Little did anyone know that Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley's blazing 78-yard touchdown run in the snow against the Los Angeles Rams would still impact players' mindsets about four months later.
During the Eagles' dominating Super Bowl run, only one of their four playoff wins was within one possession. Their 28-22 win over the Rams in the NFC Divisional Round gave Philadelphia a scare after being up by 13 points with 4:36 left in the contest.
How the Eagles won that game, though, has one of the Rams' top young defenders still thinking about that game all through the offseason.
Rams pass rusher Jared Verse is still thinking about the Eagles
Rams pass rusher Jared Verse spoke with Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show on Friday. One topic was Verse's thoughts on the Eagles' playoff game.
“It crosses my mind about three times a day. I think about how if I did this, or I did that, we could have — if Saquon’s big run to the opposite of the field, if I didn’t hesitate off the bat, I could have caught him … I could have been better. I could have stopped that. It upsets me every day because he could have won that game."
Verse made waves before that divisional round game. He had called out the Eagles fans, saying that he hated them despite having gone to high school in Pennsylvania. Eagles fans gave Verse their respect, though, as he backed up his talk with four tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, and two quarterback hits in the loss.
The Eagles punished the Rams in their own way in the contest, though, as they sacked quarterback Matthew Stafford five times and forced two turnovers. Barkley and the Philadelphia rushing attack ripped open Los Angeles' defense to the tune of 285 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Barkley contributed 205 of those yards and two of those scores.
Surprisingly, this was the better defensive performance of the two matchups between the Eagles and Rams in 2024. Barkley gashed the Rams for 255 rushing yards and two touchdowns, with Philadelphia totaling 314 rushing yards in the 37-20 win over Los Angeles in Week 12.
While there is an argument that other teams the Eagles faced in the postseason last year are facing worse memories, it shows how dominant a year it was for the Super Bowl champions in 2024-2025.
