The Philadelphia Eagles are 9-2 after beating the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night! Final score: 37 to 20.
The story of this game was obvious: Saquon Barkley is undeniable.
Barkley logged 30 total touches for 302 yards from scrimmage, which is a new Eagles single-game franchise record.
Barkley’s 255 rushing yards topped his previous high of 189, which came in 2019 with the New York Giants.
I mean, where would the Eagles be without this guy? He’s obviously the team MVP and he’s arguably the NFL MVP.
While Barkley was the main highlight, Vic Fangio’s defense deserves love for holding the Rams’ offense to just 14 points prior to a garbage time touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
This is the Eagles’ winning formula: run the football with Saquon Barkley and play good defense.
Jalen Hurts was efficient as a low volume passer and took good care of the football once again. He finished 15/22 for 179 yards (8.1 average), 1 TD, 0 INT, and a 108.0 passer rating to go with 12 runs for 39 yards.
Beating the Rams is a big deal for the Eagles. A loss likely would’ve meant kissing the No. 1 seed goodbye. Instead, the Birds are still alive for a first-round bye as they hope the Detroit Lions lose some games down the stretch. At the very least, the Eagles are doing their part by continuing to win.
Next up for the Eagles: a road game against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 13. Going up against Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry should be a tough one, though the Ravens will be coming off short-rest after playing on Monday night.
Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.
FIRST QUARTER
- The Eagles won the opening coin toss and elected to defer, per usual. The Rams picked up a first down in two plays and then Matthew Stafford, who hasn’t run all year, took off running into a wide open field for the biggest gain of his LA tenure. Kyren Williams broke off a big run into the red zone to the while Reed Blankenship and Darius Slay collided into each other. Isaiah Rodgers put his helmet on the ball to force Williams to fumble and Nakobe Dean recovered! The refs inexplicably ruled Williams down and the Rams tried to get a play off, which happened … but Nick Sirianni’s red flag was thrown before the snap was off and the refs honored the challenge. Review obviously showed an Eagles recovery! But, geez, what awful officiating.
- The Eagles took over at their own 17-yard line. The combination of a Saquon Barkley run and a short Jalen Hurts completion to Dallas Goedert picked up Philly’s first first down. Hurts made a nice throw on the run to A.J. Brown for another first down. Another connection with Brown, another first down into Rams territory. Hurts took a designed run (and trucked Barkley in the process, lol) for yet another first down, this one into the red zone. A Barkley run brought up 1st-and-goal from the 8-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 4-yard line after a couple runs, a shovel pass to Goedert was sniffed out for a gain of just one yard. Nick Sirianni should’ve been aggressive but instead settled for a 21-yard Jake Elliott field goal. Disappointing to only get three points from a 12-play, 80-yard drive. EAGLES 3, RAMS 0.
- The Rams started at their own 30-yard line. Puka Nacua made a contested catch against Quinyon Mitchell (not something you always see) and Williams broke a run to quickly get the Rams past midfield. Stafford completed another first down pass with Nakobe Dean trailing. Another Stafford completion to a wide open Nacua got the Rams into goal-to-go. Slay got called for pass interference on Demarcus Robinson (hooked him), which set up a Williams touchdown run. 9 plays, 70 yards, TD with 4:11 off the clock. Vic Fangio’s defense not looking strong early on. EAGLES 3, RAMS 7.
- Hurts took a big hit on a designed run that to bring up the end of the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
- Facing 3rd-and-6 just shy of midfield, Hurts held onto the ball and got sacked for a 12-yard loss. Punt.
- The Rams took over at their own 21-yard line. Nacua almost made a really impressive one-handed catch with Slay trailing in tight coverage. Facing 3rd-and-4, Cooper DeJean had good coverage on Cooper Kupp to force an incompletion. Good response by the Eagles’ defense to force a three-and-out.
- The Eagles took over at their own 36-yard line after a Britain Covey fair catch. Barkley stiff armed a defender into the ground as he’s previously done this season, what a beast. Facing 3rd-and-3, Hurts dropped back, didn’t see anything he liked, and took off running for a first down. Facing 3rd-and-4, Hurts hit Brown on a comeback and the wide receiver broke through tackles to get into the red zone. The Eagles had a designed touch for Jahan Dotson get called back for illegal man downfield (Landon Dickerson. Looked pretty ticky-tacky. Hurts overthrew a wide open Goedert in the end zone, really bad miss (play wouldn’t have counted anyway due to a rare offensive offside on Dotson). Barkley slipped shortly after making a screen catch, might’ve been a pretty big play. Facing 3rd-and-16, Hurts took off running after Jordan Mailata got pancaked (you read that right) by Jared Verse. Goedert got called for an illegal motion that was declined to bring up a 31-yard Elliott field goal make. Another promising drive that stalled out in the red zone. EAGLES 6, RAMS 7.
