Saquon Barkley raised his hand. Now it’s time to move on.
The Eagles’ star running back had a crucial drop in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 22-21 loss to the Falcons on Monday Night Football. After the game, Barkley stood at his locker at Lincoln Financial Field and was accountable.
But he’s not letting one mistake linger.
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“I’m over it,” Barkley said on Wednesday afternoon as the Eagles flipped their focus to the Saints game on Sunday. “The only time I really have to think about it is when I’m talking to you guys. I respect the questions and I’m going to answer them to the best of my ability.
“But in reality, I went back and I watched the film — outside out that play, it think I had a really productive game. I ran the ball well, my pass-pro was pretty good. Sometimes it comes down to one play. You watch it, you say, ‘Damn.’ Obviously, sleep on it, it hurts that night, you feel like you let your team down but it’s only a problem, it’s only a failure if you harp on it and you continue to let that be the problem.”
Barkley is right. Aside from that one drop, he had a good game against the Falcons with 116 scrimmage yards on 26 touches. Through two weeks of the season, Barkley has been as advertised for the Eagles.
So one drop isn’t going to make the Eagles lose faith in him.
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“A lot of guys had my back,” Barkley said. “I think damn-near everybody on the team came up to me and let me know I’ve got their support.”
Barkley has 26 touches in back-to-back games to start the season and his 248 scrimmage yards rank him seventh in the NFL among all players. That’s also the most scrimmage yards for any Eagles player through two games since Darren Sproles in 2014.
So, again, one drop isn’t going to change anyone’s opinion of the Pro Bowler.
“The beauty of it, when we play this game,” Barkley said, “a lot of us have been playing this game since we were 6, 7 years old and we all have a moment like that. The support I got from my teammates was ‘don’t have your head down.’
“It was from offense, defense, coaches, all those guys telling me they trust me in that moment every single time and I trust myself in that moment too. I look forward to the next opportunity for that to arise.”
Barkley made it clear that he’s moving on from the drop and the loss to the Falcons. But give him credit for raising his hand and taking accountability for his mistake in a game where he definitely wasn’t the only reason the Eagles lost.
Why did Barkley take that approach?
“Because I can sit here and be like, make excuses and ‘this should have happened’ or ‘that should have happened.’ I’ll let my family and friends do that for me but in reality, that’s what happened,” Barkley said. “I know if I catch that ball, the game’s over. That’s why I took accountability for it, I’m still going to take accountability for it and the reason why I want that mindset is because I want the trust in my team and my coaches that the next 10 times that situation comes up, I’ll do it all over again.
“I’m not scared to make a mistake, I’m not scared to fail. I operate where how I train, how I push myself, I’ll make that play more times than not. Especially that one.”
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