KANSAS CITY — Saquon Barkley not only went home with a win in his first game at Arrowhead Stadium, but he also took home some familiar hardware after helping the Eagles grind out a 20-17 win over the Chiefs on Sunday.
His role in the win, including 88 rushing yards and a touchdown, earned postgame honors on FOX Sports’ broadcast, winning Tom Brady’s LFG Player of the Game. It’s a nod Barkley knows well. He’s the first three-time winner of the award, having won it in last year’s wild-card round against the Packers and in the NFC Championship Game win vs. the Commanders.
“To have an award you can get that’s named after Tom Brady, that’s pretty cool to me,” said Barkley, who was Brady’s pick as LFG Player of the Year after last season as well. “Growing up, being a football fan, being a fan of Tom Brady, to have three of them, it’s fun.”
Tom Brady’s LFG Player of the Game: Eagles RB Saquon Barkley | Week 2 DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
Barkley was a bit more surprised by another NFL legend who came up to him after the game and wanted to congratulate him: Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who has already had his hands full trying to contain him twice in 2025.
“He grabbed me, [said he] was trying to find me after the Super Bowl,” Barkley said. “That was pretty cool when someone I have so much respect for and the league has so much respect for, finds you after the game, so I really appreciated that.”
Barkley and Spagnuolo have a history together, in that before he was drafted in 2018, Barkley worked out with performance coach Tom Shaw in Orlando, and Spagnuolo was working as a consultant there.
Barkley’s final numbers on Sunday included 10 runs for 28 yards when the Eagles were trying to close out the game and Kansas City knew they’d be running.
“The mindset was ‘Be patient,'” Barkley said. “We did a really good job of that. Sometimes, you get into those situations where the run’s not sexy or we’re not passing sexy and we’re out there chasing, and you put yourself in trouble. But we stuck with it, and we knew the mindset was going to be ‘Whatever it takes to win.'”
After the Chiefs scored with three minutes left to pull within a field goal, they needed stops to get the ball back. But Barkley’s final carry went for 9 yards, setting up the conversion that allowed the Eagles to take a knee and seal a hard-fought win.
“Two-six showed up when we needed him to,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “Defensively, they played lights out. Offensively, we showed up when we needed to. We just want to continue to build.”
The Eagles won despite only 216 yards of offense, their fourth-fewest in any win since 2000. It wasn’t prolific, it wasn’t dominating, but it was enough to get them to 2-0 to open the season, with room for growth.
“I had some good runs and some runs I left out there,” Barkley said. “I’m going to be better for them. That’s the beauty of it. It’s easier to learn from it after a win, but you have to approach it with the mindset of ‘How can I get better? How can we improve?’ We’re going to do that all around.”
Barkley’s production was most important because each first down kept the Chiefs’ offense and Patrick Mahomes off the field, a good strategy in any stadium.
“I’m a big fan of Mahomes,” he said. “I think he’s one of the best players in the NFL. He shows that … every single game. Much respect to him.
“But it doesn’t matter who’s over there. At the end of the day, that’s the mindset we have to continue to have.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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