The Philadelphia Eagles are one game away from the Super Bowl.
After beating the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs, the Eagles will now face the Washington Commanders in Sunday’s NFC Championship game for a place in Super Bowl LIX.
GettyThe Eagles have made it this far largely thanks to having one of the league’s stingiest defenses (Philly finished the regular season No. 1 in both total defense and passing defense, second in points per game and fourth in the red zone), and ‘one of the best offensive lines’ one unnamed GM has ever seen.
However, it’s fair to say the Eagles have gone to the next level this season with their near unstoppable run game.
Nick Sirianni’s squad turbocharged their running game at the start of free agency earlier this year by signing former New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million deal.
Barkley has ran, ran, and ran some more in 2024, backwards leaping into the record books to become just the ninth player in NFL history to eclipse 2,000 yards rushing in a single season.
The Eagles were the No. 2 rushing team in the NFL this season, averaging 179.3 yards per game, largely thanks to Barkley’s 2,005 yards in 16 games.
Saquon was recently named one of the five finalists for this year’s MVP, but is only one half of the Eagles’ freakishly strong tandem fuelling their Super Bowl run.
Barkley has earned the nickname ‘Quadzilla’ for his monstrously muscular legs, while quarterback Jalen Hurts is a former power-lifting extraordinaire.
SaQuads’ muscular pistons first made headlines during his collegiate days at Penn State, when he set a number of school-records and finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting.
Fans quickly became fixated on Barkley’s herculean limbs and would often remark on them in real life.
“I was in Newark airport, and I was walking to get my bags, and I had short shorts on, people were just looking at me, and I’m like, ‘What the heck?'” Barkley once said.
Saquon works his lower half out extensively as he needs to be as explosive as possibleInstagram@saquon His impressive quads have been a talking point since his Penn State daysInstagram@saquonThe Quadzilla legacy grew from there, with New York Giants great Eli Manning marveling at Barkley’s hulking 29″ quadriceps after seeing them in the flesh for the first time.
“His quads are the size of my waist and whole upper body,” Manning said in 2018. “I’ve never quite seen anything like it. I don’t often stare at another man’s legs, but in that case, you just can’t quite help it.”
Saquon rarely skips leg day and during the 2019 offseason created the ‘Quad Squad Quad Challenge’ to challenge fans.
A typical leg routine for the Eagles star sees him start off with a set of Nordic hamstring curls – a favourite of Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill.
Barkley will then switch things up with a variation of the Bulgarian split squat before finishing with an advanced box jump which involves single-leg explosion and a change of direction.
‘The Quadfather’ also likes to incorporate a number of other punishing exercises into his regimen with two particular favourites being squats and hex-bar dead-lifts.
Getty GettyHe previously told Men’s Journal: “I’m able to squat 650-700 pounds.
“I’m not doing it to put on weight or be a musclehead. Those 650-pound lifts are about helping me run through a 350-pound defensive tackle.
“If I do a 405-pound power clean, that can make me explosive enough to make an NFL linebacker miss and help me jump over tacklers.
“The more explosive you are, the higher you can jump and break out that speed-nabbing 70 to 80-yard touchdowns.”
With that said, Hurts is no slouch either.
As a youngster, the Philly signal caller competed in power-lifting meets after following his father Averion’s advice and copying his brother who was also a lifter at the time.
As a sophomore, Hurts successfully squatted 440 pounds.
At a meet during his junior year in high school, he squatted 570 pounds while also bench-pressing 275 pounds and dead-lifting 585 pounds.
Hurts transferred to Oklahoma in 2019 where he shocked fans and teammates alike by squatting 600 pounds in the Sooners’ weight room.
The quarterbacks’ feats of strength have continued in recent years, too, including a 620-pound deadlift he pulled off during the 2021 offseason.
Barkley and Hurts are close, evidenced by their obvious on-field chemistry that propelled the Eagles to a 14-3 record and the NFC’s No.2 seed.
However, they remain fiercely competitive at heart, with Barkley telling Eagles legend Jason Kelce he backs himself in a squatting challenge with Hurts.
“Who can squat more – you or Jalen Hurts?” Jason asked Barkley at the start of the season.
“That’s not even close,” Saquon confidently responded.
“You think it’s not even close?” Travis interjected. “Jalen’s got you?” he cheekily asked.
“I don’t do that [squat] anymore but when I was really in that mindset of squatting I would put myself up there with a lot of people,” Barkley went on.
GettyJason then said he was currently watching a clip of Saquon squatting 585 pounds, which Barkley did once he was in the pros.
“The most I’ve ever put on my back was probably 600 [pounds]. [But] we don’t do one rep max now.”
“Jalen’s strong though,” he added. “He’s probably the strongest quarterback in the NFL.”
Barkley is coming off a 205-yard performance against the Rams.
He now faces a Washington D he has already steamrolled twice this season, totaling 296 yards on 5.4 yards per carry in a 1-1 split of the NFC East matchup.
If the Commanders are to have any chance of reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since 1991, they’ll have to slow down both Barkley and Hurts and hope rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels has the game of his life.
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