Eagles Postgame Report: Saquon Barkley Cements MVP Case In Win Over Rams

The Eagles started this one off pretty ugly with missed tackles and perhaps the most blatant hold there has been all season (how else do you wind up with Stafford making a QB run) getting ignored on what looked like it’d be a scoring drive for the Rams. Isaiah Rodgers punched the ball out to get a fumble the Eagles easily recovered (despite the refs trying to tell everyone he was down by contact while standing all the way up).

That allowed the offense the chance to strike first. The offense looked good and drove 75-yards without issue. Then the Eagles play calling went back to the most basic, predictable, or easily defended calls they could manage and they moved just five yards in three plays, leaving them to settle for a field goal from the three-yard line.

The Eagles defense then missed out on multiple sacks due to uncalled holds and, to make the officiating even more lopsided, they called a bogus PI on Darius Slay to put the Rams on the one-yard line. The defense looked bad, but the fact that their sacks were turned into 20-yard gains and the Rams were handed free yards on non-existent penalties didn’t help out much. That resulted in an easy touchdown and the Eagles trailing.

The Eagles looked like they’d move the ball before Hurts froze again, taking a sack on a poorly-blocked 3rd-down pass attempt. That forced a punt for the Birds but the defense finally stepped up and forced a three-and-out to get the ball back. The Eagles moved the ball once again until they got in the red zone and had three penalties called on three straight plays (with the refs still ignoring every Rams penalty, conveniently), forcing the Eagles to settle for another field goal.

The defense stood up again to force a three-and-out before the Eagles offense moved the ball and decided to call some real plays in the endzone. It resulted in a touchdown reception by AJ Brown to put the Eagles in the lead with just 1:27 to go in the half. A huge sack by Dean on the ensuing drive resulted in the Eagles getting the ball back with 26 seconds. The brain-dead offensive staff came up with two QB draws that both failed miserably to give the ball back to the Rams again before the Eagles three-man front came away with a quick sack to end the half.

The Eagles came back at the half and immediately pushed the ball with an excellently-blocked rush where Barkley needed only jump-cut away from the secondary to take the ball 70 yards to the house for a touchdown.

The Eagles defense forced a fumble, but they were unable to recover it on the ensuing drive’s first play. The refs didn’t let up, ignoring three different hold committed by the Rams OL on 3rd and 16, the refs turned a blind eye to the Rams OL holding three different Eagles defenders in order to get Stafford to throw an incompletion. Then they called PI on Rodgers, who didn’t even touch the receiver. It gave the Rams 1st and goal from fourth down for committing 3 fouls on the play. That handed the Rams 7 points because the refs couldn’t call a pee-wee game to save their lives.

The refs tried to make it their show again by calling a hold on the Eagles (still none called on the Rams doing it every play) to negate a Hurts first-down run and bring it back to 3rd and 10 on offsetting penalties. The Eagles converted on a 31-yard screen to Barkley before Kenny Gainwell cashed it in on a run up the gut.

The Eagles got the Rams defense down to 4th and 1 on the next drive but Isaiah Rodgers allowed a 29-yard completion on that play. The team did make a stand, however, forcing a field goal attempt after that which the Rams missed in a bit of “Ball Don’t Lie” karma. The Eagles killed 6 minutes of clock before stalling at the goal line and kicking a field goal to extend the lead. The Eagles got the ball back with a bit over five minutes left thanks to a huge Milton Williams sack forcing the punt.

The Eagles killed three minutes of clock before Barkley broke loose and added on another touchdown that essentially put the game away as the backups entered ahead of the two minute warning. With those backups in, the Rams finally managed to score their first points of the game not handed to them by the zebras. They failed their two-point conversion and then Goedert recovered the onsite kick to officially end the game with kneel downs.

In a 37-20 win, the Eagles beat the Rams and the refs, who handed the Rams 14 points on bogus calls. 

The Eagles advance to 9-2, tied for second-best in the NFC. They have probably their toughest match-up remaining in the regular season next week when they have to play at Baltimore against a tough Ravens team.

Offensive MVP: Saquon Barkley

This game was, offensively, down to the offensive line, AJ Brown and Barkley. Barkley extended his league lead in yardage, however, with 255 rushing yards and 47 receiving yards. He added a two touchdowns, including the the big momentum swing to start the second half. He set a franchise record for a single-game total of rushing yards.

Defensive MVP: Jalen Carter

Carter is a forgotten man as far as the stat sheet is concerned. He gets credited with one measly tackle in this match, but it was playing off of him that Milton Williams managed to put up two tackles, two sacks and three QB hits. He was double-teamed all night and held on almost the same number of plays (even though the refs refused to call it).

Game Notes

• Saquon Barkley took a commanding lead in the yards from scrimmage leaderboard in this one. His case for MVP should be the top of every list.
• Brandon Graham should have been credited with ending the Rams first drive of the second half. Unfortunately, that Herculean effort will go unnoticed due to the refs screwing the Eagles in plain sight on what would have been 4th down for the Rams.
• This was perhaps the most brutal start to the game the defense has had since the bye. They were lucky Isaiah Rodgers was temporarily in for Slay’s injury to force a fumble on the first drive. Without that, the first two drives looked like a bunch of lost players who were afraid to tackle (aside from the DL being held with no call). Without that fumble, it’s likely the Eagles were down 14-3 by the second quarter.
• The officiating was absolute garbage in this one. Through most of the first half, there were four penalties on the Eagles (at least two were ticky-tack calls at best) and the Rams had been penalized 0 times despite their biggest plays coming as a result of the penalties they committed holding on offense or a helmet-to-helmet hit on their biggest sack. Not only that, but the zebras did everything in their power to pretend that the fumble was no fumble and somehow the runner was “down by contact” despite his fumbling the ball while he was fully standing up. It took Johnny Wilson being entirely tackled before the ball arrived with 20 seconds left before the Rams were called.
• The officiating did not improve in the second half, though it was slightly less lopsided.
• Coaching “genius” Sean McVay attempted to take a timeout before the half. Unfortunately, the refs didn’t just burn it for him, having to tell him the clock was stopped because the player went out of bounds. Just a massive intellect on this dude.
• Another missed shot for an interception for Quinyon Mitchell in the fourth quarter of this one. It really feels like he’s just out of reach almost once per game. If he can start coming down with those, he might lead the league in INTs in the future.
• With Barkley and the OL being the highlights, Hurts gets kind of overshadowed in this one. It wasn’t a “great” game by his standards, but it was a very effective one and he made the plays he needed to make. Believe it or not, it’s actually a positive thing to see the QB willing to play within himself and not take the risks he knows he didn’t need to while taking the yards that were given.
• Hurts-related, where are these asinine QB sneaks coming from. There needs to be an official statement on who is throwing these stupid calls out every week to watch them fail every single week.
• By two minutes left in the game, the Rams had only 14 points. Those were both on phantom penalty calls the refs handed to them. At best, you can credit the Rams (and Eagles defense) with giving up 6 points before garbage time. The refs are what kept the game close into the second half.

Injury Notes

• Reed Blankenship and Darius Slay tackled each other on the first drive of the game. They both exited, but returned for the next drive.
• Saquon Barkley was shaken up in the second quarter and exited but enough time passed on the drive that he did come back in at the end of the drive.
• Darius Slay was taken out of the game again in the third quarter and replaced with Rodgers. He was diagnosed with a concussion.
• Josh Sweat went down toward the end of the third quarter. He appeared ready to return.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Los Angeles Rams – November 24, 2024