Saquon Barkley carried the ball six times Sunday. Last season, he averaged more than triple that in a game.
Despite just a four-point loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles are clearly missing something. They went into the game 4-0, but with frustration.
After last week’s victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, star wide receiver A.J. Brown posted Mark 6:11 on X: “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way,” he wrote. Though the post has now been deleted, the message lingers.
In response, “pass the ball” seemed to be the game plan on Sunday. After catching just two balls for only seven yards last week, Brown had five for 43 yards this Sunday.
So what’s wrong in Philly? Have they let Barkley — their 2024 Offensive Player of the Year running back who helped them secure a Super Bowl ring — slip their mind?
The issue is coming from the coaching booth. Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo called 38 pass plays and 11 runs. Things worsened after halftime, as Barkley only had one carry in the final 35 minutes. One.
A team known for its run game, specifically its infamous “Tush Push” that was almost banned this past offseason, is not giving its star guy the ball. And it’s hurting the team’s entire offensive scheme.
Despite going 4-0 while being the NFL’s most run-heavy team through the first four weeks, the Eagles decided to rely on the pass game Sunday. Jalen Hurts threw the ball 38 times for 23 completions. However, it wasn’t enough.
If the offense isn’t happening on the ground, can the Eagles still make it work? Sunday suggests not. Denver put up 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to top Philly.
Last season, the Eagles’ rushing attack was their identity, and the stats back it up. The Eagles had the most rushing attempts out of any other team in the league at 621, a second-best 3,048 rushing yards and an impressive 4.9 yards per carry.
They were efficient, turning these rushing yards into rushing touchdowns. Their reliance on their ground game is what made them so dangerous. An athletic quarterback and an OPOTY running back behind one of the league’s best offensive lines allowed the Eagles to use unpredictability to edge out their opponents.
Now, that edge is slipping.
But Barkley doesn’t deserve all the blame. Philly has been facing some issues with its offensive line. As fan blog Bleeding Green Nation noted, “[Linemen] Tyler Steen isn’t moving defenders. Cam Jurgens got stood up too often. Landon Dickerson is clearly not healthy.”
Hurts recognized the deeper problem occurring on the offensive side of the ball, saying in a post-game press conference on Sunday, “[We have to] take ownership for the things that we can control, look into our process and our system, see what needs to be reset.”
Head Coach Nick Sirianni acknowledged the discrepancy between run and pass plays, telling reporters after the game, “We’ve talked about being more explosive in the run and the pass game and obviously I’d have to look at what the stats were. We didn’t make enough plays and we didn’t coach good enough today.”
At only five weeks into the season and being one of the best teams in the league, hope is far from lost. It is still early, but if this play-calling continues, it’s unclear how long the season will be for the Eagles.
Philly has what they need on the field in Barkley, Hurts and the O-line, and they need their coaches to recognize that. The blueprint, the one that took them all the way last year, is still in front of them. They just have to look up.
Philly didn’t lose because they couldn’t run the ball. They lost because they weren’t trying to.
They’ve simply forgotten who they are.