- Dean came flying in for a nice TFL on Williams. Facing 3rd-and-9, Brandon Graham came up big to sack Stafford for a second straight third down stop. After allowing the Rams to start strong, Fangio’s defense began to settle in.
- The Eagles took over at their own 38-yard line after an 8-yard return by Covey. Dotson caught a bad ball thrown behind him on bubble screen and managed to pick up a first down anyway. Thanks to Barkley’s running, the Eagles reached the plus 30-yard line at the two-minute warning. Facing 3rd-and-5, Hurts took off running to get out of bounds at the marker for a first down. Hurts avoided rushers and hit Barkley along the sideline to bring up 1st-and-goal at the 7-yard line. Nice play. Hurts threw to Brown in the end zone … but the ball was dropped. Upon booth review, it was determined Brown established possession (he made three steps!) before the ball got knocked out for the touchdown! But why didn’t Sirianni go for two to try to make it a seven-point game? EAGLES 13, RAMS 7.
- The Rams took over at their own 30-yard line with 1:27 on the clock and only one timeout to work with. Nakobe Dean pancaked Kyren Williams and then got to Stafford for the sack. Beast! Sirianni oddly decided not to call a timeout to give the Eagles a chance to get the ball back with more time. Facing 3rd-and-13, the Rams ran the ball to force the Eagles to take their first timeout.
- The Eagles took over at their own 37-yard line with 0:26 on the clock and two timeouts to work with. The Rams got called for pass interference on Johnny Wilson to put the Eagles at their own 49-yard line with 0:21 left. A Hurts throwaway against pressure brought the clock down to 0:17. A Hurts designed run only picked up just three yards and the Eagles called their second timeout at 0:11. Facing 3rd-and-7, Hurts’ throw to Brown on a slant was broken up. Facing 4th-and-7 with 0:07 remaining, the Eagles lined up to go for it and the Rams took their final timeout. Facing 4th-and-7 for real, the Eagles went with yet another Hurts designed run (?!) that got stopped for a loss and turnover on downs with 0:02 left. What the eff was that?! Throw the ball if you’re going for it.
- Fortunately for the Eagles, Josh Sweat closed the first half by sacking Stafford to deny a Hail Mary throw.
THIRD QUARTER
- The Eagles began the second half at their own 30-yard line. Barkley instantly broke a 70-yard run for a touchdown! He’s unstoppable. Really nice blocking by Dickerson to open up a hole for Barkley to take advantage. EAGLES 20, RAMS 7.
- Jalen Carter punched the ball out from Williams’ control but the Rams were lucky enough to recover. Stafford completed a pass to Nucua — despite pass interference from Slay — into plus territory. Brandon Graham came up big yet again (shocker) with a huge TFL to knock the Rams’ offense off schedule. Graham then forced an incompletion by hitting Stafford as he threw. Facing 3rd-and-16, Stafford’s throw to Nacua in the end zone was incomplete … but a flag was thrown on Isaiah Rodgers for pass interference. Replay showed nothing that even came close to warranting a penalty, just a total phantom penalty from an officiating crew that’s been bad all night. Instead of facing 4th-and-16 at the plus 36-yard line, the Rams got 1st-and-goal from the three-yard line. Stafford hit an open Robinson for the easy score. Pretty bullshit score. EAGLES 20, RAMS 14.
- The Eagles took over at their own 30-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-inches, the Eagles picked up five yards (lol!) on the Brotherly Shove. Facing 3rd-and-10 after a Kenny Gainwell run went for no gain (why a Kenny Gainwell 2nd-and-10 run?), Hurts took off running for a first down but the play didn’t count due to offsetting penalties. Facing 3rd-and-10 again, a screen to Barkley picked up 31 yards. He’s simply too good. Then Gainwell broke off a 13-yard run to the end zone to make it a two-possession game again! Nice job by the offense to lift the defense after they got screwed by a bad call. 8-play, 70-yard TD drive. EAGLES 27, RAMS 14.
