PHILADELPHIA – If Eagles backup quRterback Kenny Pickett has to play, the thinking is, ‘run the ball.’
That’s been the thinking all season, but the presence of Jalen Hurts as the plus-one in the backfield has helped Barkley threaten Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards from 40 years ago.
Barkley carried the ball a season-high 29 times in last week’s last-second loss to the Commanders. Could that number go higher this week?
“I’ve had a heavy workload all year,” said Barkley. “That’s why I train. I’ve had heavier (than last week’s 29 runs) in the NFL. That’s how I look at it. Whatever it takes to help the team win, I’m willing to do. That’s always my mindset whether it’s five carries or 35 carries as long as we win.”
Pickett doesn’t offer the same threat to run the ball that Hurts does, a threat that has helped open lanes for Barkley. Don't think Sunday’s opponent, the Dallas Cowboys, doesn't know that.
Washington figured it out, crowding the line of scrimmage with seven or eight defenders to stop Barkley from breaking free. It worked. After gaiing 109 yards n the first quarter, Barkley had just 41 yards over the final three quarters.
The offensive line takes some blame, too. There were missed assignments and some poor techniques by everyone across the line of scrimmage, including from tight end Grant Calcaterra, who may have had his worst run blocking game of the season.
Was there a lesson in there somewhere for line coach Jeff Stoutland to harp on this week?
"You don't want to get caught up in lessons,” said center Cam Jurgens. “You just want to get caught up in the process and getting better each and every day. You know you can sit there and dissect everything and figure out what lessons things need to get better on, or you just treat it like the tomorrow's the next day and you just get better doing the same thing you've been doing.”
As guard Mekhi Becton succinctly put it: “We have to get on our points better, communicate better, and those are the main points.”
Hurts had 630 yards rushing this season, which is the third-most in his career. As a team, the Eagles have run for more than 100 yards in all 15 games this season, which is a club record. They also lead the NFL with a team-record 2,818 yards on the ground, breaking their previous team-record of 2,715 yards set in 2021.
That could look different on Sunday without Hurts. Or it may not. Barkley thinks Pickett has, what Barkley termed, “a little runner in him.”
“I don’t want to discredit anything from Jalen because Jalen is a threat,” said Barkley. “That’s what makes him special – the way he’s able to throw the ball, but also the way he’s able to run the ball. There’s not many guys that’s able to run the ball like him, so it definitely changes things.
But Kenny got a little runner to him … we’ve seen flashes of it. He has a little bit of it, and if he needs to (run), we know that he’s more than capable of doing it.
“Not every team has that threat. Not every team has a guy like Jalen or a guy like Lamar (Jackson with the Ravens). There are still ways you can run the ball. We have a great game plan that we installed, the coaches installed. Now we gotta execute it, and be ready for whatever Dallas throws at us.”
