Saquon Barkley and the Eagles faced a lot of pressure from Philadelphia fans but managed to pull off a tough win in a physical game against the New Orleans Saints, ending with a score of 15-12.
Barkley scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one from 65 yards and another from 4 yards, helping the Eagles recover from a frustrating loss just six days earlier.
“Last week was rough. Our guys had to pick ourselves off the mat, and every one of them did,” said Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, referring to their 22-21 loss to Atlanta. “You have to overcome those things. I’m so proud of those guys that they did.”
Barkley’s second touchdown came with just over a minute left, right after Dallas Goedert made a 61-yard catch that brought him to a career-high 170 yards from 10 catches.
Barkley’s 147 rushing yards and important touchdowns helped him find redemption after missing a catch that could have sealed the game against the Falcons.
“When things like that happen, everyone thinks the world’s ending, but it really doesn’t matter what the outside world thinks,” Barkley said. “Today, we kept trusting each other and kept having each other’s back.”
Eagles safety Reed Blankenship helped secure the win by intercepting a pass from Derek Carr with 48 seconds remaining, completing a strong performance by Philadelphia’s defense against a Saints offense that had scored the most points in the league during the first two weeks.
“You knew adversity would happen at some point. It’s not going to be that easy all the time,” Carr said, expressing regret for not throwing away the pass that was intercepted. “At the very end, they made one more play than we did and that’s how this game goes sometimes.”
