Less than 24 hours apart, Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles and Derrick Henry of the Baltimore Ravens showed why they are the best running backs in the NFL this season by tearing through defenders at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California race past them.

Barkley totaled 255 yards in the Eagles’ 37-20 win at the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. With his incredible leaps over the tacklers, Barkley leads the NFL in rushing with 1,392 yards, 67 more than Henry. And with his devastatingly stiff arms, Henry leads the league with 13 touchdown runs, two more than Barkley.

After the Ravens’ 30-23 win at the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, Henry Barkley delivered a message: “Slow down. Damned.”

Barkley and Henry’s historic runs converge on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium when the Eagles (9-2) play the Ravens (8-4) (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS). This is the only season in which two players have amassed over 1,300 rushing yards and 10 touchdown runs through Week 12.

Henry hopes the seasons they produce prove how important running backs are to the game.

“We just want to go out there and do our job — do our job effectively (and) show that the position is important,” Henry said. “Hopefully we’ve done this well enough to add value to the future of this position and the people who come in and get paid. It’s a great time for us to have success and hopefully the success will spread to the other guys who come in and get the opportunity to get paid.”

The two are facing each other for the third time in their careers. The first came in 2018, when Henry’s Tennessee Titans defeated Barkley’s New York Giants 17-0 in Week 15. The second was in Week 1 of the 2022 season when Barkley scored the go-ahead 2-point conversion for the Giants to defeat Henry’s Titans 21-20.

Both defensemen left the teams that drafted them and tested the free agency market in 2024. Barkley (three-year contract, $37.8 million) and Henry (two-year contract, $16 million) have proven to be very valuable, the money the Eagles and Ravens invested in the running back position this offseason – at a time when the position was being devalued league-wide. It looks like the pendulum is starting to swing back toward ground attack in an NFL world of two-high safeties and hybrid linebackers built for pass defense.

Teams are averaging 27.1 rush attempts per game in Week 12, the most since 2009. And they are running for 119.6 yards per game, the second most in the last 25 seasons.

With the support of quality offensive lines and their teams’ commitment to getting it done, Barkley and Henry are the starters for two of the most competitive – and successful – teams in the league.

“Teams see the value in running the ball to win,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “The running game never really went away. … Now more teams are looking at it.”

What impact do Barkley and Henry have on their respective teams?

Ravens: Quarterback Lamar Jackson doesn’t remember what he was doing when Baltimore signed the 30-year-old Henry this offseason. He just remembers being excited about what the addition of the four-time Pro Bowl running back meant to Baltimore’s offense.

Henry’s 1,325 rushing yards are already 307 more than any Ravens running back since Jackson became the starter midway through the 2018 season – and there are five games left. Jackson has the fewest rushing attempts per game (8.6) and fewest hits (133) in his seven-year career.

“He just makes my job a lot easier,” Jackson said. “I can’t give him enough credit.”

Jackson added: “I always say, ‘King Henry.'” The name just fits him well, very well.

Although Jackson had high expectations, there was uncertainty about Henry’s production level when he arrived in Baltimore. In eight seasons at Tennessee, Henry rushed for 9,502 yards, including his career-high 2,027 during the 2020 season.

However, he was coming off a season at Tennessee in which he posted 68.6 rushing yards per game and 4.2 yards per carry, both of which were his lowest marks since 2018. The Titans’ offensive line also struggled last season, and Henry’s 1.95 rushing yards of contact prior to his freshman season ranked 35th in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Henry is on pace for 1,877 yards rushing, which would be the most ever by a player over the age of 30.

“Everyone thought he was going to get relegated,” Fangio said. “You were wrong.”

Henry’s biggest impact came inside the 20-yard line. His 13 red zone touchdowns are the most of his career.

This is the main reason the Ravens have converted 78.7% of their red zone trips into touchdowns. In the last 25 years, only one team has achieved higher red zone efficiency: the 2020 Green Bay Packers (80%).

“He makes our team so much better,” Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum said. “He has everything you want in a running back.” — Jamison Hensley

Eagle: The course of the Eagles’ season changed dramatically as they fully focused on a Barkley-led ground attack as the focal point of the offense. Philadelphia averaged 30 runs in its first four games and took a 2-2 lead. Since then, the Eagles have averaged 41 rushes per game and have gone 7-0.

Offensive linemen Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson and Jordan Mailata helped lead the movement with a visit to coach Nick Sirianni’s office during the Week 5 bye. Barkley’s 4.56 yards before contact per rush is tops among defensive backs.

“You do what you’re supposed to do and he’s going to find an open hole,” right defenseman Mekhi Becton said.

Barkley has already received four Offensive Player of the Week awards and continues to excel. It seemed like he had maxed Barkley when he outran a Jacksonville Jaguars defender backwards during a 159-yard rushing performance in Week 9. He surpassed that by setting franchise marks in rushing yards (255) and yards from scrimmage (302) for the Rams on Sunday, which included two 70-yard touchdown runs.

“You’re already the best running back in the world,” receiver AJ Brown told Barkley on the sideline Sunday night. “I think you’re the best player in the world.” – Tim McManus

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Are you afraid of burnout?

Ravens: Coach John Harbaugh laughs when it comes up.

“We didn’t bring Derrick here to be the guy who gets the ball 30 times a game,” Harbaugh said in September. “He’s done that before. That’s really not the plan.”

Henry may not have scored 30 runs in a game, but his involvement was key to Baltimore’s success. The Ravens are 8-1 when Henry carries the ball 15 times or more, and they are 0-3 when he doesn’t carry the ball.

Henry’s 221 runs are the most by a running back in 12 games in Harbaugh’s 17 seasons in Baltimore. But Henry had already had more rushing attempts twice at this point in the season, with 256 in 2020 and 247 in 2022.

A heavy workload didn’t affect Henry later in the season. His 624 rushing yards in regular-season games in December and January are the most in the league since 2016, his first season in the NFL.

“We’re going to try to run the ball as much as possible, and running the ball is all about how many plays you make, how you find a rhythm and get the opportunity to make more plays.” Harbaugh said this week. “Derrick is undoubtedly our main defender and he gets stronger as the game goes on. That’s why we want to let the ball run.” — Hensley

Eagle: Barkley is used at a breathtaking pace. He’s on pace for 344 carries, which would be nearly 50 more than his previous career high set in 2022 (295). Likewise, his projection for total touches (386) is well above the 352 mark he had as a rookie and again in 2022.

His deployment is a common question for Sirianni, who notes that load management leads to comfortable wins during the week and in the fourth quarter.

“This sport is different than any other profession. We have to do everything we can to win every single game. That will always be the case. So if Saquon has to carry the ball a few times, you’re in.” “I have to carry it a few times,” he said.

There have been a few breath-holding moments this season when Barkley, who has battled numerous injuries throughout his seven-year career, was slow to get back to his feet or looked stymied as he walked to the sideline. But so far he has remained mostly healthy and says the reason he trains so hard in the offseason is so he can handle a heavy workload during the season.

“I feel great,” Barkley said earlier this month. “I’m not worried about it, so why would anyone else?” — McManus