The Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Washington Commanders for the second this season on Sunday.
In their meeting back in Week 11, the Eagles won 26-18.
Per usual, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley was the star of the show as he rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns.
Since then, Barkley has only proven time and time again that no matter how much the Eagles use him, he doesn’t get tired — even well into the final quarter.
That’s why Commanders head coach Dan Quinn knows how important it is for his defense to tackle physically and consistently.
“Like a lot of great players, he is at his best, and has proven to be in the end of games,” said Quinn. “And so we have to make sure the [run] fit and the tackling on the fifth run is the same on the 25th run, and you have to be able to just continue to do right longer than them, and they’ve proven this year that they’re exceptional at staying at it [and] staying at it.
“That takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of work to do it over and over again, because, like the great player, it just takes the one [big play]. And that’s what makes over and over, like, the grit of staying in it for each down. That’s, that’s the key to me.”
According to Sports Info Solutions, Barkley leads the NFL with 509 rushing yards in the fourth quarter, which is 148 more yards than second-place Derrick Henry. His 18 first downs are also good for second-most among NFL running backs.
His 3.1 yards after contact per attempt is ninth-best among all running backs with at least 32 fourth quarter carries and his EPA/att of 0.19 is second-best out of the aforementioned qualifying running backs.
Washington defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. is on the same page as Quinn when it comes to knowing how to shut down Barkley.
“He just keeps coming, keeps coming, keeps coming,” said Whitt Jr. “So we have to stay disciplined. When it gets into the fourth quarter, we have to stay in our gaps. We have to keep going. We have to keep pursuing confident angles, not touchdown angles, to his body, because he can cut back. He can make people miss.”
We’ll see just how well Washington’s plan comes to life when Barkley and the Eagles head to Landover, Maryland this weekend for Week 16.
