Sep 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) carries the ball for a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the second quarter of the game at Lincoln Financial Field. Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Eagles' Mindset Is Clear: 'The Numbers Don't Really Matter'

Originally posted on Philadelphia Eagles on SI
By John McMullen | Last updated Sep 12, 2025 1:34 PM ET

The Eagles have so many stars that numbers can often overwhelm the narrative, and the most important statistic of all, the win/loss column.

From Week 1 to Week 2, which kicks off Sunday in Kansas City for a Super Bowl LIX rematch with the Chiefs, A.J. Brown’s one target over 60 minutes of football against Dallas was a consistent talking point.

On Thursday after practice, All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley was asked how he, Brown, and DeVonta Smith handle the games in which they don’t touch the football enough to satiate the outside world.

“I don’t think it’s hard,” Barkley said. “I don’t know why people think it’s hard. To me, it’s simple, once you submit to [the fact that] we play a team sport, and you cannot accomplish anything without everyone else.

“It doesn’t really matter.”

The push back to that could be that Barkley is the one coming off a historic 2,504-yard rushing season, and as the RB1, is pretty much guaranteed to get a certain amount of traffic each week.

“ At the end of the day, whether AJ has one catch, or I have 20 rushing yards, Smitty doesn’t have a catch, I’m still Saquon Barkley. That’s still AJ Brown. That’s still DeVonta Smith,” Barkley insisted. “At some point, we’re going to get ours.

“That’s the mindset we’re going to continue to have. Whatever it takes to win.”

Whatever It Takes To Win

Barkley told reporters, “I don’t know why you guys are obsessed with that, to be honest.”

The superstar did acknowledge the business side of significant numbers in the NFL, though.

“I get it. It’s a great conversation,” he said. “Obviously, you want to get All-Pros and you want to get Super Bowls and you want to get to the Hall of Fame.

“A lot of that is dictated on by you guys and the numbers that we put up, but in reality, you want to go out there, you want to have those statistics, you want to have those numbers, that’s the human in you.”

Barkley, though, noted he has put up massive numbers on a 5-11 team as a rookie in 2018 and on a Super Bowl-winning team last season. The difference was stark.

“I had two seasons where I had 2,000 [total] yards and 15 touchdowns,” said Barkley. “One was my rookie year and one was here, and it looked really different.

“And I’d take last year over my rookie year every single time. It’s all about winning. The numbers don’t really matter.”

This article first appeared on Philadelphia Eagles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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