{"id":169964,"date":"2025-06-30T09:14:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/169964\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T09:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:14:33","slug":"barkleys-pivotal-drop-late-in-4th-quarter-burns-eagles-in-22-21-loss-to-atlanta-falcons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/169964\/","title":{"rendered":"Barkley’s pivotal drop late in 4th quarter burns Eagles in 22-21 loss to Atlanta Falcons"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Saquon Barkley had at least a first down, maybe even a touchdown, in his grasp<\/a> that would have sealed the Eagles\u2019 win in their home opener.<\/p>\n

Barkley instead bobbled a reception and couldn\u2019t hold on to Jalen Hurts\u2019 short pass. It was one giant drop on third down at Atlanta\u2019s 10-yard line with 1:46 left in the game that stopped the clock late and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal.<\/p>\n

Barkley\u2019s botch was the opening the Atlanta Falcons needed to pull off the stunner with the kind of flawless drive the Eagles couldn\u2019t duplicate. Kirk Cousins capped the winning drive with a touchdown pass to Drake London and Atlanta stunned Philadelphia<\/a> 22-21 in its home opener on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dropped the ball,\u201d Barkley said plainly. \u201cLet my team down today. Shouldn\u2019t have put the defense in that position. If I make the catch, game\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkley and Hurts, who had put the Eagles ahead 18-15 on a 1-yard tush-push touchdown in the fourth, had a brief postgame conversation in the locker room.<\/p>\n

The message was simple: Hurts still had Barkley\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to trust me every time in that situation,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n

After Barkley\u2019s drop, Jake Elliott kicked a 28-yard field goal rather than the Eagles going for the score on fourth down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to go up six points. It didn\u2019t work,\u201d coach Nick Sirianni said. \u201cI wanted them to be down and touchdown and see if they could drive the field. And they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a three-year deal<\/a> for $26 million guaranteed, Barkley is the highest-paid running back in franchise history. The 27-year-old former New York Giant did have a knack for dropping the ball when he played for the NFC East rival. <\/p>\n

\u201cI trust him every day of the week to make a play,\u201d Hurts said. \u201cJust like everybody else. We\u2019ll be better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe next time, the Eagles will simply trust Barkley enough to just rush for the first down.<\/p>\n

Even after London torched cornerback Darius Slay and scored, the Eagles still had 34 seconds to at least drive into field goal territory for Elliott. Hurts instead had his pass picked off by Jessie Bates III that ended all hope of Philadelphia\u2019s own amazing comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent of that play was to go down the field,\u201d Sirianni said. \u201cHe took a chance and the guy made a good play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like Barkley, Slay took the heat for the loss after he let London beat him for the winning TD.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s on me Philly!! I owe yall<\/a> one. DAMN!!!!!\u201d Slay wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

A year after a 10-1 start, the Eagles are already 1-1 with games against undefeated teams New Orleans and Tampa Bay on deck.<\/p>\n

Barkley ran for 95 yards in his home debut at week after a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. Led by Hollywood star Bradley Cooper, Eagles fans went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. <\/p>\n

Barkley\u2019s steady success wouldn\u2019t stick.<\/p>\n

The defense couldn\u2019t smother the long play against Cousins and the defense for all 60 minutes.<\/p>\n

Under new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, the Eagles established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Atlanta\u2019s Younghoe Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.<\/p>\n

Cousins, signed to a four-year, $180 million contract in the offseason, came alive in the second half. Cousins connected with Darnell Mooney on a 41-yard TD pass that gave Atlanta a 15-10 lead. Cousins later hit Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can be beat, especially if we don\u2019t take advantage of our opportunities,\u201d Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. <\/p>\n

With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury<\/a>, DeVonta Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score. Sirianni said he wasn\u2019t sure how long Brown would be out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, he\u2019s definitely missed,\u201d Hurts said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t change the trust I have in everybody else to step up. We just didn\u2019t meet the moment. It wasn\u2019t for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Saquon Barkley had at least a first down, maybe even a touchdown, in his grasp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,4130,224,7,4645,22829,492,294,6,498,5351,6370,109,894,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-169964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-drake-london","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-ga-state-wire","15":"tag-jake-elliott","16":"tag-jalen-hurts","17":"tag-kirk-cousins","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-nfl-football","20":"tag-nick-sirianni","21":"tag-pa-state-wire","22":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","23":"tag-saquon-barkley","24":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114771558028341392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}