Saquon Barkley’s Shoulders Are Carrying More Than the Ball — He’s Taking the Blame for Philly’s Broken Run Game.QQ
The Eagles’ run game is not what it was last year.
The Philadelphia Eagles may have snapped their two-game losing streak on Sunday, but there is still plenty of work to be done, starting with the run game.
Star running back Saquon Barkley logged just 44 yards on 18 carries in the Eagles’ 28-22 win over the Minnesota Vikings. He now has logged 113 carries for 369 yards and threee scores through seven weeks. That makes him on pace to finished the 2025 regular season with just under 900 rushing yards, which is a huge drop off from his 2,000 rushing yard season last fall.
While there are many reasons behind why the Eagles can’t get the run game going, Barkley is taking the blame.
“We’re just not getting the job done,” Barkley said. “I’m not getting the job done. I own the running game. That’s my responsibility. I was brought here to make plays in the run game and I’m not making plays in the run game. I’m taking too many negative runs and I own that.
“It’s not because I rushed for 2,000 yards last year. I hate that narrative. I rushed for 2,000 yards last year, but no one wanted me to rush for 2,000 yards. It wasn’t like they just handed us 2,000 yards rushing. We just had a different mindset and a different attitude and that starts with me.”
The Eagles’ offensive identity is different than last year
The Eagles’ offensive identity last year was easily their electric run game starring Barkley. While they haven’t appeared to have found their identity just yet this season, it looks like it could be the in the passing game with the ground game still finding itself for a future perfect combination.
Regardess of how things have looked and the progress the Birds still have to make, they are winning, and Barkley, along with the rest of the team, love that feeling.
“We won a football game and it feels really good to win again,” Barkley said. “I said I thought we lost sight of the joy of winning and I’m happy. Am I satisfied? No. We have a lot of room to improve and we’re going to go back and work on it, but it’s good to win.”
