PHILADELPHIA — Eagles running back Saquon Barkley took responsibility for his drop late in Monday night’s game when a catch could have sealed a win over the Atlanta Falcons.
“I let my team down today,” Barkley said following the Eagles’ 22-21 loss. “I shouldn’t have put the defense in that position. If I make the catch, the game is over.”
Nursing a three-point lead with under two minutes remaining, the Eagles faced a third-and-3 from the Falcons’ 10-yard line. Jalen Hurts sprinted to his right and delivered a pass into the flat for Barkley, who was open and in position to get the first down. But the ball caromed off his hands and rolled out of bounds. Philadelphia then opted to kick a field goal to make it 21-15.
Kirk Cousins led a subsequent six-play, 70-yard drive in just 1:05 and capped it with a touchdown pass to Drake London, snatching away what had appeared to be a surefire win for the Eagles.
“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,” coach Nick Sirianni said, explaining the decision to pass on third down instead of run 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.”
ESPN Analytics gave the Eagles over a 96% chance to win the game if they had run the ball on third down for no gain, regardless of whether they then went for it on fourth down or kicked the field goal.
The probability of the Eagles winning if they went for it on fourth down following the Barkley drop was 95% compared to 90% by kicking it.
Hurts did not second-guess the decision.
“I trust [Barkley] every day of the week to make a play, just like everybody else,” he said. “We’ll be better from it.
“It’s not a matter of expectations, it’s a matter of just executing what’s called. And we came up short in that moment.”
Barkley now has 16 drops since the start of the 2021 season, the most by any running back in that time.
Barkley, who signed a three-year, $37.75 million deal with the Eagles this offseason, earned NFC Player of the Week honors after erupting for three touchdowns in a season-opening win against the Green Bay Packers.
His home debut did not go according to plan, and now he and the Eagles (1-1) must rebound as they travel to take on the resurgent New Orleans Saints on a short week.
“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.