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    • Saquon Barkley’s fall proves pivotal to the Eagles’ stunning collapse
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    Saquon Barkley’s fall proves pivotal to the Eagles’ stunning collapse

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    PHILADELPHIA – Jalen Hurts leaned in to get eye level with Saquon Barkley, who was sitting at his locker.

    The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback typically visits most of his teammates in person after every game, win or lose. It was the first time Barkley and Hurts spoke after their second game together, a heartbreaking 22-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on “Monday Night Football.”

    “He said he would trust me in that situation every time,” Barkley said after the game.

    The “situation” in question: third-and-3 with the Eagles leading 18-15 from the Atlanta 10-yard line. Atlanta had no timeouts with 1:46 remaining. A first-down conversion allowed the Eagles to run out the clock. A touchdown would have made it a two-possession game.

    Instead, the ball ended up on the ground. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore called for a pass play and, for the play’s opening developments, it seemed like a wise decision. Hurts took the snap under center and showed his back to the defense. Barkley sprinted to his right, clearly in position for a first down and perhaps a touchdown. The quarterback threw him the ball in stride, except it caught the running back’s fingertips. The ball hovered above his hands as he grabbed them to somehow secure possession — to no avail.

    “Make that catch,” Barkley said, “the game’s over.”

    The clock stopped. Atlanta’s offense marched down the field like running water flowing through a crevasse. The Falcons went 70 yards in six plays and needed 65 seconds to take the lead. Kirk Cousins ​​hit Drake London for the game-tying touchdown, Younghoe Koo’s 48-yard extra point went true and Hurts’ interception on the ensuing final possession gave the Falcons their first win of head coach Raheem Morris’ tenure.

    “The game comes down to a couple of plays,” Barkley said. “It hurts a little bit more when you’re the one making a mistake on that play.”

    Said Hurts: “It’s obviously a tough loss. We learn from it. I trust him to make a play every day of the week, just like everybody else, and so we’ll be better for it.”

    Head coach Nick Sirianni didn’t want to place the blame on Barkley’s loss.

    “It’s never just one play. It’s never just that play,” he said. “All plays equal win or loss.”

    Sirianni wondered if he should have gone for the first down again on fourth-and-3, especially since the Eagles had converted in a similar spot earlier in the game. But he wanted to go up six points, he said.

    “In that scenario, it clearly didn’t work,” Sirianni said. “Of course, in those scenarios, I’m going to question myself that it doesn’t work.

    “Every time it doesn’t work out, you know, that’s why I’m in this chair, the head coach’s chair. I have to be ready for the consequences of whether it works out or not.”

    To get full clarity on the reasons why the ball is passed in that situation, we will have to ask Moore for an answer.

    “Again, we can’t be too predictable and say, ‘Hey, every third-and-3, if you’re in four-down mode, you’re going to run the ball.’ That’s not realistic in this league,” Sirianni said.

    Hurts had no problem with what he heard from Moore before he told the huddle.

    “It’s not a matter of expectations. It’s just a matter of executing what’s said,” Hurts said, “and (we) fell short at that point.”

    One reason for the play call, Sirianni said, was that the Falcons’ defensive line was “messing up” on the inside. The Eagles wanted to end the game by attacking the perimeter. A Jake Elliott field goal seemed to do the trick.

    “I wanted them to get down by a touchdown,” Sirianni said, “and see if they could take the field and they did.”

    Be careful what you wish for.

    All was not lost for Philadelphia, as there were 34 seconds (plus two timeouts) left for Hurts to bring Philadelphia within range of a field goal; Elliott has made several clutch field goals in his career. Falcons safety Jessie Bates III slid under Hurts’ final throw of the night, which was intended for wide receiver DeVonta Smith, to complete the sudden comeback.

    The first boos from the crowd came at 8:19 p.m. ET, four minutes of real time after kickoff. Those still in Lincoln Financial Field on the night the organization honored Super Bowl 52 MVP Nick Foles let the team have their way as the teams shook hands on the field with zeros on the clock.

    Of course, the Eagles didn’t have wide receiver AJ Brown available, and he could miss the next few games. Moore could also explain why he stopped handing Barkley the ball on handoffs after he ran for 40 yards in the first quarter. Hurts didn’t seem interested in passing the ball for much of the game and was content to leave the pocket and scramble.

    But on the game’s most crucial play, the star quarterback had to connect with the team’s offseason free agent acquisition to make such plays. It was Barkley’s 16th drop since the start of the 2021 season, the most among running backs, according to ESPN.

    Both Hurts and Barkley said it was a play they practiced a lot during their first offseason as teammates. Barkley had nearly scored on a similar play earlier in the fourth quarter, but replays of the game showed his knee was inches down before the ball crossed the goal line.

    And he knew that the questions he answered at his locker after Hurts walked away were the result of his own actions.

    “I can complain about it and be angry about it,” Barkley said, “or I can become a professional athlete, go back to the drawing board, take the blows, move on and be better for it.”

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