LOS ANGELES — Every player who steps onto an NFL field is an elite athlete in their own way. So good at certain aspects of a role that he is one of 1,696 players active at any point during the season.
But then there are the singular athletes, who have all the attributes you hope to find in a prospect and can pull off every single one of those tricks on the court. And that’s the challenge the Rams (5-5) will face Sunday night when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles (8-2) and running back Saquon Barkley.
“Most running backs are so simple, ‘Oh, he’s fast.’ All right, so we just have to keep his speed locked in,” outside linebacker Jared Verse said. “He likes to bounce (outside), OK, we just have to keep the edges contained. He’s a downhill running back, okay, let [defensive tackle Bobby Brown III] handle it. But like Saquon, he’s a different beast in his own right because he’s quick and he can rebound, but he’s also very patient.
Barkley signed with the Eagles as a free agent this offseason and the fit into Philadelphia’s offense was instant. With 1,137 rushing yards in 10 games, he’s on pace to shatter his career high of 1,312, and could even do so with a particularly explosive performance against the Rams. And he does it efficiently, too, averaging a career-high 5.8 yards per carry.
And with his arrival, the Eagles have become one of the most productive offenses in the NFL, averaging an estimated 0.087 points added (EPA) per play on offense and a league-leading 0.050 EPA per play on runs. .
“They’re doing a great job giving him a variety of opportunities and he’s surrounded by a group of really good players,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “They’ve hit their stride and it’s no mistake that they’ve won six games in a row. They’re finding their identity and Saquon is certainly in the middle of a lot of really good things that they’re doing.
Linebacker Omar Speights, who along with Christian Rozeboom is expected to do the heavy lifting against Barkley, said he’s been texting friends around the league to get a scouting report, which usually boils down to: “C ‘is a complete rear.”
“He’s fast, he can play, he can be powerful,” Speights said. “That’s the challenge. I’m excited to go there and be able to compete with him, test my abilities.
For Verse though, as he watches the tape, he keeps coming back to Barkley’s patience.
“That’s probably the most frustrating thing about playing a running back like that,” Verse said, “where he’s not going to get to space immediately if he sees a hint of someone at the back. ‘interior. He’s going to wait a little bit, wait a little bit and then he’s going to hit for the home run. You have to be so on your Ps and Qs that you can’t let a game take off and say, “Oh, I’ll get the next one.” It has to be immediate. »
REMARKS
Rookie offensive lineman KT Leveston returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since the former seventh-round pick was placed on injured reserve before the start of the regular season, albeit in a passage.
“He was a guy we were excited about, he ended up getting injured, and now we’ll get a chance to see him on the practice field so that’ll be good,” McVay said.
Right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle) and cornerback Charles Woods (ankle) did not participate in Wednesday’s visit. McVay said both men are making progress and will be monitored as the week progresses regarding their availability against the Eagles.
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