Eagles RBs Saquon Barkley and LeSean McCoy share mutual respect

Like a star running back to Whitehall High School Saquon Barkley grew up learning about LeSean McCoy’s story.

More than 80 miles southwest of Harrisburg and nearly 10 years earlier, McCoy turned his attention to Bishop McDevitt, setting the school record for rushing yards in a single game (406) as a sophomore and the school record for rushing yards in a single season ( 2828) in the second year. younger. Given both players’ roots in the state, from high school to college to the NFL, Barkley has a unique perspective on McCoy’s significance. the Eagles’ upcoming Hall of Fame induction on Sunday.

“It’s great to have him inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame,” Barkley said Thursday. “Be a boy from Pennsylvania, Bishop, Pitt—we’ll leave out the fact that he went to Pitt—and then you play for Philadelphia and have such a dominant performance here and a career that you end up in the Hall of Fame. This is like the dream of many children. For him to have it come true and be able to witness that this Sunday is just amazing.”

Long before he entered the NFL himself, Barkley witnessed the highlights of McCoy’s career with the Eagles from 2009 to 2014. In Barkley’s opinion, the performance that epitomized McCoy’s skill set was “Snow Game” win over the Detroit Lions in 2013. When a winter storm turned Lincoln Financial Field into a snow globe and the football field into a Slip ‘N Slide, McCoy rushed to play a singles game. A franchise-best 217 yards, including touchdown runs of 57 and 40 yards.

In Barkley’s opinion, the play embodied everything McCoy was about on the field, including his ability to make defenders miss in the open field.

“There’s just no one there… maybe him and Barry (Sanders),” Barkley said. “I don’t know anyone who cuts their hair like that. Stop at ten cents.

The brotherhood of current and former NFL running backs is tight-knit, but Barkley said he and McCoy became even closer when the 27-year-old running back signed with the Eagles in the offseason after six seasons with the New York Giants. . In the summer, Barkley and McCoy arranged for Pitt-Penn State charity golf at Galloway National Golf Club, near Atlantic City.

Reflecting on the experience, Barkley threw shade at the man affectionately known as “Shady,” calling him a terrible golfer. But Barkley is self-aware and admits that he, too, is terrible. While they may not be professional golfers, Barkley said he enjoys spending time with McCoy and talking football.

The respect is mutual: McCoy loved seeing Barkley’s sign in the city he called home for the first six years of his NFL career.

“He was really happy for me,” Barkley said. “Felt like this could be a good place for me, especially at the point in my career that I’m at now. I think he’s been right so far.”

Wilson inspires Sirianni’s message

Nick Sirianni often includes motivational messages in her team meetings. Last week, he couldn’t take credit for his latest mantra that made the rounds on social media via video released by the team.

“I can’t be great without the greatness of others, period,” Sirianni said at a team meeting Saturday night before the Bengals game. “The offense can’t be strong if the defense isn’t good. Defense can’t be good unless the offense is strong. I cannot be great without the greatness of others. It always comes down to this, right? Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.”

Johnnie Wilson became Sirianni’s muse on that last line. The sixth-round rookie receiver wears long- and short-sleeve T-shirts with a mantra written above the chest in small print. The jerseys were released by Nike in collaboration with rapper and singer Drake as part of a basketball apparel collection called “NOCTA.”

Wilson found the clothing line through an ad on Instagram. While he wasn’t entirely sure what Drake had to do with this motivational message, it resonated with him nonetheless.

“Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us,” Wilson said. “I’ve always been a big team player. In the end, you can have a great game. If we lose, we all lose.”

The 6-foot-6, 228-pound wide receiver has been wearing jerseys around the stadium for the past few weeks. Wilson thought Sirianni first noticed the message when Wilson wore him in warmups the day before practice without the shoulder pads on top. However, after training, Sirianni told him that he had noticed this before.

“He always has good things to say, but he’s never heard anything like this,” Wilson said. “So I reminded him of that. But I think he already saw it.

This slogan was consistent with Sirianni’s message at the meeting about the importance of the team as a collective, which was a topic discussed by both the head coach and Jalen Hurts have been saying since training camp.

“In football, it always comes down to who is the strongest,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “It will always come down to who has the most detail. And everything will always depend on who has the best team. And I don’t mean the players, I mean the team, right? That will never change in football.”

Wilson doesn’t have any other inspirational shirts in his closet that Sirianni could use as inspiration for future team meetings, but that could change in the future.

“I will develop this later,” he said.

The Eagles will play the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9. Join the Eagles as reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith break down the hottest storylines surrounding the team. Game day Centrallive from Lincoln Financial Field.