The Eagles Have Officially Turned This Into A 'Super Bowl Or Bust' Playoff Run
When Nick Sirianni made the call to Saquon Barkley and told him that he won't be playing this Sunday against the Giants, he made it clear that nothing else matters this season besides winning a Super Bowl. Not a single season rushing record. Not an MVP award. Absolutely nothing is on the same level as winning the Super Bowl. And I think mostly everybody would tend to agree.
This is just the way we look at sports. Whether it's fair or not, championships are all that ever really matters. Any time you debate an athlete or a team's greatness, the discussion always comes down to whether or not they were able to get the job done and win a title. The moment you win a championship, your greatness is never questioned. However, if you don't get the job done? Well your legacy always carries a "but" in there. "Yeah he was great, but.....".
There's not a doubt that Saquon would have gone out there and gotten the record this Sunday. It's 101 yards. He's rushed for over 100 yards in 11 games this year, and the Giants are absolutely dog shit. If he played on Sunday, then the record would be his. If he breaks the single season rushing record, then there's no chance he doesn't win the MVP this year. The record and MVP would be a lock if Nick Sirianni told Saquon Barkley he could suit up on Sunday.
But in order to do that, then everybody would have to play. All the offensive linemen would need to be out there because you can't risk having Saquon run behind backups at this point in the year. AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith would have to play because if they're not in the game, then the defense doesn't even have to pretend there's a deep threat to worry about. The Eagles decided the record and MVP award wasn't worth the risk.
Which, again, is definitely the smart decision. But if that's the case, you better go out there and get the job done in February. Because now it's as "Super Bowl or Bust" as it gets. There are zero moral victories to this playoff run. You can't be happy with just getting to the Super Bowl like they were in 2022. There aren't any excuses about having to go on the road for the NFC Championship Game. Anything besides winning the Super Bowl is a catastrophic failure that would deserve catastrophic consequences. So it'll be best to just avoid all of that entirely and win the damn Super Bowl.
Sidenote: I really won't be able to understand how Saquon doesn't win the MVP this year. He went on an 8-week stretch where he was the most unstoppable player the league has ever seen. If people don't vote for him to win the MVP just because he isn't playing in this final game to lock up the rushing record, then they have rocks for brains.