Saquon Barkley carried Eagles to a key NFC East win, and his offseason signing is looking like a home run for Philly

PHILADELPHIA — With 7:46 to play in the third quarter, Saquon Barkley saw Bobby Wagner blitzing.

So the Philadelphia Eagles running back leaked out to the space the linebacker had fled, an easy checkdown awaiting Jalen Hurts should he choose to use it.

Some gain seemed likely. Then Washington Commanders safety Percy Butler whiffed on a tackle. All of a sudden, the Eagles’ marquee offseason signing picked up 43 yards.

Philadelphia wouldn’t yet break its soon-to-be three-quarter touchdown drought. Nor would the Eagles manage a lead in any of the first three quarters of their NFC East matchup against the Washington Commanders.

But the dam was fraying. And soon, it would burst.

Riding the wave of Barkley’s 198 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns, the Eagles beat an ascending Washington team, 26-18, on Thursday night. Improving to 8-2 with a head-to-head win over the closest competition in the division, Philadelphia is now firmly in control of its playoff destiny.

No one in Philadelphia, Barkley included, is suggesting the Eagles’ latest victory nor their 2024 success thus far results solely from the longtime New York Giants running back who has revived his career in Philadelphia.

But as Barkley posted his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season (tying his mark from the previous four seasons combined) and moved into the NFL lead with 1,137 rushing yards, all agree that an Eagles team built to propel a running back is benefiting greatly from his services.

There are simply too many weapons for opponents to stop them all for four quarters. Barkley is a key ingredient in this pick-your-poison attack.

“He put in some good work today,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “I’ve been talking about this thing of us being multiple and us having a multiple approach. It can look different. And so I think as we embrace that as a football team, how different these things can look and how we succeed and how we put up points and produce, I think we’ll be able to…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-11-15 08:44:58

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