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Why does Saquon Barkley turn into Superman at halftime? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Saquon Barkley is an average running back. Honestly, a little below average.
Yep. Barkley’s rushing average is worse than Rachaad White, Jeremy McNichols and Tyrone Tracy. It’s worse than Brian Robinson, David Montgomery and Geno Smith. Worse than Aaron Jones, Tyler Huntley and Samaje Perine.
Oh, that’s all in the first half.
After that?
He’s a beast.
Barkley is enjoying an all-pro-caliber season in his first year with the Eagles, and with seven games left in the season he’s on pace to shatter a bunch of franchise records and rack up a host of postseason awards. He leads the NFL with 113 rushing yards per game, five more than Derrick Henry, and his 5.8 average is just behind Henry’s 6.0.
But the crazy thing about his season is that Barkley never seems to get going until the second half. And in some cases – like Thursday night against Washington – not until the fourth quarter.
“Having Stout (running game coach Jeff Stoutland) and T.J (Paganetti, run game specialist) and those guys, coach (Jemal) Singleton making the adjustments at halftime, that’s what football is,” Barkley said.
“(The opponent) is going to come out there and they’re going to do things and we’re going to make adjustments and we have to start executing.”
In the first half this year, Barkley has 94 carries for 399 yards, a modest 4.2 average. That ranks 24th of 37 running backs with at least 40 carries before halftime this year.
In the second half, he’s got 103 carries for 738 yards, a ridiculous 7.2 average. That’s the highest by any running back in the second half in 18 years – Michael Vick was at an absurd 9.1 yards per carry in the second half of the 2006 season.
So Barkley is averaging three yards more per carry in the second half than the first.
He has 10 runs of at least 20 yards this year – one in the first half and nine in the second half. In all, 13 of his…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-does-saquon-barkley-turn-142218232.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-11-19 15:28:00
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