Saquon Barkley has looked like one of the best free-agent signings in recent memory during the 2024 season.
The Eagles running back continued to put himself squarely in the MVP conversation with his performance against the Rams on Sunday Night Football, helping lead Philadelphia to a decisive 37-20 victory.
Barkley scored twice on touchdowns of 70 and 72 yards and paced the offense from start to finish. The Eagles used a dominant run game to control the clock, running for over 300 yards on the night in 33:41 of possession time. While the Eagles took a 13-7 lead into halftime, Barkley extended that on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, using a burst of speed to go 70 yards for a touchdown.
On Philadelphia’s next drive, Barkley took a screen pass 31 yards to the Los Angeles 13, setting up Kenneth Gainwell’s touchdown on the next play.
Barkley put the cherry on top of a sterling night with his 72-yard score late in the fourth quarter to ice it. He ended the game with 302 yards from scrimmage — 255 rushing, plus 47 receiving yards on four catches.
Barkley set a new single-game career high, and with over a month left in the season, Barkley set a new career high in season rushing yards on Sunday night. He now has 1,392 yards for the season, topping his previous high of 1,312 in 2022.
Jake Elliott hit field goals of 21 and 31 yards in the first half to open Philadelphia’s scoring before A.J. Brown caught a 6-yard TD from Jalen Hurts to give the club a 13-7 halftime lead.
Gainwell’s 13-yard score put Philadelphia up 27-13 before Elliott hit a 26-yard field goal to extend that advantage to 30-14.
Hurts ended the game 15-of-22 passing for 179 yards with a touchdown. He also rushed for 39 yards.
While the Rams were able to move the ball well early on, a Kyren Williams fumble prevented the club from scoring on its opening possession. Williams did put the ball in the box on a 1-yard run on the next drive.
But after that, Los Angeles’ offense struggled mightily. A questionable defensive pass interference penalty helped put the Rams in position for their second touchdown of the day — a 2-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to Demarcus Robinson. But then Joshua Karty missed a 47-yard field goal wide right late in the third quarter to keep L.A. off the board.
Karty missed a 26-yard attempt last week.
Stafford connected with Cooper Kupp for a 27-yard touchdown just outside of the game’s final minute.
Stafford ended the contest 24-of-36 for 243 yards with two TDs. Nacua caught nine passes for 117 yards. Kupp caught eight for 60.
The Rams finished 0-of-8 on third down.
Notably, Eagles cornerback Darius Slay had to exit the game with a concussion. Veteran edge rusher Brandon Graham — who had a terrific game with a sack, two tackles for loss, and three QB hits — was ruled out in fourth quarter with an elbow injury.
With the win, the Eagles are now 9-2 and are in firm control of the NFC East. That will be on the road again next week to face the Ravens.
Los Angeles has now fallen to 5-6 on the season. The club will be in New Orleans next weekend to take on the Saints.
