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When the Philadelphia Eagles played the Los Angeles Rams during the regular season, the Eagles piled up 314 rushing yards in a 37-20 win. The first quarter of their rematch was a clear indication they’d get near that number again in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The Eagles rushed for 115 yards in the first quarter, and a big reason they were able to do that is because they accomplished a feat that no NFL team had pulled off in the postseason in more than 60 years: They had two touchdown runs of 40 yards or more.
They would end up piling up 285 rushing yards in a 28-22 win over the Rams.
The first score came on Philadelphia’s opening drive when Jalen Hurts took off for a 44-yard touchdown, which set the franchise record for longest scoring run by a quarterback in the postseason.
That score gave the Eagles an early 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 ran for a career-high 255 yards in Philly’s first meeting with the Rams, scored there on a 62-yard run.
With the score, Barkley became the second player in NFL history to have three scoring runs of 60 yards against the same team in a single season, including 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 get two scoring runs of 40 yards or more in the same quarter. The last time it happened came before the first Super Bowl when the Chargers did it against the Patriots in the AFL playoffs in 1963.
It also marked the first time that ANY team scored on two runs of 40 yards…
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