Nothing can put together you for the sound 100,000-plus followers could make at Beaver Stadium on the campus of Penn State College.
Nor can something put together you for what it appears like when the noise those self same followers create is sufficient to shake the press field excessive above the stadium.
It was late September 2017, and Penn State hosted Indiana in an early-season Massive Ten matchup. I made the journey to Glad Valley, credentials in hand, and took my seat shortly earlier than the opening kickoff.
Saquon Barkley took that opening kickoff 97 yards for a landing, sending the gang right into a frenzy, and shaking me and everybody else in that press field:
That very same electrical energy is again in Pennsylvania because of Barkley, now in his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles. And that electrical energy is making the operating again an MVP candidate in his personal proper.
Barkley led the best way for the Eagles in a 26-18 win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday Evening Soccer, which moved the Eagles into first place within the NFC East and positioned the staff as one of many true contenders within the convention. The operating again ran for 146 yards on 26 carries, with a pair of touchdowns, and added one other 52 yards receiving on a pair of catches.
On the season, Barkley leads the NFL with 1,137 dashing yards — though Derrick Henry is shut behind with 1,120 and has an opportunity to reply in his Week 11 sport towards the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday — placing him on tempo to eclipse his earlier career-high of 1,312, set again when he was with the New York Giants within the 2022 season. That quantity accounts for 63% of the staff’s dashing yards. He additionally leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 1,347, though Henry will once more have his probability to reply on Sunday towards the Steelers.
Past the numbers, Barkley is the true engine of the Eagles’ offense, a proven fact that he confirmed on Thursday evening towards Washington. For the majority of Thursday evening’s sport towards the Commanders, the Philadelphia offense was struggling. Jake Elliott missed a pair of discipline objectives, the Eagles passing sport was out of rhythm, and Philadelphia took a 12-10 lead early within the fourth quarter on a tush push TD from Hurts, solely to see Elliott miss the additional level.
Nonetheless, Washington had life, however that was erased in a blink thanks largely to Barkley and the Eagles protection. The Commanders have been stopped on a fourth-down strive when Zack Baun and Reed Blankenship shoved rookie QB Jayden Daniels out of bounds on a run, and Philadelphia capped off their ensuing possession with this TD run from Barkley:
What stands out right here is the velocity, as Barkley simply appears to be shifting at a special tempo than the Washington defenders, erasing each angle en path to the top zone.
Blankenship and the Philadelphia protection stood tall on the subsequent Washington possession, as the security picked off Daniels on the primary play of the Commanders’ subsequent drive. Philadelphia wanted simply two performs to ice the sport, once more with Barkley main the best way:
Of word right here from Barkley? His imaginative and prescient, and his burst, on this 39-yard TD run. First, the imaginative and prescient to seek out the cutback lane on this toss play, after which the burst to place his proper foot within the turf, drive upfield, after which race away from the secondary along with his second landing of the evening, and the dagger in Washington’s hearts.
On that Saturday seven years in the past I bought my first style of the noise that Saquon Barkley can create on the soccer discipline. Not simply the noise that he can create when he reaches the top zone and the gang explodes, however the noise that he can create when he merely touches the soccer. On that afternoon in Beaver Stadium each Barkley contact precipitated the gang to carry its collective breath, ready for the operating again to do one thing particular.
He has introduced that noise to the Eagles this yr, as each time he will get his fingers on the soccer, good issues occur.
That has made the Eagles contenders, and Barkley a real MVP candidate.
