You could feel the different pulls of legacy and family and team on Eagles running back Saquon Barkley as he stood at his locker, in a sea of cameras and reporters, and spoke about the organizational decision to end his pursuit of Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record.
His dad, Alibay, took the news the hardest. He had called Barkley on New Year's Day to check on him and that's when Barkley relayed the message that coach Nick Sirianni would share with the public the following day: The Eagles planned to rest their starters in the regular-season finale against Barkley's former team, the New York Giants, so they could be fresh for the playoffs, leaving Barkley 100 yards shy of hallowed ground.