Why Victor Cruz thought Saquon Barkley’s record-breaking streak against the Giants would be ‘fun’

Ex New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz says he would be “upset.” Saquon Barkley broke the single-season record against his former team, but it would be “fun” to see him do it.

Barkley, one of the MVP favorites this season, entered the season finale 18 against the Giants rushing for 101 yards from breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record. Considering Barkley averaged 125.3 yards per game this season, it’s probably safe to assume he would.

However, head coach Nick Siriani announced just before the game that it was Barkley wouldn’t play in the season finale due to the Eagles already having the No. 2 seed locked up in the NFC.

“It would be fun to see him break that record and actually do it,” Cruz says in a one-on-one interview on behalf of his partnership with Finish Ultimate. “It would hurt because it would be done against the Giants. I would be upset about that, but I would be excited for him as a friend to do something special for himself.”

Cruz says that from a “selfish” perspective, Barkley would say he did it. However, he understands that Barkley and the Eagles are playing for the Super Bowl, which is the main reason the Pro Bowl running back is out in Week 18.

“Selfishly, I wish he had gotten in,” Cruz says. “I’d like to just put it out there and get it out of a selfish fan’s perspective.” But you have to understand that they are playing for bigger things. Obviously I’ve had a lot of conversations with him and I understand who he is and what he wants out of his career, and he wants to stay one of the greats, right?

“I think in order to do that, you have to win a couple of Super Bowls,” Cruz continues. “Let’s start with one – but you have to fight for more.”

Saquon Barkley’s MVP Chances

With Barkley finishing without a record, he faces an uphill battle for the MVP award. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson are favorites to win the awardwith Barkley considered a distant third.

However, if Barkley had broken the record, Cruz says the Eagles star would have deserved the MVP award. Barkley would be the first running back since Adrian Peterson in 2012 and only the second running back since 2007 to win the MVP award.

“It would be hard not to give it to him,” Cruz says of Barkley’s record-breaking MVP chances. “When you have a year like that, you break a record that hasn’t been touched in a long time.” When you look at it, they have an extra game and Eric Dickerson still has that record and it’s intact. I think it’s a really special record.

“The fact that no one has realized, like the Derrick Henrys and Christian McCaffreys of the world, that the record is still intact is pretty special,” Cruz continues. “It would be pretty cool to see him smash it.”