Saquon Barkley was in Phoenix the last time the Eagles were in the Super Bowl.
He wasn't playing, of course, but satisfying some media duties on Radio Row. Still, even though he wasn't yet part of the Eagles, he felt for them when they lost to the Chiefs in heartbreaking fashion.
Now that he's in the Super Bowl with his new teammates, he wants nothing more than to help them earn revenge.
"I think even though I wasn't part of that team ... when you're able to develop a friendship and a relationship with these guys and be able to go to war with each other, it felt like I was," Barkley said Thursday, via the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I know how, like I wasn't there, but I can feel in my own body how it felt for them and see the confetti fall in the wrong color and having to walk out.
"Definitely don't want to be part of that. That's definitely something that drives us. For those guys that have been a part of it, but also just want to get the job done and knowing how it is for those guys, how it felt, and doing everything I can in my ... ability to make sure that doesn't happen."
Barkley has certainly done plenty to get the Eagles to this point, compiling a season that flirted with history and finished clear of the 2,000-yard mark. He almost single-handedly won them multiple games, finishing off close contests with breakaway runs and stuffing highlight reels across the nation so significantly, he's among the finalists for Offensive Player of the Year.
Still, those achievements will seem hollow to Barkley if it doesn't include a Lombardi Trophy.
"The only thing that makes it special, whether we got the rushing record during the season or if we get the all-time rushing record, playoffs included, the only thing that makes it special is winning a Super Bowl," Barkley said. "This profession that we're in, this sport that we're in, there's a lot of great things that we've accomplished so far up to this, but if we don't get the job done next Sunday, maybe when you're in your 30s and 40s and you look back at it, you're going to think about how special it was. But it's kind of going to make it feel ... like you came up short."
The Eagles likely do not reach this stage without Barkley. Now, they'll need him again to finish off a run he said he envisioned as soon as he signed with Philadelphia.
