Another Eagles win, but another disappointing offensive showing.
After the Eagles offense finally seemed to click during their second half comeback against the Rams in Week 3, they got off to a nice start on Sunday as Jalen Hurts connected with tight end Dallas Goedert on two touchdown passes against the Buccaneers.
That momentum wouldn't last though, as the Eagles failed to complete a single pass in the second half of the game. Their only second half points came after a Bucky Irving fumble set them up for a short Saquon Barkley touchdown run, and they're fortunate Tampa Bay committed multiple turnovers that caused their comeback attempt to fall short.
“When we’re on, we’re firing, we’re really hard to stop," Barkley said after the game, via Zach Berman of The Athletic. "…But when we’re playing bad, we’re really playing bad. But we’ve got to do a better job of playing better than worse.”
Between Barkley, Goedert, the offensive line, and A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, the Eagles have not only the pieces to be a good unit, but potentially an all-time offense. Instead, they rank third-last in total yards per game and second-last in passing offense, and each week, we're talking about Brown's latest cryptic tweet or comments about the passing game.
It's impressive that the Eagles have won thanks to their play in all three phases of the game, but this team does not look as sharp as the squad that won the Super Bowl last season. The difference this year is that the running game has yet to get going. Barkley rushed for at least 100 yards in 10 regular season games in 2024, but he has not done so yet this season.
“The way we played the second half this week and the first half last week—especially on offense—we’re going to have a hard time winning football games," Barkley said. "We’ve just got to continue to improve, continue to jell, find, I hate using this word ‘identity’ in the offense, and the running game.”
The Eagles remain among the league's best teams and early Super Bowl favorites, but if they're offense can't become more consistent, it could cost them come January.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Saquon Barkley Had Blunt Thoughts on Eagles' Offensive Struggles.
