PHILADELPHIA – With 7:46 to play in the third quarter, Saquon Barkley blitzed Bobby Wagner.

So the Philadelphia Eagles running back leaked into the space where the linebacker had fled, an easy checkdown awaiting Jalen Hurts should he choose to use it.

Some gain seemed likely. Then Washington Commanders safety Percy Butler whiffed on a tackle. Suddenly, the Eagles’ offseason signing picked up 43 yards.

Philadelphia would not break its next three-quarter touchdown drought. Nor would the Eagles be able to take a lead in any of the first three quarters of their NFC East matchup against the Washington Commanders.

But the dam was fraying. And soon it would burst.

Riding the wave of Barkley’s 198 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns, the Eagles defeated a rising Washington team 26-18 on Thursday night. Philadelphia improved to 8-2 with a head-to-head win over the closest competition in the division and is now firmly in control of its playoff fate.

No one in Philadelphia, including Barkley, is suggesting that the Eagles’ last win nor their success in 2024 thus far stems solely from the longtime New York Giants running back reviving his career in Philadelphia.

But when Barkley posted his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season (tying his mark from the previous four seasons) combined) and led the NFL with 1,137 rushing yards, they all agree that an Eagles team built to propel a running back benefits immensely from his services.

There are simply too many weapons for opponents to hold them all for four quarters. Barkley is a key ingredient in this pick-your-poison attack.

“He did a good job today,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “I talked about how we are multi-faceted and that we have a multi-pronged approach. It may look different. And so I think if we embrace that as a football team, how different these things can look and how we succeed and how we score points and produce, I think we can continue to diversify ourselves in our efficiency.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman didn’t look at his roster this season and decided extensions for receivers AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith gave him a free pass to strengthen his run game. Roseman also didn’t assume that his perennially strong offensive line would lead just any bell cow to success.

Roseman did what is rarely done and signed a talented but aging guy who walked away from a division rival when the New York Giants didn’t want to pay him that much. Balking League trends at the position paid off.

“I appreciate all of you, New York,” Eagles cornerback CJ Gardner-Johnson said. “Shout out New York. Furthermore, Sa(quon) has been a great guy for us.”

Commanders watched the Eagles for 45 minutes before the tide turned

At halftime, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni confronted the reality of his team.

Philadelphia had converted just 3 of 11 third-down attempts. Kicker Jake Elliott had missed field goal attempts from 44 and 51 yards. So their 174 yards offense amounted to just 3 points.

“What we really talked about at halftime was, ‘Hey, this is going to be a dirty, gritty game,’” Sirianni said. “Just keep going. We know we are dirty and gritty. We know the team is dirty and gritty.

“It’s a street fight and it’s not about who is stronger, but about who is stronger for longer.”

The message applied to multiple phases of the team. But Barkley figured out how that could translate on a day when the run game sometimes stalled.

He thought more consciously about when to stay tighter and when to punch out. When was the operation one block away from an explosive play and when did he have to make it read differently downhill? Late in the third quarter and into the fourth, the Eagles started to show that they were stronger for longer.

The Eagles settled for a field goal after Barkley’s 43-yard cut, but Philadelphia’s defense allowed just one first down before forcing a punt. Hurts took off to start the fourth quarter and then, in a change of pace, running back Kenneth Gainwell pinned Barkley and ripped off 14 and then 13 yards. Barkley re-entered the game and took the Eagles down the left sideline to the 1-yard line, from which Hurts fraternally muscled his way into the end zone.

Finally, with twelve minutes left in the game, the Eagles had their first touchdown and their first lead, 12-10. But could they keep it?

Philadelphia almost lost their chance when Dallas Goedert coughed up the ball, but fellow teammate Grant Calcaterra recovered the fumble. Two plays later, Barkley’s blockers opened up a huge hole for him. He curved around the right edge for a 23-yard touchdown.

And after the safety, Reed Blankenship intercepted Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels on the first play of the next drive?

The Eagles passed it off to Barkley two more times, with Barkley blasting his way to a 39-yard touchdown on his 26th carry of the night.

“We built a lot of rushing yards and gained a lot of respect,” Barkley said. “That will be a mentality for teams coming into the game: make sure we don’t do that. Because if we get the running game going, it’s kind of hard to beat our team.

“You could hold us back for 20-something porters, but we’ll rip off two long ones when it matters most. The stats look pretty good and you’ll often get a win.

Barkley has a chance to reach uncharted territory in Philly

Barkley knows what it’s like to increase the box score and maybe his fantasy value, but ultimately not win the games.

As a rookie in 2018, he scored 15 touchdowns and led the league with 2,028 yards from scrimmage. The Giants won only five games.

In 2019, Barkley again racked up 1,441 yards and eight scores – this time in just 13 games. The Giants won four that year.

And in 2022, New York’s only playoff campaign in Barkley’s six years there, his 1,650 yards and 10 touchdowns helped power a 9-7 team that upset the Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round before falling in the divisional round were disabled. 7, to his current employer in Philadelphia.

Barkley saw them advance to the Super Bowl weeks later and knew then what he knows now: Philadelphia expects a deep postseason run. After two Super Bowl appearances in the past decade, that’s realistic for the Eagles.

All of which is a long way of saying: excuse Barkley for not unnecessarily celebrating the Eagles’ 8-2 record, even though it includes more wins than all but one of his six New York years.

“We’re not getting a midseason trophy,” Barkley said. “We have to keep going.”

Teammates echoed that expectation.

Hurts spoke about how the team “will continue to build and take full advantage of everything we have.” Gardner-Johnson said more clearly that the Eagles expect and should win the division’s guaranteed playoff berth.

“You know who runs this division – no disrespect,” Gardner-Johnson said. “(Washington) is a great team, but we know what’s happening. We know what to do.

“It’s not a diss or a shot at nobody. We just have to understand it. Keep what is rightfully yours. Just keep playing with the ball.”