Saquon Barkley and the Eagles RBs of yesteryear

Happy Tuesday! We are one day closer to Super Bowl LIX.

The two weeks in between the conference title games and the Super Bowl feel more like two months, but we’ll get through it together. In the meantime? Let’s reflect on Saquon Barkley’s greatness, get real petty with Josh Harris’ Sixers, and review a Flyers W over Josh Harris’ Devils.

In the email today:

• 🦅 Saquon Barkley shows flashes of past great Eagles RBs

• 😲 Is there beef between the Eagles and the Sixers?

• 👿 Flyers jump Devils, snap two-game skid

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

Saquon Barkley became the 11th Eagle to run for 1,000 yards in a season. He also became the first to run for 2,000 in a season.

There are hints of many of the great backs in Eagles history in Barkley’s game. We’ll start with the shiftiness that marked the styles of Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy.

The circle button spin moves are breathtaking, but Barkley really only goes to them when he needs them.

So what else has Barkley got? Anyone who knows anything about Herschel Walker and Ricky Watters knows that both men were not only fast…they were strong.

You know where this is going.

And we would be remiss if we didn’t draw the obvious parallel between “Wilbert Montgomery at the Vet against the Cowboys in 1980” and “Saquon Barkley at the Linc against the Commanders in 2025.”

Agility. Speed. Strength. Home run hitting ability and the feel for the moment.

The Eagles have been pretty blessed with running back talent in their history. Each of those 1,000-yard backs had at least one special thing.

With each game this season, though, it’s clear that the Eagles have never seen anything like Saquon Barkley, one player with multiple special gifts working all at once.

Hopefully, the Chiefs’ game plan for Barkley will go as well as the Commanders’

Our readers are very busy, important people who can’t spend their time tracking which social media accounts congratulate other social media accounts.

That’s where we come in! Chronically online so you don’t have to be.

Here’s the situation:

• Around the start of new seasons or big games, the city’s teams usually wish each other luck, send congratulations, etc. on their social media accounts. The Phillies will post a photo of the Phanatic holding a “Go Birds” sign or whatever.

• Sunday held true to form, with the Fightins, Flyers, Union, and Wings making their typical posts about the Eagles. Any team social media account should try to engage with the fan base and their interests, working to get further ingrained in the fabric of the city. These easy, vanilla posts are a no-brainer.

• The Sixers decided not to acknowledge the Commanders - Eagles game at all.

“Why should I care,” wonders our very busy, important reader. “I’m a very busy important reader. I don’t have time for foolishness.”

Well, there’s speculation that the Sixers didn’t fulfill their traditional social media duties because Sixers managing partner Josh Harris is also the managing partner of the Washington Commanders. Which, if true, is pretty shitty. It would indicate that the team prioritized Harris’ feelings over its fans.

The Sixers have not publicly commented on the matter, despite a significant amount of online abuse.

Josh Harris is also the managing partner of the New Jersey Devils, by the way. Let’s segue!!!

Let’s face it: A Monday night regular season Flyers game against the Devils never had a prayer of matching the intensity of Sunday’s Eagles game.

So it’s not surprising that the Flyers took this opportunity to generate some off-the-ice interest, starting with the grand opening of the Gritty version of a Build-a-Bear Workshop.

The real chaos will be created by parents telling their kids “no” to spending $55 on a stuffed toy on top of parking, tickets and concessions, amirite?

Elsewhere, a couple of Eagles spent a well-earned night off taking in the game and, in Cooper DeJean’s case, taking a spin around the ice.

What was that? Oh, right, the game. Sorry.

The Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 lead off goals by Bobby Brink, Joel Farabee and Garnet Hathaway. Samuel Ersson looked very comfortable in goal, even after the Devils got one back late in the second period.

Then the Devils scored with 1:22 left to make it very interesting.

Ersson and the Flyers had to withstand a super nervy minute until Scott Laughton put the game away with an empty-net goal with 15 ticks left. The 4-2 Flyers win kept the Flyers in the Eastern Conference wild card morass.

These two teams renew hostilities Wednesday night in Newark.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

January 28 falls in a bit of a dead zone. Here’s Nick Foles running the Philly Special.

📊 Poll

Results from Monday:

🔗 Links

• 🐀 We didn’t need any more reasons to dislike Josh Harris, but we got one anyway.

• ☘️ Meanwhile, Jeffrey Lurie is considering buying (gulp) the Celtics.

• 🎮️ Benjamin Solak got dragged for acting like Josh Allen was supposed to play in real life like he would in a video game.

• 🤠 Fear not, Cowboys fans, your new coach says you’re “gonna win a championship.”

• 👶 Zach Baun’s very young son went viral in the aftermath of the Eagles’ NFC title win.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

• Sixers vs. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. (TNT)

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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