The Eagles this week may not have tackle Lane Johnson or wide receivers DeVonta Smith or A.J. Brown – although Brown returned to practice Friday – but they still have Saquon Barkley and Jalen Carter.
Barkley and Carter were significant on their respective sides of the ball in securing a 15-12 win at New Orleans last week. Barkley ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns while Carter exploded onto the scene and earned a game ball for his defensive efforts.
“Obviously, this past game was his best game by far,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Thursday, per NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com. “And hopefully that will set the trend moving forward. I don’t know what actually triggered it, other than he, and we as a D-Line unit, didn’t play good in the previous game. So, I’m sure that had something to do with it.”
With all due respect to Fangio, what triggered it wasn’t the team’s loss to Atlanta. It was Barkley. The Philadelphia back gave fans a glimpse into his leadership prior to the Eagles’ 15-12 win at New Orleans last week, when a boom mic caught Barkley inspiring Carter.
“JC, why not today, Bruh?” Barkley asked Carter. “Make your mark, Dawg. I’m telling you, Bruh. I played against you. You’re that (expletive). Scared of you, Bruh. They are scared of you!”
Carter took Barkley’s advice and dominated. While he didn’t get a sack, he still recorded two tackles for loss, broke up two passes and blasted Derek Carr as the quarterback released a pass into the end zone, arguably costing the Saints a touchdown. Overall, Carter impacted the Saints on 35.3 percent of his 51 snaps. That level of dominance in those 18 plays, according to one scout who graded Carter, was unprecedented for an interior lineman.
Now, the challenge for Fangio and the Eagles (2-1) as they head to Tampa Bay (2-1) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX) is to keep Carter consistently dominant.
“Just keeping him on point on a day-in, day-out basis,” Fangio said. “Not just gameday, but practice, also. Because the way you practice, usually, is the way you’ll play.”
If Philadelphia needs to play without Brown, Smith and Johnson, the Eagles’ defense will feel more pressure to corral Baker Mayfield and his offensive weapons. Tampa Bay, however, surrendered seven sacks in a 26-7 home loss to the Broncos last week.