Tracking Saquon Barkley’s performance in Super Bowl 59 vs. Chiefs

Saquon Barkley is doing his part to bring a Lombardi back to Philly, and we’ll track his performance throughout the big game against the Chiefs.

Saquon Barkley’s first season with the Philadelphia Eagles has been nothing short of magical.

Now the running back is hoping to end that campaign with a Super Bowl title.

After departing the New York Giants in free agency ahead of the 2024 season, Barkley enjoyed a career season in Philadelphia. The running back picked up 2,005 yards on 345 carries, eclipsing. the 2,000-yard mark and coming within striking distance of Eric Dickerson’s all-time single-season rushing record. Had Barkley not sat out Philadelphia’s Week 18 game against the New York Giants, he might have reached that milestone.

Barkley has been equally impressive in the Eagles’ run to Super Bowl LIX. He picked up 119 yards on 25 carries against the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round, and then another 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round.

He helped the Eagles punch their ticket to Super Bowl LIX with a command performance in the NFC Championship Game, rushing for 118 yards and three touchdowns against the Washington Commanders, on just 15 rushing attempts. That adds up to 442 yards on just 66 attempts, an average of 6.70 per rush, higher than his season average of 5.81.

Now he’ll face his ultimate test in the Kansas City Chiefs and Steve Spagnuolo, who is sure to have a game plan crafted towards slowing Barkley down. The Kansas City defensive coordinator admitted on Friday that the Chiefs are going to have their hands full with Barkley on Super Bowl Sunday.

“Our hands are full here with Saquon,” said Spagnuolo. “You guys have seen the tape, he’s pretty elite, there is nothing he can’t do. One of the things that go unnoticed is how good of a pass protector he is, and he’s really smart… he is going to be the toughest challenge we’ve had in the run game this year.”

Spagnuolo shared his defensive mindset with reporters this week.

“The thing we always talk about building it, setting it, and tracking it,” Spagnuolo stated. “Building a wall, setting an edge, and tracking the hip. The tracking the hip part is really important, because Saquon can stick his foot in the ground and cut back, he has cut all the way back and that is when he has made those big runs.”

We’ll see how Barkley, and the Chiefs defense, do later today.

Second quarter

Despite the Eagles scoring 24 points in the first half, the Chiefs defense has done a good job of keeping Barkley in check. It seems Steve Spagnuolo’s game plan was to not let Philadelphia’s star back beat them.

Barkley added just four carries for 12 yards in the second quarter which moved his yards per carry average slightly up to 2.6. He’s also caught three of the four passes thrown his way for three yards with a long of four yards on those receptions.

First quarter

As the Eagles controlled the first quarter, Barkley was held to 2.4 yards per carry but Philadelphia continues to call his number with eight carries. Kansas City’s defense line has done a good job of filling run gaps while Barkley has also slipped on the turf a couple of times already.

Barkley had a huge blitz pickup when Jalen Hurts needed an extra second to hit Jahan Dotson on a deep ball to the goal line prior to the Eagles first quarter touchdown.

With 19 first-quarter yards, Barkley has set the record for most scrimmage yards in a season, regular season and playoffs combined:

Third quarter

TBD

Fourth quarter

TBD