The Washington Commanders face a tough matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, who boast one of the best running backs in football in Saquon Barkley.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn is very familiar with Barkley after preparing against him for years while he was with the New York Giants, and now he has a plan for him for Thursday Night Football.
“It's challenging because of his ability to jump cut and you may be in the right gap where you think you're supposed to be," Quinn said of Barkley. "And he's got such quickness to accelerate out of that cut. So, you don't want a lot of one-man tackles on a ball player of his ability where he can change and spin and use things. He's also an effective player out of the backfield, on screens, on swings, he can catch routes that are down the field that sometimes don't go to the running backs, but in his case they can. So yeah, he's an exceptional player. One that we love competing against, but he really has unique skills, like a lot of guys do. Might be a receiver some weeks, a tight end this week, a quarterback. And so it is kind of a cool part of the NFL. They've got a number of guys that will test you and push you to the limit and that's what makes playing in this, like I said, in this division against this team a lot of fun.”
Barkley, 27, has been on a tear in his first season with the Eagles. He is very likely to reach the 1,000-yard mark in Week 11 for the season as he is only nine away from that milestone. It would mark the fourth 1,000-yard campaign of his career after achieving the accomplishment in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
He also has 21 catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver, making him a true dual-threat running back.
If the Commanders can find ways to limit and contain Barkley, their chances of winning will increase.
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