Eagles’ Saquon Barkley shines in 1st half of NFC title game with TD runs of 60, 4 yards

Saquon Barkley sprinted 60 yards for a touchdown on his first carry of the NFC championship game and the Eagles running back had a 4-yard scoring run on his second carry to roaring “MVP! MVP!” chants each time.

Barkley ran for 85 yards in the first half Sunday and helped the Eagles lead the Washington Commanders 27-15 at halftime.

His 2,005 yards rushing in the regular season left him only 101 shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 in 1984 with the Los Angeles Rams.

Including the playoffs, Barkley extended an NFL record Sunday with his seventh rushing touchdown of 60-plus yards in a season.

Again, postseason included, Barkley had 2,414 total yards rushing by halftime, just 63 yards away of breaking Terrell Davis’ mark of 2,476 yards set in the 1998 season when the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl.

The Commanders got a field goal on the opening drive of the NFC title game to take some of the air out of the frenzied crowd at Lincoln Financial Field.

Barkley had them going wild on the Eagles’ first offensive play from scrimmage when he cut left, spun around a pair of defenders and took off on the touchdown run.

The Eagles recovered a fumble on the next drive and Barkley added the 4-yard run — making him 2 for 2 on carries and touchdowns — for a 14-3 lead.

Stuck at just two career playoff games in six seasons with the New York Giants, Barkley rushed for 324 yards combined against Green Bay and the Los Angeles Rams in his first two playoff games with the Eagles.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL