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Tim McManus, ESPN Staff WriterDec 8, 2024, 03:45 PM ET
- Tim McManus covers the Philadelphia Eagles for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2016 after covering the Eagles for Philadelphia Magazine’s Birds 24/7, a site he helped create, since 2010. You can follow him on Twitter @Tim_McManus.
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles running back Saquon Barkley set a franchise record for single-season rushing yards Sunday in a 22-16 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
Barkley entered the day needing 109 yards to move past LeSean McCoy, who rushed for 1,607 yards in 2013.
He moved into first place midway through the fourth quarter with a 9-yard gain. Chants of “MVP!” broke out as his achievement was announced in the stadium.
He finished the game with 124 yards rushing.
“That’s something, once I got here, I looked up the history of the Eagles’ running backs,” Barkley said this week. “That’s your goal, you want to come in here and leave a legacy on a place, on a franchise. I had the same mindset when I was in New York. Sadly, that came up short.
“I’m aware of [the record] but it’s not the driving factor: the driving factor is to win football games and put ourselves in position to make a run and go win it all. But I am aware of the things I can accomplish. But the way I accomplish that is by sticking to the script.”
Barkley is enjoying a career year in his first season in Philadelphia. He needed just 12 games to set a personal best in single-season rushing yards, and established new highs in single-game rushing yards (255) and yards from scrimmage (302) in Week 12 against the Los Angeles Rams.
Barkley was named NFC Offensive Player of the Month for November — the first of his career. He has four NFC Player of the Week honors this season, one more than he had during his entire six-year stint with the Giants.
He entered Sunday ranked No. 1 in rushing yards (1,499) in the NFL.
