. “It was insane. I’ve got a smile on my face thinking about it. This is what you dream about. This is why I came to Philly. I wanted to be part of games like this, and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

With the Lions now out of the picture, the Eagles now emerge as the Kansas City Chiefs’ biggest threat towards preventing a three-peat. It obviously won’t be easy, with the Eagles facing the likes of the hottest quarterback in the league in rookie Jayden Daniels in the NFC Championship Game. Daniels has yet to throw an interception this postseason and has a 116.2 passer rating — the highest among all remaining quarterbacks.

However, they will be at home and it’s worth noting that they held a 14-0 lead in the first quarter of their previous matchup prior to Hurts’ game-ending injury.

Considering they have the NFL’s real MVP in Barkley, they stand a better chance of beating the Chiefs in a potential Super Bowl rematch than they did a couple years prior.

If Barkley gets going — whether that’s against the Commanders, Chiefs or Bills — no team stands a chance of beating the Eagles.