- Facing 3rd-and-3, C.J. Gardner-Johnson put a big hit on Kupp to stop the receiver short of the sticks and force a fumble that went out of bounds. Facing 4th-and-1, Sean McVay actually went for it (gasp) and Stafford hit Nacua with Rodgers trailing in man coverage for a 29-yard gain. The Rams marched into the red zone. Graham created a TFL by missing the tackle but disrupting Williams’ run for others to clean up. Facing 3rd-and-3, Zack Baun knocked down Stafford’s pass to Nacua. Facing 4th-and-3 after the Eagles declined a Rams holding penalty — wait, no, Sirianni actually accepted it. Facing 3rd-and-13, Milton Williams got to Stafford for a big sack. The Rams went for the 47-yard field goal attempt … and it was wide right! LA was having kicker issues entering this game, so, not exactly a shocking miss from Joshua Karty.
- The Eagles took over at their own 37-yard line. Two Barkley runs and a nice Hurts to Brown completion over the middle got the offense to the plus 30-yard line to end the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
- Facing 3rd-and-1, a Barkley handoff picked up just enough for a first down in the red zone. Fullback extraordinaire Ben VanSumeren came in to lead block for a Barkley run that went for nine yards. Another short Barkley run brought up goal-to-go from the 8-yard line. Jalen Hurts called the Eagles’ first timeout with the play clock about to run out. YET ANOTHER designed QB run went for a one-yard loss. Then Hurts threw the ball out of back of the end zone. Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 9-yard line, Brown couldn’t make the one-handed grab in the end zone. Two penalty flags were thrown for offsetting penalties. Awful call by the refs on Dickerson for shoving Verse in a totally normal non-penalty fashion. That kinda shove happens in football all the time, c’mon. The official closest to Dickerson and watching him do that to Verse wasn’t even the one who threw the flag! What the hell. Hurts targeted Johnny Wilson in the end zone but the rookie couldn’t haul it in. The Eagles settled for a 26-yard field goal to keep it a two-possession game. EAGLES 30, RAMS 14.
- The Rams took over at their own 32-yard line with 10:24 remaining in the game. Quinyon Mitchell deflected a Stafford pass to bring up third down. Facing 3rd-and-11, Reed Blankenship tackled Kupp short of the sticks to bring up fourth down. Facing 4th-and-3, Stafford quickly hit Tutu Atwell for a first down completion against Mitchell with Q playing off to not get beat deep. Mitchell nearly had a shot at his first career pick with Stafford underthrowing a pass off his back foot. Facing 3rd-and-9, Stafford hit Nacua for a first down but the receiver got called for offensive pass interference (push off) on Rodgers. Facing 3rd-and-19, Carter forced Stafford to step up into Milton Williams, who strip-sacked the quarterback! The Rams recovered to punt on 4th-and-33.
- The Eagles took over at their own nine-yard line with 5:13 remaining in the game. Two Barkley runs set up third down as the Rams called their first two timeouts. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Brotherly Shove was stopped for no gain. Facing 4th-and-inches from their own 18-yard line, the Eagles lined up for another Brotherly Shove … and the Rams got called for being offside. Barkley broke a run 72 yards for another touchdown. Lmao. EAGLES 37, RAMS 14.
- The Rams scored a garbage time touchdown with Mitchell trailing Kupp. The Rams went for two and Stafford’s pass was behind Nacua for an incompletion. EAGLES 37, RAMS 20.
- Dallas Goedert got penalized for illegally batting the ball out of bounds on the Rams’ onside kick attempt. That wasn’t smart. The re-kick resulted in Goedert catching it. Kenny Pickett came in and the Eagles ran victory formation to close out the game!
FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 37 to 20
EAGLES LINEUP NOTES
- Britain Covey was back on punt return duty, as expected.
EAGLES INJURY NEWS
- Darius Slay and Reed Blankenship (shoulder) ran into each other and left the field on the Rams’ first drive. Isaiah Rodgers came in at cornerback and Tristin McCollum — not Sydney Brown — came in at safety. Blankenship was originally ruled questionable to return. Slay and Blankenship were back on the field for the Rams’ second drive.
- Saquon Barkley got banged up midway through the second quarter. Looked like he got the wind knocked out of him. He returned not too long after.
- Kelee Ringo headed to the locker room early in the third quarter.
- Slay (concussion) got banged up again in the third quarter. He was taken back to the locker room and ruled out.
- Josh Sweat went down late in the third quarter. He walked off the field on his own power. Sweat returned to the game.
- Brandon Graham (elbow) visited the locker room in the fourth quarter. He was ruled out. Concerning …