Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. When one considers the dominant NFL conversation-starters of the past quarter century, these names rise to the top.
Brady with his record seven Super Bowls and Greatest of All Time (GOAT) status. Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs superstar, is chasing history on Super Bowl Sunday, trying to become the first signal-caller to win three straight Super Bowls titles. A win against the Philadelphia Eagles would already give Mahomes four championships, at age 29, leaving him plenty of time to threaten Brady’s supremacy.
Quarterbacks, quarterbacks, quarterbacks.
Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Lamar Jackson, on and on. Fans obsess about the arms. Teams pay astronomical sums for the good ones. No question, there have been outstanding players at other positions that demand our attention: J.J. Watt, Terrell Owens, Troy Polamalu, to name a few.
But there was once a time, from the ‘70s to the ‘90s, when runners weren’t just game-changing players, but bonafide mainstream stars. Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Bo Jackson, Walter “Sweetness” Payton, Marcus Allen, O.J. Simpson. Everyone knew the big running backs (RBs).
That hasn’t really been the case in recent years. Until now, thanks to Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, the key player of Super Bowl 59. Especially if Barkley and his Eagles can pull off the win, knocking Mahomes off his quarterback (QB) perch.
With his monster 2024 regular season and postseason, Barkley brought some shine back to the running backs. Barkley has scored five rushing touchdowns (TDs) this postseason: if he were to achieve three more at the Super Bowl, he’d tie Terrell Davis for the most rushing scores in a single playoffs (eight, in the playoffs following the 1997 season). In the 1998 season and postseason, Davis rushed for 2,476 yards, an all-time high, as the Broncos repeated as Super Bowl champs.
With just 30 rushing yards on Sunday, Barkley—who…
