The Philadelphia Eagles went into their bye week 2-2 after a 33-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They had the earliest bye week available in Week Five, and many had concerns about how early this was.

The narrative of an early bye week is often that this comes way too early in a season and that the ideal one to have is in Week 12 or Week 14.

This is seen as a time for players to rest ahead of the most crucial part of the year, with a bye week in Week Five meaning players are more likely to be tired late on in the season.

However, since their Week Five bye week, they have won seven in a row, so far disproving the theory that an early bye week can impact a team.

The 2012 season was the last time a non-quarterback won the MVP award, Adrian Peterson receiving the honours. Barkley has a real chance of ending this drought.

With 1,392 rushing yards, Barkley leads the league in this category. Only Derrick Henry (13) has more rushing touchdowns than Saquon (10).

Whilst Henry has been a key part to the Ravens offense, Lamar Jackson has also been just as integral a cog in the wheel, leading the league in passing yards and touchdowns.

However, with quarterback Jalen Hurts 17th in passing yards (2,376) and tied for 14th for passing touchdowns (13), Barkley has been a far more integral part of the Eagles offense. Whilst Hurts has 11 rushing touchdowns (T-2nd), he has a total of 41.5 yards per game. Meanwhile, Barkley has 126.5, the most in the entire NFL this season.

Whether it has been the backwards hurdle against the Jacksonville Jaguars or his 302-yard game last time out against the Los Angeles Rams, he has not been short of highlight plays. His 255 rushing yards against the Rams is the ninth highest total of any game in history.

He is on a similar trajectory to Christian McCaffrey, who was in a similar situation with the Carolina Panthers to what Barkley had with the New York Giants.

Both McCaffrey and Barkley were bell cows for their respective teams and were the entire offense. Since they both joined their new teams, they are just one of many offensive weapons.

Whether this is McCaffrey playing alongside George Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk for the San Francisco 49ers or Barkley next to AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, they are no longer required to be used for every down.

With 100 yards or more on the ground in seven of Philadelphia’s 11 games so far this season, five in the past six, he is having a season for the ages and could be the key to the Eagles returning to the Super Bowl.

Long term center Jason Kelce was a major part of the Eagles’ offensive line. His retirement sent panic waves around the fanbase.

With the struggles that his replacement Cam Jurgens had in the Week One win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil, many thought this would be the theme of the season. They have so far been proved right and the Eagles are winning games in spite of this.

Hurts is the joint seventh most sacked quarterback this season (29). He was sacked five time against the Dallas Cowboys and six times against the Buccaneers.

This has probably played a big part in him not being top of the stat charts, but with the form of Barkley, he is papering over the cracks for this poorly performing offensive line.

This Eagles team is 9-2 and the current second seed in the NFC. The Cowboys have underwhelmed, the Commanders are stuttering and the New York Giants are who we thought they were, a bad team. The NFC East appears to be theirs once again.

Andy Davies

Eagles Disprove Early Bye Week Theory

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