Saquon Barkley's unnecessary slide with a clear touchdown path cost so many NFL playoff bettors
The Philadelphia Eagles advanced past the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of the playoffs Sunday in large part thanks to Saquon Barkley, who ran for 119 yards on 25 carries. However, the one thing missing from Barkley’s stats was a touchdown, much to the dismay of the bettors who made him the most-ticketed player of the day across multiple sportsbooks.
It turned out to be an especially painful bet after watching Barkley slide down on what appeared to be a clear path to the end zone on Philadelphia’s final drive.
Saquon Barkley was the most bet anytime TD scorer across multiple sportsbooks.
Absolute pain.
— Covers (@Covers) January 13, 2025
Imagine how bad Saquon sliding here would've been if this game counted for fantasy pic.twitter.com/nznvLu9aWf
— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) January 13, 2025
With a game-best -165 odds, Barkley’s anytime touchdown prop was the most popular of the day at BetMGM, followed by Marvin Mims (+260) and Josh Allen (-130), who both also failed to score in the earlier Broncos-Bills game.
What’s worse, Barkley didn’t need to go down with the Eagles already ahead 12 points. Another touchdown would’ve simply put them up three scores and effectively ended the game the same as running out the clock. Barkley said after the game his teammates let him hear it for going down.
"A year ago I put out a tweet when I was on my couch watching playoff football that I gotta find a way to get back in it. So, I'm just happy to be here." @ErinAndrews spoke with @saquon after the @Eagles win over the Packers to move onto the Divisional Round pic.twitter.com/CXlLnQZncN
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 13, 2025
He’s going to hear it from bettors too.