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BALTIMORE — Seconds after his 25-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, the sporadic Philadelphia Eagles fans in attendance at M&T Bank Stadium could be heard for the first time. The M-V-P chants were out for Saquon Barkley, as his run was the play that sealed the Eagles’ 24-19 victory over the Baltimore Ravens — and was his signature play for the league’s top honor.
Barkley heard those chants as he tied the Eagles’ franchise record for 100-yard games in a season with eight (Wilbert Montgomery also accomplished the feat in 1981). They weren’t something to soak in, no matter how well Barkley has been playing.
“I appreciate the MVP chants. It’s great. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is winning football games,” Barkley said. “And I’ve been so locked in, so focused. And my preparation, the way that I work throughout the week, and there’s a reason why I’m getting those chants.
“If I continue to take care of that, once the season is over, we’ll look and see what happens. But at the end of the day, just continue to get wins and put ourselves in a position to go deep in playoffs.”
Barkley’s MVP case goes beyond his 1,499 rushing yards and his quest for a 2,000-yard season (he’s only 501 yards away and needs to average 100.2 yards per game over the last five games to reach that mark). He has six 20+ yard touchdown runs in the second half this season, setting an NFL record with five games to play. Barkley has five 20+ yard touchdown runs in the second half over the last three games, a feat so rare that it matched Emmitt Smith (1992) and Chris Johnson (2009) for the most in a season in league history.
Not only is Barkley on pace for 2,123 rushing yards — which would be an NFL record for rushing yards in a season — he has 982 rushing yards in the second half, more than 30 NFL teams. The 982 rushing yards are the most in a season through 12 games since at least…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2024-nfl-mvp-race-eagles-saquon-barkley-not-thinking-about-award-but-has-strong-case-for-leagues-top-honor/
Author : Jeff Kerr
Publish date : 2024-12-02 17:00:00
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