Saquon Barkley's Week 18 Status Undecided amid Rushing Record Pursuit, Eagles HC Says
December 31, 2024
Even though the Philadelphia Eagles have nothing on the line in Week 18, head coach Nick Sirianni has not yet made a decision on whether or not Saquon Barkley will play in an attempt to break the single-season rushing record.
During his weekly appearance on 94WIP, Sirianni said he's going to have discussions with virtually everyone in the organization before making a final call about Barkley's availability for Sunday against the New York Giants.
"I'll talk to our staff, I'll talk to the players, I'll talk to [general manager] Howie [Roseman], I'll take to Mr. Lurie. I'll talk to everybody to try and make sure I'm making the best decision for our football team," Sirianni explained.
Barkley surpassed the 2,000-yard mark in Sunday's win over the Dallas Cowboys. He is 101 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105 yards set in 1984.
Adding to the potential intrigue if Barkley plays is he could break the record against a Giants team that he spent the first six years of his NFL career playing for. The discussion between Giants owner John Mara and general manager Joe Schoen about the possibility of losing Barkley to their NFC East rival in free agency were infamously documented on Hard Knocks.
Sirianni did note that during the 2021 season he played DeVonta Smith when he was going for the Eagles rookie receiving record, he let him play in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Smith only needed 38 yards to surpass DeSean Jackson's total of 912. He finished the game with 41 to get to 916 yards for the season, but they clearly set up the offense to get him over the mark early and out of the game by the end of the first quarter because he only played a total of 14 snaps.
Given the current state of the Giants defense, Barkley could get to 101 rushing yards by the end of the first quarter. Jonathan Taylor ran for 125 yards on 32 carries for the Indianapolis Colts against the Giants on Sunday.
Barkley has surpassed 101 rushing yards 11 times in 16 games this season. He has run for at least 150 yards in each of the past two games.
Other than Barkley's pursuit of Dickerson's record, the Eagles don't have anything to play for. They won the NFC East with Sunday's win over the Dallas Cowboys and are locked in as the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
