The oral history of Saquon Barkley’s touchdown in the snow as the Eagles make their run to the Super Bowl

The length of the run that had happened with snow blanketing Lincoln Financial Field, that Saquon Barkley could summon something like that at such a critical juncture of the NFC divisional round, when the Eagles desperately needed momentum back after giving up a deflating safety to the L.A. Rams ...

All of those factors made it an astonishing moment and more than worthy of an NFL Films, slow-mo treatment. I’ve probably watched the clip a dozen times. It’s not just fascinating to see Barkley’s wizardry in greater detail, but player reactions as the whole sequence unfolds. Jordan Mailata’s knowing glance. Cam Jurgens’ sprint. Lane Johnson’s confident turn to the sideline. Barkley’s spontaneous helmet slaps in exuberance. The play was an instant classic.

“I’ve watched it in film, and I’ve seen clips on IG,” Barkley said. “My favorite one I’ve seen is like the NFL Films one. That was probably the coolest one I’ve seen so far.”

If it hadn’t been for the score, who knows if the Eagles would be where they are right now. One more win, and the run will likely go down as one of the all-time great plays in Eagles playoff history. So as the Eagles get ready for Super Bowl LIX, I thought it would be fun to put Barkley’s 78-yard scamper on Jan. 19, a defining highlight from this playoff run, into context, and take you inside the minds of Barkley and his teammates, who share what they were thinking the moment they knew he was gone.

Let’s relive Barkley’s magical touchdown through the thoughts of key people involved. First up, the left tackle Mailata, who described how he and left guard Landon Dickerson sparked the run by opening a huge hole on the offensive line.

“Me and Landon blocking out,” Mailata said. “We apply a technique — not gonna name it — but we are alert of the movement at the line, and we executed that perfectly.”

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Mailata was lined up against defensive tackle Bobby Brown. He was able to block him to the left.

“That played before that, we had told [Barkley], I told him, front side’s always open,” Mailata said.

Dickerson summed up his assignment succinctly. “Block the defensive player,” Dickerson said with a laugh.

He helped Mailata on Brown and also cleared out Rams defensive end Jared Verse.

Once Barkley got to the second level, there was daylight. But he had to beat Rams safety Kam Curl and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who were closing in on him around the Eagles’ snow-covered 30-yard line.

Tight end Grant Calcaterra was lined up on the right side of the line. He had a straight line of sight at the opening at the 30. In the NFL Films clip, he’s part of the Eagles convoy following Barkley downfield.

What was he thinking at that point?

“I was coming to celebrate is what I’m thinking,” Calcaterra said. “I knew he was gonna score.”

Johnson was on the right side of the line as well at tackle. He was pulling inside to his left trying to keep the Rams’ Kobie Turner from blowing things up.

“My role was backside of a mid-zone or outside zone, and so I had to cut off the D-tackle,” Johnson said. “So after I saw him go around the left side, I kind of knew it was a touchdown, so I went to the bench to get some water.”

Barkley wasn’t in the clear just yet. He needed one last block downfield. Wide receiver A.J. Brown, who earlier in the game had a key block on Barkley’s first-quarter, 62-yard touchdown run, handled the cornerback Witherspoon.

When Johnson saw Barkley shed Curl’s diving arm-tackle attempt?

“Wasn’t even cocky,” Johnson said. “I just knew. I just saw him get past another safety or somebody, and I saw some daylight. Yep. Once he kind of got outside 90 [Tyler Davis] and 56 [Christian Rozeboom], it was a wrap.”

What was going through Johnson’s head?

“Not a lot. Easy. Easy drive. Not a 20-play drive, but a [expletive] whatever it was.”

What made the play special?

“A lot of it goes down to front-side execution,” Johnson said. “But on this play, kind of backside. … The second-level blocks on here are pretty important.”

It didn’t take Jalen Hurts long to figure out what the end result would be. As Barkley was speeding to pay dirt, the NFL Films clip shows Hurts, somewhat blurred in the background, lifting both arms in the air, pointing up to the night sky.

“When I saw it from my vantage point, I just knew that he was going to hit the crease and go,” Hurts said. “And a lot of it is our execution of what we’ve been able to do, but also just the feel of the game, I guess, the confidence in him being able to make a play in that moment.”

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The NBC broadcast replay showed a brief exchange between Hurts and Barkley before the snap.

“We were communicating back there and getting on the same page, and we were able to get everything set so you can make a big-time play,” Hurts said.

The touchdown put the Eagles ahead 28-15 with 4 minutes, 36 seconds left. Even though the end of the game was a nail-biter, at that moment, an Eagles win felt inevitable. Lincoln Financial Field was going insane.

“I think just like the atmosphere of the game, like snow game, it turned into a dirty, grimy game, and they’re a good team, we’re a good team,” Calcaterra said. “And we kind of felt like it wasn’t quite the nail in the coffin, but it was pretty close.

“If I was a fan, it looks awesome.”

Dickerson, who had just knocked Verse into safety Quentin Lake like a couple of bowling pins, did his best to raise his arms, too.

“I tried to signal touchdown, but a little sore,” Dickerson mused. “Quarterbacks, receivers have different kind of shoulder pads that allow a better range of motion. Offensive line, we don’t really need range above our heads, so that’s about as high up as the arms will go.”

Johnson has been with the Eagles his entire career. I asked him how special that play was. He saw flashes of LeSean McCoy’s Snow Bowl performance vs. Detroit in 2013.

“It’s kind of reminiscent of LeSean’s snow game,” Johnson said. “It’s like the first time the field’s looked like that since. I mean, was on the field for that one, yeah.”

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Mailata spoke in a stream of consciousness as we watched the NFL Films clip together.

“I’m telling you, man, special players make special plays, and that is such an iconic … That’s going down in history,” he said. “That play right there. You’re going to see kids in the future doing that. They break free like that. They’re going to start doing that head tap.”

As for why Barkley was slapping his helmet so violently as he reached the end zone?

“I don’t know why I was doing that. I was crashing out, as the kids would say,” Barkley said.

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After such a magical debut season with the Eagles, one highlighted by a backward hurdle and franchise records, it’s a testament to Barkley’s skill and drive that he continues to outdo himself. At least for now, he feels the 78-yard touchdown run represents the best of him.

“Probably my favorite touchdown so far of my football career, since a little kid,” Barkley said. “Just the moment, the timing of it, the conversations that I had with myself, the stuff that I’ve been working on, kind of all just came together in that moment.”

But again, Barkley and the Eagles have their eyes on something bigger.