Cold weather, bright lights, & a chance for Eagles' Saquon Barkley to take over

Monday Night Football, in November, at Lambeau Field -- the kind of stage where reputations are reinforced, and the type of weather where you can't hide.

For the Eagles, they've consistently leaned heavily on their identity as a physically imposing football team under Nick Sirianni, and as the cold Wisconsin air rolls in early next week, that identity will need to show itself again.

Considering the stage, the outlying factors, and how the Eagles aim to generate revenue in the winter, one player stands out as a potential game-changer in Week 10: Saquon Barkley.

How Barkley can be the key to Eagles pulling off Week 10 win

By his own lofty standards, Barkley’s 2025 campaign has been quiet. After a historic 2024 season where he rushed for more than 2,500 yards and scored 18 touchdowns, he’s sitting at just 519 yards and four scores through eight games this fall, averaging a modest 4.1 yards a pop.

But what last week reminded everyone -- in a 150-yard, 10.7-yards-per-carry explosion against his former team -- is that Barkley is always just one. Snap. Away.

His performance in Week 8 wasn’t just a flashback; it was a reminder of how uniquely dangerous No. 26 can be. He’s a 6-foot, 235-pound back who moves with the burst and long speed of a wide receiver, with 4.3 to beat you around the edge.

That combination of size, strength, and speed makes him one of the few running backs in football who can turn a simple zone handoff into a 70-yard house call, and as temperatures drop and defenses stiffen, that style of play becomes increasingly valuable.

Taking the layers back on their offensive structure, the Eagles’ offense thrives when it’s able to attack angles in a variety of formations—in layman's terms, balanced.

Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, and A.J. Brown may define the flash of the unit, but Barkley defines its physical floor -- the ability to dictate tempo, grind possessions, and impose will on a defense. Green Bay’s front, led by Micah Parsons, Quay Walker, and Edgerrin Cooper, has been improving in its run fits, but this is precisely the kind of back that tests discipline and stamina.

Tackling Barkley in space is one thing; tackling him repeatedly in below-freezing temperatures at Lambeau Field is something entirely different.

And for all the talk about Barkley’s slow start, the Eagles understand the long game. They didn’t trade for him to carry the offense in September -- they acquired him for nights like this. Cold-weather football demands patience, and it requires the kind of physicality that wears on defenders across four quarters.

Barkley’s ability to burst through arm tackles, create his own lanes, and build momentum late in games makes him the exact weapon you want as the schedule turns to November and December.

The Packers have to account for Hurts’ mobility and Philadelphia’s deep passing game, but that attention opens up opportunities for Barkley to reassert himself. And if he finds rhythm early -- if the Eagles’ offensive line starts to lean on Green Bay’s front -- it could be the night Barkley looks like the 2024 version of himself again.

Because when the lights are bright, the air is cold, and games tighten in the trenches, few backs in football are more capable of taking over than 26.