The Eagles Screwed Barkley, Fans
The final hours of another spectacular afternoon of the Red Zone Channel were winding down when I saw something that made me sad and angry. It reinforced what a bunch of wusses the Eagles have become since coach Nick Sirianni took over as head coach.
After three hours of high drama, Tampa Bay had secured a 27-19 win over New Orleans to clinch the NFC South title. All quarterback Baker Mayfield needed to do was take the snap and kneel down, and the Bucs could start planning their fifth straight trip to the playoffs.
But Mayfield didn’t kneel down. Instead, even in a one-possession game, the Bucs risked disaster with a pass play for wide receiver Mike Evans, who needed five yards to tie Jerry Rice for the NFL record of 11 consecutive seasons with over 1,000 yards. The play worked, Evans got nine yards, triggering both a huge celebration on the field and a $3-million bonus in his contract.
“Coach Bowles didn’t want to let it pass up,” Evans said. “I’m happy that they had me go out there and get that, because this has been hard to do for 11 straight years, and to be tied with one of the greatest of all time means a lot to me.”
“That was what we came up with, and Mike did the rest, Mayfield added. “He deserves that.”
The Bucs didn’t wuss out. They honored a great player, helped make him richer and gave their fans one last big moment before the end of the regular season.
Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley stood shivering on the sideline at Lincoln Financial Field, his chance to set a much more important milestone – most rushing yards in a season – lost because of his jittery bosses.
I was not at all surprised by the decision. I predicted it right here last week. But I was – as usual – disgusted by the gutlessness of the Eagles organization.
Do they realize this is Philadelphia?
And make no mistake. Sirianni didn’t make the decision after canvassing the players and coaches, as he claimed. He made the decision by doing what he does best, saying yes to whatever owner Jeff Lurie and GM Howie Roseman tell him to do.
Now we will see if the wimp-out has any bearing on what happens in the playoffs. All I can say right now is, the Eagles put more pressure on themselves, especially in the first round against Green Bay, than they would have if they let the starters play.
And if you believe the players were fine with the organization’s decision, you are as clueless as the Eagle bosses. Football players, even in this more coddled modern age, do not feel comfortable with timidity.
I was a panelist at the final dress rehearsal for They Call It Late Night, a new talk show that debuted last weekend on ESPN. Its star is the omnipresent Jason Kelce, and our panel discussion included the greatest center in Eagles history, a fellow lineman of the not-so-distant past, Todd Herremans, and ex-Eagles LB and talk-show host Ike Reese.
We all agreed vociferously that Saquon (and the other starters) should play against the pitiful Giants, at least until he got the 101 yards to set the record. As usual, Kelce said it best. He argued that, of all the records that are meaningful to offensive linemen, the most significant is the rushing record.
Offensive linemen love to run-block. They plead with the play-callers to pound the ball. They gain a physical advantage with run plays, because they get the chance to assert their strength. They deserved the record as much as Barkley did.
This morning when I woke up, I endured one last pang of regret when I read the words of one of my favorite media people, Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Rube has been covering Philly sports for 35 years, but somehow he still wrote some of the most depressing words I have read this year.
Here’s what he wrote:
There was something comforting about seeing Barkley sitting on the bench in his hoodie, far from the Giants defense, safely out of harm’s way. And I can’t help thinking of the can of worms it would have opened if we were in the middle of the fourth quarter and Barkley had 19 carries for 87 yards and just how skittish everybody would have been trying to get those few remaining yards.
Skittish?
How about excited and thrilled and joyful for a memory that will last forever?
Skittish?
In Philadelphia?
Oh, please.
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Thoughts while lamenting the end of the regular season. . . .
- Was I the only one laughing at the (final?) faceplant by ex-Eagle Carson Wentz in Kansas City’s 38-0 loss in Denver? If this isn’t the end of a bizarre career, it should be. Wentz is well past his expiration date as an NFL player. And the fact that he was taking perhaps his final bow as a backup quarterback came with its own sweet irony, since his exit from the Eagles four years ago happened because he refused to compete for the starting quarterback job with Jalen Hurts.
- There is no justice in the NFL. None. Doug Peterson, the only coach who ever won a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, was fired in Jacksonville this morning. It was inevitable. He never found the success there that he had here. There’s some irony in his story, too. Pederson won in 2017 with a boldness that he took with him when he left the Eagles organization in 2021. He is still the most honest and fearless coach or manager I ever had the honor of interviewing.
- The Eagles playoff game against Green Bay is next Sunday at 4:30. Jalen Hurts has still not cleared concussion protocols. No one seems concerned at this point, but if Hurts is not practicing on Wednesday, alarms will go off all over the city. Backup QB Kenny Pickett has one-and-done written all over him. The Packers are no easy first-round draw. Without Hurts, the Eagles will be underdogs, even at 14-3 this season.
- My favorite coach in the NFL right now is Dan Campbell of Detroit. He does his job without fear. Somehow, with half of his starting roster injured, he still brought the Lions home at 15-2, including a 31-9 thrashing of the Vikings on Sunday night. When I was on the Kelce rehearsal show last week, I said Dan Campbell would be a hero if he ever coached in Philadelphia. The crowd cheered.
- This is always one of the saddest days of the year for me because it’s the day after the regular season. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love the playoffs. But I also savor every week that the Red Zone Channel is up and running. This year I got more excitement out of the 18 weeks of simultaneous NFL contests than any I can remember. Thank you, Scott Hanson and the Red Zone crew for being so great at your jobs. See you in . . . . 34 weeks? Ugh.