The Eagles are locked into the number 2 seed in the NFC and have literally nothing to play for next Sunday against the Giants.   Let me say that again.  The Philadelphia Eagles are locked into the 2 seed in the NFC and literally have nothing to play for in the season finale against the Giants next Sunday.

Now I know what you’re thinking.  What about Saquon’s record?  O.K. What about it?

Well he has a chance to break Eric Dickerson’s al-time rushing record for yards in a season.  It’s a 40 year old record and Saquon needs just 101 yards against a Giants team that is second to last in the league in yards against per game at 141.6 and Barkley has rushed for over a hundred yards 11 times in 16 games this year.  Uh-huh. I’m listening.  Go on.

Well he could break the record in the first quarter then you could rest him. He had 109 yards on  his first six carries against the Commanders and there was still over two minutes left in the 1st quarter.

He could hit a home run and almost get there. He has four touchdowns of over 60 yards this year, only two other running backs have ever done that, Jim Brown and Adrian Peterson.  Barkley had two touchdown runs over over 70 yards in one game this year against the Rams.

And what’s even better is that it would be against the Giants, the team that drafted him and then let him walk in free agency nine months ago.  Don’t you think that Saquon would love to do it against his former team?  How about just playing him for a half?  You could say “Saquon, you’ve got one half to do it. Go get it.” 

O.K, anything else?

Well, Barkley is still in the MVP race along with Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.

O.K, well you could throw in Joe Burrow and Sam Darnold but uh-huh go on.

Well, it would be a team record, one that everybody had a hand in and be proud of – the offensive line, offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, G.M Howie Roseman for having the foresight to sign him last off-season, owner Jeffrey Lurie, the wide receivers and the quarterback.   It would be the Eagles 1-0 next Sunday.  It would galvanize the team.

Find the Blue Tent

O.K. got it. Now here’s why if you’re a real Eagles fan and you want your team to try to get Saquon Barkley the rushing record against the Giants, YOU really need to be in concussion protocol.   Go find the little blue tent and check yourself in.  No one player is above the team, not Jalen, not A.J. not Lane, and no, not even Barkley.  And if you’re an Eagles’ decision-maker. you should never, ever put an individual award above the team goal, which is actually the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl.

Let’s all take a deep breath and remember what the NFL season is all about.  At the end of the day the only thing that matters is who gets to wear the ring.

The ring is the only thing that matters.  Former Flyers Hall of fame coach, Fred Shero said it best before his team took the ice against the Boston Bruins in game six at the Spectrum on May 19, 1974.  “Win today and we walk together forever.”  After that his Broad Street Bullies went out and won their first of two straight Stanley Cups over the heavily favored Bruins, 1-0.

Rest Versus Rush

If you dress Saquon Barkley next week for the Giants game you’re gonna have to play the other starters until he breaks the record so you don’t just run the risk of Saquon getting injured, you run the risk of any one of your other starters getting injured.  He’s already broken the 2000 yard mark. That is rarified air as only eight other running backs are on that list.  If you want to break the all-time rushing record you’re just being greedy.

Right now Barkley already has carried the ball 50 more times than he has in any other year in his career, logging 345 carries, which is more than any other running back in the last decade not named Derrick Henry.

Bereft of the Number seed and bye, week 17 is the Eagles bye week and rest and healing is the most important thing for NFL players right now.  Remember playing Barkley is a binary state.  You would have to play the other starters too,  thus depriving most of your “ones” of extra rest and putting them at risk of unnecessary injury.

NFL Stands For No Freaking Locks

Here’s the other thing. There is no guarantee that Barkley will break the record.  Five times this year he failed to break the century mark and considering that third string quarterback Tanner Mckee will most likely be starting in his first NFL game for the Eagles, the Giants could easily drop a safety down into the box and focus on stopping their former beloved teammate from breaking the record.  Remember, there are no locks in the NFL.

Now consider this.  What do you think the competition wants the Eagles to do?  If you polled the Packers, Lions, Vikings and Commanders and Buccaneers what do you think they would like to see the Birds do this weekend?  I can guarantee that going for the record would be the unanimous choice.   Those teams would love to see the Eagles scrap their opportunity to rest the starters with the opportunity to do so knowing that there’s a good chance that the road to Super Bowl 59 goes through the Eagles.

Eyes on the Prize

The Eagles are on a mission right now to win their 2nd Super Bowl ever.  Since they didn’t land the one seed that means they will need to win four more games to achieve that goal. That’s a lot more wear and tear still to come for a running back who’s already hauled a bigger workload than he has in any year in his previous six years as an NFL running back.

Former Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown used to tell me quite frequently that “no one is healthy in the NFL after week one.”  Football is a violent sport.  Even if you survive the season without a serious injury you are still going to be banged up, bruised and worn down by the time week 17 rolls around.

I’ve said this a million times.  If you are an NFL team, every decision you make, big or small, your decision should be based on only two things – does it help get us closer to our ultimate goal, or could it move us further from reaching our ultimate goal?

That’s why this shouldn’t be a hard decision if the Eagles stick to their principles.  If they didn’t lose to the Commanders and still had a shot at the number one seed then we’re not having this conversation.  But there is zero to play for next Sunday. Zero. Nada. Zilch.   And so much to rest for.

And for everyone out there that I hear say “just play Saquon for a half and that’s it”.  O.k. I’ll wait a few seconds until the light bulb goes on in your heads.

O.k. got it?  Let’s play that out shall we?  So you play Barkley for a half and he finishes the first half with 78 yards on 14 carries.  Are you really not going to play him in the second half if he’s 23 yards short?  Um, no, I don’t think so.  Besides Barkley has 1245 yards in the second half of games this year, averaging over six yards per carry.  Aside from the Commanders game, the second half is where Barkley has makes his bones this season, not the first half.

Hello Kate Upton

And then there’s the cool story line narrative versus the truth.  Truthfully I don’t think Saquon cares that he could do it against the Giants.  Do you really think he still holds a grudge against his former team?  He already torched them in game one for 176 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown.  He’s got nothing left to prove.

If I were Barkley I’d be sending the Giants flowers, candy and a couple of strippers for letting me walk go so that I could sign a big deal with the Birds, a team that has an offense line good enough for me to rush for over 2000 yards,  win 13 games and be in the mix to make a run at the Super Bowl.

To Barkley, the Giants are the ex-girlfriend who is about a 4 or a 5 at best and inexplicably breaks up with you.  Then a few days later Kate Upton falls into your lap.  Kate Upton circa like 10 years ago Kate Upton.

Let me take you back to 2006.  The Patriots have nothing to play for in the season finale but for some reason head coach Bill Belichick decides to play everyone against the Titans.  The Pats roll to a 40-23 win but in the game they lose safety Rodney Harrison to a knee injury for the entire post-season.  A couple games later New England drops a very winnable game to the Colts 38-34 in the AFC Title game.  Do you think the Pats might have fared better with a two-time All Pro in their secondary?  If they had beaten the Colts that day they would have faced Rex Grossman and the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl.  You think the Patriots feel good about leaving that ring on the table?

Let it go Eagles fans.  Individual records and trophies just collect dust.  Lombardi trophies are forever.   Win one of those and you and your team will walk together forever.

Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.

This article was originally published on Heavy Sports

The post Eagles’ Fans That Want to See Saquon Break Rushing Record Need to be in Concussion Protocol appeared first on Heavy Sports.