Saquon Barkley's NFL MVP candidacy, plus USMNT's encouraging win

By / / Sports / 6 minutes of reading


The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.

Good morning! Seattle still deserves an NBA team.

While You Were Sleeping: Saquon Barkley, MVP?

For more than three quarters, last night’s Eagles-Commanders game was a brutish defensive struggle. Star-laden offenses struggled to move the ball (or kick field goals) against tenacious defenses. A real throwback game. 

Then, with just under five minutes left, Saquon Barkley took control. A 23-yard touchdown run left Washington grasping, down 19-10. Two plays later, after an interception, Barkley zoomed 39 yards for another touchdown. Souls were snatched, and the game was over, no matter the 26-18 final score.

Barkley finished the game with 198 total yards, giving him 1,347 this season in just 10 games. It begs the question: Shouldn’t he and another back in the MVP conversation?

  • Barkley, 27, leads the league in rushing (for now) with 1,137 yards, 17 more than Derrick Henry. They are both averaging about six yards per carry, and while Henry could end up with more rushing yards, Barkley is the more dangerous receiver. Also, just watch this Eagles team; without Barkley, it would sink.
  • Isn’t it incredible we’re even talking about those two as MVP dark horses? Both were jettisoned from their original NFL homes, and both are now igniting two of the NFL’s best offenses. I normally agree with the don’t-overpay-running-backs crowd, but these two are glorious exceptions.

A running back has not won MVP since Adrian Peterson did it in 2012, which might as well be 1912, if you consider how much NFL offenses have changed since then. Will Barkley or Henry win? Probably not, per BetMGM odds, which favor Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. But RBs should be in the conversation.

Meanwhile, the Eagles (8-2) are winners of six straight and clearly the NFC’s best non-Lions team at this point.

Let’s keep moving:

Also Last Night: Poch and Pepi spur USMNT

Under the previous U.S. men’s national team regime, Ricardo Pepi, the gifted 21-year-old forward, and Matt Turner, the normally reliable keeper, found themselves in a rut. Pepi couldn’t get on the pitch, while Turner struggled in net and found himself riding the bench at the club level.

Last night, both needed to prove their worth to new coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was seeking his first win in a competitive match since taking over in September. Pepi went first with this goal in the fifth minute:

That was all the USMNT needed in a 1-0 win over Jamaica in the first leg of the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal, mostly because Turner did this on a penalty kick:

Questions = answered, and the USMNT is one leg away from the semis (they play Jamaica again Monday at 8 p.m. ET). Paul Tenorio has more on some interesting tactical decisions from Pochettino here.

News to Know

Rays to play at a Yankees facility
The Tampa Bay Rays will play home games next season at George M. Steinbrenner Field, spring training home of the Yankees. The facility seats 11,000 fans, and it’s ironic that this will be the first time the Rays actually play in Tampa, as Tropicana Field — which suffered significant damage in Hurricane Milton, hence the visit — is in St. Petersburg. Read more in our full story.

Vonn’s return
Lindsey Vonn, 40, has ended her retirement and plans to rejoin the U.S. Ski Team, she said yesterday, five years after stepping away from the sport. Originally beset by injuries, the three-time Olympic medalist said she’s skiing pain-free after a knee replacement this spring. Pretty cool. More details here.

More news

The Good Bets: Please, Vols

We’re hitting a slump. A tough 1-3 last week. Four wins right here, odds via BetMGM: 

College

  • Tennessee (+10) at Georgia
    I stared at this for what felt like hours. The 7-2 Bulldogs are supremely talented and supremely frustrating. They could win by 30, but I just don’t trust QB Carson Beck at this point. Dawgs probably win, but this line is too big.
  • Utah at Colorado UNDER 47.5
    The 7-2 Buffs are honestly a great story this year, and I think they win this game, but Utah’s defense is too good to make this high-scoring. 

Read more: Expert picks | Best bets

NFL

  • Chiefs (+2.5) over Bills
    Every brain fiber tells me 8-2 Buffalo will roll here. Kansas City has been skating by all year. But then you remember these are the back-to-back defending champs, and that Patrick Mahomes is an elite underdog QB. Chiefs win by a field goal, one kicked by Harrison Butker’s injury replacement.
  • Steelers (+3) over Ravens
    Vic Tafur highlighted this in his picks this week and I’m taking the bait. I still think the apex version of this Baltimore team is the best in the NFL, but I can’t trust the defense anymore. Pittsburgh is a complete team. Smash it. 

Read more: Expert picks | Best bets

Pulse record overall: 18-23-1

Watch and Listen

đź“ş NBA: Lakers at Spurs
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
LeBron James and Anthony Davis versus Victor Wembanyama. Yes please. 

đź“ş NCAAW: No. 2 UConn at No. 14 North Carolina
6 p.m. ET on ESPN 2
This is the first test of the year for Paige Bueckers and the Huskies. Any chance we get to watch Bueckers on national TV, take it. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

🎧 “Scoop City” tells us why the NFL coaching carousel is already out of control. Listen here.

Pulse Picks

There is basketball momentum in Seattle, as Jason Quick writes in a beautiful story today. The city has an arena and an ownership group ready to go. The only thing they’re waiting on: the NBA. Read this and imagine not giving a team back to Seattle. 

The main chatter on Bruce Feldman’s radar: No one wants to play Ole Miss. 

Speaking of college football, Austin Mock has five exquisite College Football Playoff chaos scenarios. I can’t even let myself buy the idea of “SEC champion LSU.” 

Jim Trotter writes that Joel Embiid’s shoving incident is indicative of our society’s loss of respect for one another. Read that column here. 

Who’s getting hired next in the NFL? Jeff Howe has a list of best candidates. Someone nice pick the Saints, please. 

The top 2027 NHL prospect is bossing around 17-year-olds. In a good way. Meet Landon DuPont, 15, who is playing up in the WHL and earned the nickname “Grouchy Bear.” I loved this story. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on burglaries at the homes of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: For the second straight day, Steve Buckley’s column on the Michael Strahan anthem controversy is king.

📫 Love The Pulse? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.

(Top photo: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)





Source link

About The Author

Avatar of Rachel Thomas
Rachel Thomas is a writer who focuses on arts, automotive, travel, and fashion. She also writes about her hobbies: cooking, reading, and playing video games. Rachel has been a writer for Free Press Georgia since 2016. In that time she has written about everything from the best restaurants in Atlanta to how to make your own face mask at home. When she's not writing for FPG she spends her time with her husband and two cats in their apartment.

Start typing and press enter to search

Scroll to Top