Former and current Eagles react to Saquon Barkley topping 2,000 yards, clinching NFC East: ‘Thank you, Giants’
Current and former Eagles were buzzing after the Birds’ dominant win over the Cowboys.
What’s better than a win over the Cowboys? Beating the Cowboys to clinch the NFC East.
Despite multiple injuries at quarterback, the Eagles beat Dallas in dominating fashion to officially clinch the No. 2 spot in the NFC, and the star of the show once again was Saquon Barkley. With 167 yards, Barkley officially became the ninth player ever to log 2,000 rushing yards in a single season.
“I’m not going to lie,” Barkley said. “Just being a fan of the game and the running back position, to reach a milestone and put myself up there with eight other backs that I respect, some of them I grew up watching, it definitely means a lot. But at the same time I wouldn’t be able to do that without this team. You can’t be great without the greatness of others and I’m just happy I was able to be a part of the team and reach a milestone like that.”
No one was happier for Barkley’s accomplishments than the people in the Eagles’ locker room, especially the offensive line. Barkley is leaving the decision to go for the record up to Nick Sirianni, but his Birds teammates seized the opportunity to celebrate his accomplishments.
It’s not just the current Eagles who are wowed by Barkley and the offensive line this season.
And, of course, with a Week 18 matchup against the Giants, Barkley could have the opportunity to break the NFL rushing record against the team that let him go.
“Thank you, Giants,” Darius Slay said postgame. “We really appreciate y’all.”
He wasn’t alone in that sentiment.
Without Jalen Hurts, Kenny Pickett overcame broken ribs to throw for 143 yards and a beautiful touchdown to DeVonta Smith.
“Of course you want to finish it out,” Pickett said postgame. “But I left it all out there. I did everything I could to play today, stay in there as long as I could. I have no regrets or anything, leaving the stadium, we got the win. That’s all that matters.”
After Pickett went down late in the third quarter due to his rib injury, McKee took over and promptly threw his first career touchdown pass to A.J. Brown. In the fourth, McKee found Smith in stride for his second career touchdown pass, Sunday’s final dagger in what’s left of this year’s Cowboys.
Eagles fans have plenty of experience with magical runs with backup quarterbacks, and former defensive end Chris Long saw that quality in the quarterbacks on Sunday.
“Tanner McKee looks like the type of guy that people are going to be talking about as long as he’s on this roster,” Long said. “Tanner McKee, I get it. I get the infatuation with the guy.”
Hurts wasn’t on the sidelines with the team, since he’s still in concussion protocol, but he was quick to celebrate the Birds clinching the NFC East with a photo of C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who opened the scoring with a pick-six, one of two interceptions on Sunday.