Saquon Barkley took the blame for the Philadelphia Eagles’ 22-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, after a late upset would have given them the win.

“I dropped the ball, let my team down today. Shouldn’t have put the defense in that position, made that catch and the game is over,” Barkley said, via the team’s official website.

With a third-and-3 from the Falcons’ 10-yard line, clinging to a three-point lead with 1:46 left in the fourth quarter, Philly called a rollout for Jalen Hurts to hit Barkley in the flat. The play worked well, leaving the running back wide open with room to earn the first down.

Instead of celebrating another sensational performance as the Eagles went up 2-0, Barkley and the Eagles got stung. The back botched the pass. Then the Philly defense was shredded by Kirk Cousins ​​en route to the loss.

“I can sit here and complain and be angry about it, or I can be a professional athlete and go back to the drawing board and take the hits and move on and be better,” Barkley said. “I’ve made that play a few times. I’ve missed that play a few times, which means that’s the situation. It happens. It’s part of the game. I just have to get better. If I’m going to let my team down, I’ve got to stand up to it like a man. I’ve got to be myself no matter what I do. I’ve got to promise those guys in this locker room that I’m going to be better for them.”

The decision to throw instead of run on third down to ensure 40 seconds were taken off the clock was painful for coach Nick Sirianni.

“They used a certain defense and messed it up in the middle. We tried to get around it on the outside, but it didn’t work,” Sirianni said.

According to NFL Research, the Eagles had a 98.5% winning chance before the snap before Barkley was lost.

“I trust (Barkley) to make a play every day of the week, just like anybody else,” Hurts said. “We’re going to be better for it. It’s not a matter of expectations, it’s just a matter of executing what’s called. And at that point, we came up short.”

Barkley rushed for 95 yards on 22 totes and caught four of five passes for 21 yards in his first game playing in Philly in an Eagles jersey. The one drop was deadly, but it wasn’t the only reason Philadelphia lost.

The defense couldn’t stop the ball — or rather, slow Bijan Robinson. Hurts threw a forced interception in the final seconds with time left to get into field goal range, echoing many of the late mistakes from a dismal end to 2023.

Last year, the season went downhill for Sirianni and the Eagles after things started to go wrong. How will they respond to their first real setback in 2024 with the 2-0 Saints and Buccaneers on tap?