Eagles’ OL wears you down and Saquon knocks you out originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
BALTIMORE — The Eagles’ offensive line wears you down. And then Saquon Barkley knocks you out.
That’s the formula.
It has been the formula for the Eagles since the bye week. It has been their formula against everyone on their schedule. And it was their formula again on Sunday afternoon in a 24-19 win over a Ravens defense that came into the game ranked No. 1 against the run.
“You’ve got Saquon back there, so he can make you look better than you maybe are,” right tackle Lane Johnson said. “We stayed consistent with it. A few of those small runs turned into big gains and game-sealing drives. It wasn’t pretty by no means. We knew coming in here it was going to be tough.”
By the end of Sunday’s game, the Eagles had rushed for 141 yards against a Ravens team that hadn’t given up more than 125 on the ground all season. And Barkley finished the game with 107 yards. Not quite the 255 he had last week but pretty darn impressive.
Not only is Barkley the first 100-yard rusher against the Ravens this year but the next closest single-game against Baltimore in 2024 was Najee Harris with 63 yards in Week 11.
Barkley had 63 yards in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
And his 25-yard touchdown run was the knockout punch everyone was waiting to see.
“Late in the game, we be telling him, ‘Go on, put your cape on. Put your cape on. Hurry up. Let him out,’” A.J. Brown said. “He did exactly that.”
On that 25-yard touchdown run, Jordan Mailata’s pulling block got things started and then Jahan Dotson and Parris Campbell were downfield blocking to help Barkley find his way into the end zone. It was similar to watching Brown and Britain Covey block for a long touchdown run in last week’s game in LA.
Before that drive, the Eagles had two 3-and-outs to start the second half. But they went 71 yards on 7 plays to push the lead to 21-12 in the fourth quarter.
“It was a great call,” Barkley said of the touchdown run. “We have an unbelievable offensive line. I think week in, week out, you guys are able to see that. Especially our tackles, they are able to move, and how big they are, and being able to move at that size … I kind of saw the look, and just trusting he was going to make the block, and I just ran through it as fast as I could, pretty much with my eyes closed, and got to open field. Jahan and Parris did a really good job of running off the DB to open up space for me and get into the end zone.”
And then on the next drive, the Eagles were able to use 11 plays to go 25 yards and chew 5:08 off the clock to make a comeback near impossible. Those moments where everyone in the stadium knows your running are fun for an offensive line because it’s just a chance to impose its will.
The Eagles are just really good at that right now.
“I give a lot of credit to how our O-line played in those moments and how [Barkley] is persistent in getting downhill and kind of finishing,” Jalen Hurts said. “I see him on our team this year making a big impact in those moments, especially when you have to lean on him in the end of games when we’re up.”
Barkley continues to lead the NFL in fourth-quarter rushing with 481 yards.
And Barkley has now gone over 100 yards in 8 of 12 games this season. He is already up to 1,499 rushing yards, which leads the league and already ranks third on the Eagles’ all-time list behind LeSean McCoy in 2013 (1,607) and Wilbert Montgomery in 1979 (1,512).
After 12 games, Barkley is still on pace to break the NFL’s single-season rushing record held by Eric Dickerson in 1984.
So it was no surprise to hear “MVP!” chants from Eagles fans who made their way to Baltimore.
“I appreciate the MVP chants. It’s great,” Barkley said. “But at the end of the day, the most important thing is winning football games. And I’ve been so locked in, so focused. And my preparation, the way that I work throughout the week, and there’s a reason why I’m getting those chants.
“If I continue to take care of that, once the season is over, we’ll look and see what happens. But at the end of the day, just continue to get wins and put ourselves in a position to go deep in playoffs.”
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