Eagles' Saquon Barkley bounces back with historic performance against Saints – NBC Sports Philadelphia

No one has ever started their career with the Eagles like this.

Nobody came close to me.

Saquon Barkley was spectacular.

Barkley ran for 147 yards and scored two touchdowns, including a 65-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter and the game-winning four-yard touchdown with a minute left in the Eagles' 15-12 victory over the Saints on Sunday at the Superdome.

If you're looking for the NFL MVP after three games of the season, look no further than number 26.

“I've got a fresh start and I'm excited to show the world what I can do,” Barkley said on FOX's postgame show. “I have great teammates and a great offensive line. They've done a great job for me. We're going to continue to support each other and keep going.”

Aside from his costly performance lapse last Monday in the loss to the Falcons, Barkley has been very good in his first two games this year.

But that explosive 55-meter shot took him to a whole new level.

It was the fifth 60-yard touchdown of his career. Only ten players in NFL history have managed more.

Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson opened up the gap, and Barkley sprinted past Marshon Lattimore, Alontae Taylor and Will Harris, reaching speeds of 21 miles per hour en route to the end zone.

“I knew I had a lot of space to the right,” he said. “Then the O-line blocked perfectly. You know, against Green Bay, I probably would have had two long runs if I had just gone to the right. So I learned from my mistakes.”

Barkley's 406 scrimmage yards are the most by a player in his first three games with the Eagles in the franchise's 91-year history, with Charlie Garner previously having the most yards in 1994 with 331.

Barkley is only the eighth player in NFL history with 350 rushing yards, a 5.5 rushing average and five touchdowns three weeks into a season.

He is the first Eagle with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a one-possession game since LeSean McCoy in the Snow Bowl against the Lions in 2013.

What made Barkley's performance even more impressive was the fact that he suffered a costly fall 5 ½ days earlier that cost the Eagles a game in their home opener against the Falcons.

He has recovered wonderfully.

“We understand that everyone thinks the world is ending when something like this happens, but it really doesn't matter what the outside world thinks,” he told reporters in New Orleans after the game. “It's what happens in the locker room that matters.”

“And you can see that today. We just continued to trust each other and support each other, and that's what team football is all about. And the coach always says you can't be great without the greatness of others, and that's what we did today.”

Barkley's final years with the Giants have been marked by ups and downs, but now he has an elite offensive line, a playmaker who knows how to play to his strengths, and a winning mentality he never had with the Giants.

The last time he had 400 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns in three games with the Giants was toward the end of the 2019 season.

He has now achieved this in his first three games in the Eagles jersey.

When was the last time he had an 8.7 yards per carry, two touchdown game with the Giants? How about never.

After three weeks, Barkley leads the NFL with 354 rushing yards, is 13 yards behind Alvin Kamara, the NFL's total yardage leader, and shares the NFL touchdown lead with Kamara and the Rams' Kyren Williams. His 5.6 average is behind only JK Dobbins, who is at 7.4 but has only 42 carries.

Numbers are numbers. Most impressively, Barkley delivered when the Eagles desperately needed a big play in New Orleans on Sunday. And with the game on the line in the final seconds, he delivered again.

Wilbert Montgomery, Brian Westbrook and Barkley are the only Eagles with 400 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns in a three-game span.

“Obviously the game wasn't going in our favor, but we never gave up,” Barkley said. “We continued to trust each other and continued to work hard.”

“You know, we saw (DeVonta Smith) go down with a late hit, which I believe was the case, and we agreed on that. We wanted to go out there and finish Schmitty. And all phases, especially the defense, played outstanding. We agreed on that and took advantage of the opportunity.”