Larry Henry Jr
The Philadelphia Eagles were one play away from icing a Week 2 win over the visiting Atlanta Falcons. That is until running back Saquon Barkley endured a tough moment in the midnight green.
Barkley’s key drop on a 3rd and 3 from the Falcons 10-yard line, eventually gave possession back to Raheem Morris’ team, who walked away 22-21 winners at Lincoln Financial Field. The seventh-year tailback easily would have walked into the end zone after making the catch, but instead dropped Jalen Hurts’ pass, resulting in Jake Elliott’s 28-yard field goal one play later.
“I let my team down today,” Barkley said following the loss. “I shouldn’t have put the defense in that position. If I make the catch, the game is over.”
“They were running a certain defense and were junking it up in the middle so we were trying to go around on the outside and it didn’t work,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said when asked about the decision to pass the ball on third down instead of running it. “[On] fourth-and-3…with them not having any timeouts, I wanted them to be down a touchdown and see if they could drive the field, and they did. Hats off to them.”
Speaking of the #ManningCast, we might as well have all been on camera for that Saquon Barkley drop. This disbelief was it. pic.twitter.com/iLyWjGnnMM
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) September 17, 2024
Kirk Cousins and the Falcons offense would march down the field on their final drive, going 70 yards on six plays, which concluded with Drake London’s seven-yard touchdown grab. Cousins, who struggled along with the Falcons offense in Week 1 against Pittsburgh, bounced back in a big way, completing 20 of 29 passing attempts for 241 yards and two touchdowns.
Barkley totaled 106 yards on 26 total touches in the game, going over the century mark in his second-straight game as a member of the Eagles. However, his key drop flipped momentum in the game and eventually led to the Eagles dropping to 1-1 instead of moving to 2-0.
The Eagles will have a quick turnaround now, traveling to the 2-0 New Orleans Saints, who have scored 91 points in their first two wins of 2024. While Barkley was disappointed in himself for costing the Eagles a Monday night win, he knows he can only look forward.
“I could sit here and complain and be upset about it or I could be a professional athlete and go back to the drawing board and take the lick and move on and get better from it,” Barkley said.
You can follow Larry Henry on Twitter (@lhenry019) and e-mail him at [email protected].
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