When the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Los Angeles Rams during the regular season, the Eagles racked up 314 rushing yards in a 37-20 victory. If the first quarter of their rematch was any indication, they could get close to that number again in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The Eagles rushed for 115 yards in the first quarter, and one of the main reasons they were able to do it was because they accomplished a feat no NFL team had managed in the playoffs in over 60 years: They completed two touchdown passes of 40 yards or more.
The first score came on Philadelphia’s first drive when Jalen Hurts took off for a 44-yard touchdown, which set the franchise record for longest score scored by a quarterback in the postseason.
That score gave the Eagles a 6-0 lead after Jake Elliott missed the extra point.
After the Rams responded with a touchdown, the Eagles rushing attack struck again, and this time it was Saquon Barkley.
The Eagles running back, who rushed for a career-high 255 yards in Philadelphia’s first meeting with the Rams, scored on a 62-yard run.
With this score, Barkley became the second player in NFL history to have three 60-yard runs against the same team in a single season, including the playoffs (in their first meeting, Barkley scored on runs of 70 and 72 yards).
The two touchdowns made the Eagles the first team in the Super Bowl era to have two scores of 40 yards or more in the same quarter. The last time this happened was before the first Super Bowl, when the Chargers did it against the Patriots in the 1963 AFL playoffs.
It was also the first time ANY team scored on two runs of 40 yards or more (regular season or playoffs) since 2013, when the Eagles did it against the Lions. Coincidentally, this happened in an on-snow game where the Eagles were playing a team coached by Matthew Stafford, which is the exact game that happened in Sunday’s divisional round playoff game.
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