During the better part of three quarters of football on Sunday afternoon, the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints were embroiled in a contest for the world’s ugliest dog. Just a week ago, the Saints were rolling over the ghostly remains of the Cowboys and everyone got a piece of the action: Alvin Kamara scored four touchdowns; quarterback Derek Carr threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns and even got involved in a QB sneak on their way to a 44-19 win,
On Sunday, the Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to an early field goal and head coach Nick Sirianni’s commitment to protecting talent over ineptitude. The Birds had three fourth-down botches early in the game: a blocked punt, Jalen Hurts’ sack after a penalty for too many men on the field, and a busted run play that led to an easy field goal at the end of the first half.
Nobody seemed particularly interested in winning the game. And then early in the fourth quarter, the Eagles remembered Saquon Barkley was there. Barkley—who was the recipient of that bust run play at the end of the first half—took the handoff on the Eagles’ 35th second-and-2, found his lane and put his worries behind him, taking it 65 yards for a touchdown,
Barkley again put the Eagles ahead, as a couple of fumbles in the last minute of the game – including an ill-fated 60-yard field goal attempt – left Philadelphia down 12-7 with two minutes left on the clock. Another big hit came when tight end Dallas Goedert caught a 61-yard pass with a little over a minute remaining. Barkley got the call on the next play and took the ball up the middle for a four-yard touchdown run, followed by a two-point conversion that put Philadelphia ahead 15-12. An interception by Eagles safety Reed Blankenship sealed the deal on the Saints’ final drive.
That doesn’t exactly stop questions about Sirianni’s relationship with time and space in managing an NFL game. A bad pass or a blocked run can live in a vacuum, but these things add up when your team finds itself in a tough situation. Groundhog Day-like scenarios play out every week. It’s even more terrifying when Barkley has to change the course of a game with just 17 carries and 147 yards. I don’t know, man—maybe I’d like to think about doing that more.