“It’s 11-man football to stop this man.” Those were the words of Washington Commanders’ defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. when he was asked how one could possibly stop Saquon Barkley. See, there are no two ways to defend against the Eagles’ running back. Either you bring him down before he zips past you. Or you could just stand and watch him take the game away from you bit by bit. So, without beating around the bush. 6-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick has a strong warning for the Commanders before they come up against the unstoppable Saquon Barkley.

Hopping on the Pat McAfee Show, Belichick shared his thoughts on what the Commanders need to do to restrict Barkley: “The most important thing for the Commanders is gonna be secondary tackling..The Eagles hit three long runs last Sunday because the Rams’ secondary didn’t tackle..You can’t give up those big runs to Saquon Barkley.” See, those two TDs, one for 62 yards and another 78, were basically the difference maker against the Rams.

That 62-yard run came at the end of the first quarter, with the Eagles taking a 13-7 lead. Then, the final blow came before the last 5 minutes when Barkley’s 78-yard run sent the Eagles to the NFC Championship game. And you know what makes those long-run TD scores crazier? Out of 205 rushing yards, those TDs accounted for 140 of his total yardage. This means he only rushed for 65 yards on his remaining 24 carriers. So, just imagine if the Rams did manage to stop Barkley from scoring those back-breaking TDs. Then, who knows, maybe we wouldn’t have been talking about Barkley right now. And we would have been discussing how the Rams managed to stop the Eagles RB.

However, this isn’t the first time the Commanders have faced Barkley. Yes, their last outing against the Eagles ended in a 36-33 victory, but they didn’t have any success against Barkley. He rushed for 150 yards on 29 carries while scoring two TDs. One of them, like Belichick, has warned the Commanders came from a 68-yard run in the first quarter. So, the Commanders won’t be expecting anything less from the running back, who is averaging 4.5 yards per carry against them. But it seems the Commanders have a plan to contain Barkley in their NFC Championship game on Sunday.

Commanders defensive coordinator exposes the secret to stop Saquon Barkley

See, if the Commanders are really serious about making the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years. All they need is to stop someone who doesn’t know when to stop until he sees the red zone. This would be the third time the Commanders will come up against their NFC East divisional foes. However, unlike those two previous meetings here, the stakes are higher than ever. So, one mistake and you will be heading back home after coming this close to the finish line. That’s why the Commanders’ DC, Joe Whitt Jr, isn’t taking any chances with the threat Barkley possesses, “Nobody talks about his home run ability. But he breaks the middle field safety off. If you don’t take a confident angle. If you take a touchdown angle, he runs past you. Or if you take an overconfident angle, he cuts it back.”

But after somewhat revealing what Barkley is capable of, Whitt Jr also spoke about what his defense needs to do: “You have to be able to get to his inside hip in a confident way and get him down. If not you are not going to make the tackle..And If you don’t do it, you’re going to see those explosive runs which you’ve seen against everybody else.” Considering the Commanders’ run defense is giving up 4.8 yards per carry on average.

They need to do something special against someone who has already racked up 296 rushing yards and 4 TDs against them. Maybe it will be third-time lucky for the Commanders who are trying to complete a fairy tale of a season by reaching the grandest stage of football.