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Bobby Wagner: Commanders must slow Saquon Barkley 'the whole game'

The Washington Commanders will attempt to do Sunday what few have accomplished this season: Stop Saquon Barkley.

A runaway train, Barkley generated 2,005 rush yards in the regular season. His 324 yards in two postseason games gives him 2,329 for the season, becoming just the third player to reach 2,200-plus yards in a single season (including playoff), joining Terrell Davis (1997 and 1999) and Eric Dickerson (1984).

Some teams have slowed Barkley for stretches, holding him most to 3- or 5-yard gains. Like a jabbing boxer, the back keeps coming. Jab, 3-yard gain. Jab, 2-yard gain. Jab, 5-yard gain. Jab, 1 yard. Strong jab, 11 yards. Jab, 3 yards. Jab, 6 yards. Jab, 9 yards.

Then, when a silver of daylight appears, Barkley throws a devastating uppercut that puts an opponent on his tuchus.

"He does it against everybody," Washington defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. said Thursday. "So, it's 11-man football to stop this man. And if you don't do it, you're going to see those explosive runs which you've seen against everybody else."

The Commanders know full well the difficulty of slowing Barkley for an entire 60-minute game. In two contests this season, the Eagles running back dashed for 296 total rushing yards and four scores.

"You just try to contain him," Washington linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "That's going to be our challenge, to be disciplined the whole game. He has the talent to break a run at any given point, and we need to make sure that doesn't happen.

"That's going to be our challenge, to be disciplined the whole time, the whole game. He has the ability and the talent to break a run at any given point, and we need to make sure that don't happen."

Easier said than accomplished.

In Week 11, the Commanders did a good job bottling up Barkley. The MVP candidate generated 70 yards on 20 carries through three quarters, 3.5 yards per tote. Then the blastoff: 90 yards on 11 fourth-quarter totes, including two touchdowns (23 yards and 39 yards).

"It's the explosive plays that he can create," coach Dan Quinn said. "He's also got rare change of direction. He has this quickness of a smaller back and the size of a big back. It's an unusual combination, but it's not the size alone of this guy that is so powerful. It's both."

In 18 games, including playoffs, Barkley was held under 100 yards rushing just five times -- he had an equal number of 150-plus rushing days. His season-low came in Week 6 when Cleveland held him to 47 yards on 18 carries.

Quinn faced Barkley a lot during his stint as defensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys when the running back played in New York. In six matchups as the Cowboys DC against the then-Giants back, Quinn's defense held Barkley to 38.3 yards per game, and he never generated more than 81 yards rushing (an ankle sprain in Week 5, 2021 suffered after just two carries skews the average somewhat).

"Every single time that I've coached against him, he's been the emphasis," Quinn said.

Facing Barkley behind a woeful Giants offensive line and trying to continually corral him behind the best O-line in football are two completely different scenarios.

The Commanders defense has gotten eaten up by the run. Washington allowed 138.9 rush yards per game, including playoffs, ranking 30th in the NFL. In last week's win over Detroit, they couldn't slow Jahmyr Gibbs and allowed the Lions to rush for 201 yards and three TDs. Turnovers keyed that victory. Can they count on that same concoction again?

Detroit didn't feed the run game enough early in the Divisional Round. With a banged-up quarterback, Philly won't make the same mistake.

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