The Philadelphia Eagles got Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and the passing game going at a high level in Dallas on Sunday. So why did that lead to them blowing a 21-0 lead and losing 24-21 to the Cowboys in a shocking Week 12 upset?
Hurts passed for 289 yards, with 8 of his 27 completions and his only TD pass going to A.J. Brown, accounting for 110 of those yards. Hurts also rushed for 35 yards and 2 TDs.
But the Eagles' offense struggled in the second half, when they failed to score another point to pad a three-touchdown advantage. Hurts, Brown and the rest of the passing game cooled off, but there also was little to zero help from the running game to close out the game.
Are the Eagles' woes Saquon Barkley's fault?
Saquon Barkley was shut down on the ground by the Cowboys, getting only 10 carries for 22 yards. He did manage 7 catches for 52 yards but he also lost his first fumble of the season at a critical point.
Barkley getting only 10 carries total in a game where the Eagles led by more than 20 points seems silly. But then you look at the second half, it gets more insane that Barkley had only 4 carries for 9 yards.
Is not giving Barkley enough touches in the running game on offensive coordinator Brian Patullo? Yes, to some degree. But there's good reason to not do so. It hasn't been effective or efficient all season long. The Eagles weren't going to put away the Cowboys grinding on the ground. They had to do it with Hurts passing to score more points, which didn't materialize.
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Last season, with great blocking and Barkley having a career year, Patullo's predecessor Kellen Moore was set up to stay in a groove from Week 1 through the Super Bowl. Barkley averaged 5.8 yards per carry on the way to 2,005 in the regular season. That stayed at 5.5 in the playoffs.
This season, Barkley was at 3.8 yards per carry going into Week 12. That just dropped to 3.7 with the lack of production against the Cowboys. He's also down to 16.8 carries per game in relation to 21.6 last season. He's now down to 62.2 yards per game after averaging nearly double that (125.3) in 2024.
Because of failing to generate close to the same type of rushing attack with Barkley due to lesser blocking a lot more lingering wear on him, the Eagles have been forced to manufacture more production. Barkley already has surpassed his reception total of 33 in 16 games from 2025 with 35 in 12 games. That's still only 7.4 yards per reception, down again from 8.4 last season.
Hurts has done well with the Eagles' offense running and passing despite Barkley doing a 180 with his own running support. The Eagles ran more than any other team in the league (56.3 percent of plays) because they were feeling it with Barkley last season. That's down to 48.1 percent (going into Week 12), but still No. 3 in league frequency.
But as a team this season, the Eagles were producing 3.9 yards per carry before facing the Cowboys, ranked 18th with 115.2 yards per game. Last year, it was a 4.9 yards per carry with the team No. 2 in rushing offense at 179.3 yards per game.
Defenses may have started fearful about Barkley and the running game dating back to 2024, but watching film of his running and his blocking this season over double-digit games says it's much easier to contain/shut down the run and force Hurts into one-dimensional play. The Cowboys' revamped front has been more capable of stopping the run and it kept Dallas in the game until the offense could roll to big numbers in the second half.
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The Eagles are still rather run-heavy in relation to the league, but they're not getting close to the same results. The numbers would be worse without Hurts having some key rushing efforts.
Barkley has gone from the ultimate unstoppable asset to a real liability. The Eagles are managing his volume from his massive workload in 2025, but the mileage has prevented him from exploding like he did, a fate of many precedented workhorses. That's not good for a runner known for his boom-or-bust production style.
There's no doubt signing Barkley was huge in the Eagles winning Super Bowl 59. But the reality is, if they have designs on repeating, the offense does need to be a lot more about Hurts, Brown, DeVonta Smith and their passing going forward.