Week 10’s matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles will feature two of the best running backs in the NFL today. Saquon Barkley, who had quite a year in 2024, will look to lead Philly on the ground, while Josh Jacobs will take care of the Packers’ rushing attack.
Barkley led the league in 2024 with 2,005 rushing yards to go with 13 touchdowns on 345 carries and won that season’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year award while winning a Super Bowl. He has 519 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground so far in this campaign. Jacobs, on the other hand, has 534 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 141 carries.
Saquon Barkley speaks up on defenses against him, Jacobs
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) stiff-arms Carolina Panthers linebacker D.J. Wonnum (98) on Sunday, November 2, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. The Panthers won the game, 16-13, on a 49-yard field goal as time expired.
Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Ahead of his first-ever game at Lambeau Field since entering the NFL, Barkley spoke about the challenges of succeeding in the NFL in the face of opposing coaches trying to find ways to slow down talented running backs such as him and Green Bay’s Jacobs.
Via Zach Berman of The Athletic:
Saquon Barkley on the defenses he and Josh Jacobs are facing: “It always goes year-by-year. When you think about last year, you had a 2,000-yard rusher, Derrick (Henry) had 1,900. There’s a lot of running backs who had a lot of success. How do you stop that? Coaches go into the offseason and say, ‘where we were weak at? Where did teams take advantage of us?’ So a lot of them are doing a better job of taking care of the run game — especially in a pass-heavy league.”
It’s going to be interesting how the Packers will deal with Barkley, but one thing to know about Green Bay’s run defense, it’s one of the stoutest in the league. On the season, Green Bay is allowing just 89.4 rushing yards per game, fifth-best in the NFL. Conversely, the Packers are 16th in the league with 112.9 rushing yards per contest.
Jan 12, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley (26) reacts against the Green Bay Packers in the fourth quarter in an NFC wild card game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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