As Saquon Barkley sets 2 Eagles records, AJ Brown rips passing game in win over Panthers
PHILADELPHIA − Saquon Barkley set the Eagles' single-season rushing record, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on the Eagles who was in much of a celebratory mood.
That's because the Eagles had to work for everything in order to beat the Carolina Panthers 22-16 on Sunday. It's the same Panthers team that had a 3-9 record, that had the worst run defense in the NFL, and a passing defense that wasn't much better.
Yet Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for just 108 yards, one week after throwing for 118 yards, and the Eagles had to sweat out a final Carolina drive that nearly went 98 yards for the go-ahead touchdown over the final 2 minutes, 58 seconds.
In fact, it sure seemed like the Panthers were about to take the lead when Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, from the Eagles' 32, threw deep down the middle to Xavier Legette, who had gotten behind safety CJ Gardner-Johnson, with 52 seconds left.
Legette dove and appeared to catch the ball before rolling untouched into the end zone. The referee, however, signaled an incomplete pass, much to the astonishment of Gardner-Johnson, not to mention the stunned-into-silence fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
"Shout out to ref!" Gardner-Johnson said with a laugh afterward. "I truthfully thought he caught the ball. I’m not even going to sit here and lie. And when (the ref) came up incomplete that the ball hit the ground, I’m like, ‘(Expletive), we get to live another down.’"
Two plays later, Darius Slay broke up Young's fourth-down pass, and finally, the Eagles could exhale as they won their 9th straight game and improved to 11-2 on the season.
The Eagles stayed a game behind the Detroit Lions for the NFC's top record.
But wide receiver A.J. Brown and other offensive players were hardly impressed.
"It wasn’t good enough," Brown said. "We did good things at times, but overall, it wasn’t good enough."
Brown, who led the Eagles with only 4 catches for 43 yards, was then asked what needs to improve offensively:
"Passing," Brown said.
How hard is it to get into a rhythm when Hurts is only throwing 20, 21 times a game?
"Incredibly tough," Brown said.
As for Barkley, he passed LeSean McCoy's single-season rushing record of 1,607 yards, set in 2013, with 7:56 left in the fourth quarter on a 9-yard run up the middle.
The fans chanted "MVP! MVP! MVP!" Barkley said that was how he knew he broke the record.
Barkley came into the game needing 109 to pass McCoy. He finished with 124 yards, giving him 1,623 for the season with four games left. Barkley set another franchise record by rushing for 100 yards or more for the ninth time, breaking Wilbert Montgomery's record of eight in 1979.
"I think it’s pretty cool," Barkley said. "The most important thing was getting a win, and we got a win. But being a fan of (McCoy's) growing up, and seeing the spectacular things he was able to do with the ball in his hand, and to have my name mentioned with him, definitely means a lot."
But emblematic of the Eagles' day, the Eagles' drive stalled after Barkley set the record. They passed up trying a 54-yard field goal, and punted from the Panthers' 41 with 3 minutes left.
It seemed to pay off when the ball was downed at the Panthers' 3. Yet it gave the Panthers one more chance to win the game, and Young almost made the Eagles pay, beginning when he escaped a safety on 3rd-and-11 from the 2 and hit Legette for 31 yards.
"We gotta do a better job in that drive of putting the game away and not putting the defense in that position," Barkley said. "That’s all of us. I’m always appreciative of the love from the fans. But at that moment, I’m trying to stay locked in and get the job done."
It was a struggle all day.
The Eagles fell behind 16-14 early in the third quarter. They retook the lead with 13:45 left in the fourth quarter on Hurts' 4-yard TD pass to Grant Calcaterra. That was set up by Hurts' 35-yard run to the Panthers' 9 after escaping pressure.
But the Eagles couldn't add to the lead.
As usual, the Eagles started slowly on offense.
They punted on their first two possessions and fell behind 3-0 on Eddie Piniero's 38-yard field goal with 1:09 left. Barkley had just 2 carries for 8 yards until the Eagles got the ball for the third time. The Eagles had just 24 yards of offense through their first two possessions.
"It's nothing new," Hurts said. "You know, that's kind of what we've done. And we’ve got to figure it out at some point."
But the Eagles finally put together a scoring drive on their third possession, although Barkley missed a chance for a TD.
Barkley did much of the dirty work, gaining 7 yards to the Panthers' 1 yard line setting up 2nd-and-goal from the 1. Instead of a tush push, they gave the ball to Barkley, who didn't get in. On the next play, Hurts scored on a tush push as the Eagles took a 7-3 lead.
The Panthers came back and took the lead on Young's 3-yard TD pass to Tommy Tremble on fourth down.
It appeared as if the Eagles would go into halftime trailing after punting with 2:55 left. But Gardner-Johnson intercepted Young and returned the ball to Carolina's 44 with 1:50 left.
The Eagles then drove down the field, getting a touchdown on Hurts' 3-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith with 14 seconds left for a 14-10 lead.
But the Eagles' offensive issues continued in the third quarter as Jake Elliott missed a 52-yard field goal. He's 0-for-5 from 50 yards and beyond.
Then the Eagles had to hold on for dear life.
"We did the things that we needed to do to win," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "We'll look at the tape ... Everyone is going to have a part of that when you don't pass it the way you want to. We're definitely capable of playing better and coaching better in the pass game."
The run game? Well, Barkley has that covered.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.
(This story was updated to add a video)