Three straight seasons of great starts for the Eagles: 9-1 in 2022, 9-1 in 2023 and now 8-2 in 2024. This one feels much different than last year, probably because the team has a new running back who’s followed a familiar pattern over Philadelphia’s six-game winning streak. And after a 26-18 win over the Commanders on Thursday night, Saquon Barkley is more than a noun. He’s now a verb.
Here’s how it goes. The Eagles fail to score in the first quarter — they average 1.4 first-quarter points per game, next-to-last in the league just ahead of Chicago (1.1). Washington (7-4) held Philadelphia to a missed a field goal and two punts in the first frame on Thursday. Then, the Eagles explode in the fourth quarter. It’s the patient, confident definition of Saquon, what they did to Washington Thursday. And All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson went inside the Eagles’ huddle to describe Barkley in Philadelphia’s latest win.
“When stuff wasn’t going good, he was like, ‘Come on, keep attacking, O-line, keep attacking,’” Johnson told Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “’It’s gonna break open for us, it’s gonna break open.’ And eventually it did. That’s what kind of guy he is. When things aren’t going good, I think that’s when you really tell a lot about a person. And he never wavered.”
Never wavered even when the Eagles entered the fourth quarter down, 12-10. That’s when he was his familiar, deadly self with 76 yards on six fourth-quarter carries (12.7 avg.) and two game-icing touchdown runs within a 20-second span.
As of Friday morning, Barkley leads the NFL in fourth-quarter rushing (320 yards, 7.1 average per carry) and fourth-quarter scrimmage yards (336). He also has a quartet of fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns, tied with teammate Jalen Hurts for the NFL lead in that category. Afterward, he described how his offensive linemen helped him.
“Having those guys up front, it’s easy to get stronger because they’re doing a lot of the load and leaning on those guys and again just keep trusting them, keep trusting the scheme, and try and make the right read because they’re doing a hell of a job,” said Barkley, who finished with 146 yards on 26 carries and two catches for 52 yards.
Barkley woke up Friday leading the NFL with 1,137 rushing yards, 17 more than Derrick Henry before Baltimore’s showdown at Pittsburgh on Sunday. Barkley also currently leads the NFL with 1,347 scrimmage yards, well ahead of Henry (1,216) entering the balance of Week 11 games.
Over the last three decades, per Doug Clawson of CBS Sports, the Eagles are the sixth team to start 8-2 or better in three straight seasons. Of the prior five to do it, only the 2017-20 Saints did it without winning at least one Super Bowl. The 2014-17 Patriots won two titles, the 2005-07 Colts and 1999-2001 Rams each earned one, and the 1996-98 Broncos secured two.
One year ago, the Eagles were 10-1 before “Big Dom” and San Francisco’s Dre Greenlaw engaged in a sideline altercation before the 49ers handed Philadelphia a 42-19 loss. The Eagles spiraled and wound up losing six of their final seven, including a first-round playoff exit at Tampa Bay.
But don’t expect Philadelphia to surrender the NFC East crown again this year. In addition to Barkley and a critical head-to-head victory over second-place Washington on Thursday, they also have Vic Fangio, Zack Baun and Quinyon Mitchell this season. And the Eagles just turned in their best defensive effort of the year.
They get a long weekend to rest, too, before heading to Los Angeles for a Sunday night matchup with the Rams (4-5) in Week 12. Washington, meanwhile, needs a win over Dallas (3-6) on Nov. 24 to avoid a third consecutive loss.
For more information on the Eagles or Commanders, visit the Philadelphia and Washington team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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