Saquon Barkley’s needless slide with a clear touchdown path cost so many players in the NFL playoffs

The Philadelphia Eagles advanced past the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of the playoffs on Sunday, thanks in large part to Saquon Barkley, who ran for 119 yards on 25 carries. But the one thing missing from Barkley’s stats was a touchdown, much to the dismay of punters, making him the highest-ticket player of the day across multiple sportsbooks.

It proved an especially painful gamble after watching Barkley slide down what appeared to be a clear path to the end zone on Philadelphia’s final drive.

At game-best odds of -165, Barkley’s touchdown was the all-time favorite of the day at BetMGM, followed by Marvin Mims (+260) and Josh Allen (-130), who both also failed to score in the previous Broncos- Bills game.

Worse, Barkley didn’t have to go down with the Eagles already ahead by 12 points. Another touchdown would simply have given them three scores and effectively ended the game in the same fashion as running out the clock. Barkley said after the game his teammates let him hear it to go down.

He wants to hear it from players, too.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Saquon Barkley’s needless slide with a clear touchdown path cost so many players in the NFL playoffs