Winners, losers as Eagles rout Rams 37-20 on Sunday Night Football originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Welcome to the Saquon Barkley show.
The Philadelphia Eagles kept rolling with a dominant 37-20 road result at the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.
Los Angeles led in the first quarter but Barkley helped Philadelphia take control at the interval, where it came out of the gates firing en route to double-digit third and fourth quarters.
Philadelphia moved to 9-2, currently riding a seven-game winning streak, as it strengthened its hold of the NFC East while Los Angeles fell to 5-6, staying in third in a close NFC West.
Let’s analyze the game further with winners and losers:
WINNER: Saquon Barkley, Eagles
A year after San Francisco 49ers‘ Christian McCaffrey was the best running back in football, Barkley has claimed the throne.
Barkley delivered rushing touchdowns of 72 and 70 yards en route to 255 total on the night. He had 26 carries along with four catches for 47 yards.
The performance marked the most rushing yards in a game in Eagles history and the ninth-most in a game in league history. Take a bow.
LOSER: Kyren Williams, Rams
It was the opposite story in the opposing backfield. Despite a positive start, Williams couldn’t maintain the consistency and even caused some turnover miscues.
Williams ended the game rushing for 16 yards on 72 carries and a touchdown, but also fumbled twice, one of which the Eagles recovered. The Rams needed more on that front to keep pace with Philadelphia, but Barkley’s two game-breaking runs didn’t help.
WINNER: Nakobe Dean, Eagles
Philadelphia had several top performers on the defensive side. The nod goes to linebacker Dean, who led the Eagles in total tackles with eight, five of which were solo. He also recorded one sack, two tackles for loss and a QB hit on Matthew Stafford.
Milton Williams recorded a game-high two sacks on Stafford, while Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat each added one.
LOSER: New York Giants
It was a day that saw the Giants lose 30-7 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game featured Baker Mayfield mocking Tommy DeVito after a score, the Giants’ new starting QB1 after the team cut Daniel Jones, who they agreed to pay $160 million to over four years.
In that loss, the Giants garnered a total of 245 yards through the run and passing attacks. Barkley outgained them on his own just on the ground. A colossal mistake to let Barkley walk keeps finding new ways to haunt New York.
WINNER: Eagles on third down
Sometimes third-down results can reveal the outcome of a game. That was surely the case in this one, as Philadelphia had no issues moving the chains with 9 of 15 conversions.
It was the complete opposite story for Los Angeles, which didn’t convert on a single third down despite eight attempts. The Rams did make all three fourth-down conversions, but it wasn’t a sustainable method to stay in the game. Both teams had 10 total drives each.
