Saquon Barkley: “Statistics don’t matter, the only statistic that matters is winning”

Eagles running back Saquon Barkley ran for 119 yards in Sunday’s win over the Packers, but he could have run for 59 more and chose not to on his final carry of the game.

After gaining the decisive first down, Barkley went down to the Eagles’ 41-yard line, even though he had a path to the end zone and could have scored. Afterward, Barkley said he knew the first down won the game and didn’t care about anything else.

“Statistics don’t matter. The only stat that matters is winning,” Barkley said. “Whether we throw for 400 yards, rush for 400 yards or win 3-0, I don’t care, to be honest. I just want to win.

When asked if it was tempting for him to score a touchdown, Barkley said no.

“It wasn’t tempting. Situational football,” Barkley said. “A first try, you win the match? Go down first and sit down.

Barkley said some of his teammates blamed him because he missed a chance to score a game-tying touchdown to close out the game.

“They told me I should have taken a little more, but at the end of the day the most important thing in the playoffs is to win and advance,” Barkley said on Fox after the game.

Winning and progressing is exactly what Barkley did.

“The most important thing is winning games,” Barkley said. “The stat line doesn’t matter. The only stat that matters is getting Ws.”