Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley prepare for earliest matchup ever between 1,300-yard running backs

AP Pro Football Writer

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Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry combined for 395 yards rushing on back-to-back nights at SoFi Stadium as the dynamic playmakers keep proving that investing in running backs can pay off in the right situation.

Next, they will play on the same field at the same time when Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles take on Henry and the Baltimore Ravens in the first matchup ever between two 1,300-yard runners in Week 13 or earlier.

Before this year, only 12 players in NFL history had rushed for at least 1,300 yards and 10 TDs in the first 12 weeks of the season. None had done it since Shaun Alexander in 2005 as teams moved away from bell-cow backs and diminished the importance of the position.

That might start to change now that Barkley has transformed Philadelphia’s offense by rushing for 1,392 yards and 10 TDs so far this season and Henry has elevated Baltimore’s with 1,325 yards rushing and 13 TDs.

While Barkley and Henry have been two of the biggest additions this season, that wasn’t reflected back in the free agency frenzy in March when 19 players got bigger contracts than the $37.75 million, three-year deal Barkley got from the Eagles and 58 players got more than the $16 million, two-year deal Henry got from the Ravens.

Few, if any, of those other players have had as big an impact on their teams as Barkley and Henry — as evidenced again by their exploits this past weekend at SoFi Stadium.

Barkley became the sixth player to have two TD runs of at least 70 yards in the same game as he rushed for a franchise-record 255 yards and became the fourth running back in the Super Bowl era to eclipse 300 yards from scrimmage in a game in the Eagles’ win over the Rams on Sunday night.

Barkley’s 1,649 scrimmage yards are the second most by any player in his first 11 games with a team after Eric Dickerson’s 1,726 with the Rams in 1983.

Henry rushed for 140 yards the following night in a win over the Chargers. It was his 20th career game with at least 140 yards rushing.

Turkey day

For years, the Dallas Cowboys have been the featured stalwart on the Thanksgiving football schedule while the Detroit Lions have been more of an unwanted fixture at the holiday table.

The roles have changed this year.

The Lions take a 10-1 record into their annual Thanksgiving home game, while the Cowboys stumble in with a 4-7 mark. This year marks the 57th time Detroit and Dallas have both played on Thanksgiving and the six-win edge going into the day for the Lions is double their largest previous advantage. Detroit was 7-4 and Dallas was 4-7 in 2000.

The Cowboys have been at least six wins ahead of the Lions headed into Thanksgiving five times, with the most recent coming in 2021 when Dallas was 7-3 and Detroit was 0-9-1.

The Lions have been setting marks all season as they are off to their best start since 1934. Detroit has double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history.

Detroit has relied heavily on its running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, who each have at least 10 TD runs for a second straight season. Only five other duos have done that in one season in the Super Bowl era, with Gibbs and Montgomery the first teammates ever to do it back to back.

Top heavy

The Lions are one of five teams that already have won at least nine games, along with Kansas City (10-1) and a trio of 9-2 squads: Buffalo, Philadelphia and Minnesota.

That ties the record for the most teams to start a season 9-2 or better. It happened eight times previously, with the only other seasons in the past 30 years being 2019 and 2015.

Detroit and Minnesota are joined in the top-heavy NFC North by the 8-3 Green Bay Packers, marking the first time since the 2002 realignment that one division had three teams win at least eight games in the first 12 weeks.

Sack party

The negative plays last week for Will Levis were numerous: He took eight sacks, threw a pick-6 and lost a fumble for Tennessee against Houston.

The result was somewhat shocking.

Levis became just the third quarterback in the Super Bowl era to win a game after being sacked twice and throwing a pick-6, joining Jacksonville’s Mark Brunell (2001 vs. Cleveland) and Miami’s Damon Huard (1999 vs. New England).

In all, teams were 2-51 in the Super Bowl era when getting sacked at least eight times and throwing a pick-6.

Levis took seven of those sacks in the first half alone and still managed to have a 20-17 lead. Levis was the fifth QB since 1991 to be sacked at least seven times in the first half. The first four led their teams to no points and a 61.7 passer rating. Levis had a 146.5 rating.

Levis finished the game with a 123.3 passer rating after posting a 92.8 rating during an eight-sack game against Green Bay in Week 3. Levis’ 105.4 rating in his two career games with eight sacks is second best among the 52 QBs who have had multiple eight-sack games since the merger, trailing only Joe Montana’s 120.1.

All other quarterbacks have combined for a 67.3 rating in their eight-sack games.

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