Nick Sirianni’s explanation for baffling Eagles’ decision during loss to Broncos fails to make it any better
The Eagles ran the ball just 11 times on Sunday.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ run game was way too quiet in Sunday’s 21-17 loss to the Denver Broncos.
The Eagles ran the ball just 11 times, which marked their lowest number of rushing attempts since Week 17 of the 2009 season, according to Sharp Football Analysis’ Tucker Bagley.
Eagles’ star rusher Saquon Barkley logged only six carries for 30 yards.
Head coach Nick Sirianni addressed the lack of run game after the loss, admitting that it wasn’t the plan.
“Just like when we talk about getting A.J. [Brown] the ball or DeVonta [Smith] the ball, we all want to get them all the ball as much as possible,” Sirianni said. “Obviously, we want to run the ball more than we were able to today or what we did today. You always want to come out of that game with Saquon [Barkley] getting enough touches because of the type of player he is. So, we’ll look for solutions, and we’re on a short week trying to get better to put ourselves in a position to go play against another NFC East opponent.”
Barkley has had an overall slow start this fall, carrying the ball 83 times for 267 yards and three scores. Those numbers are extremely low compared to last year, when he had already rushed close to 500 yards in five games.
Saquon Barkley turns loss into positive moment
After opening the 2025 NFL season with a perfect start, the Eagles now sit at 4-1 as they head into their Week 6 Thursday Night Football clash with the New York Giants.
Despite losing their first game since Week 16 of the 2024 NFL season against the Washington Commanders, Barkley is turning it into a positive as the team gears up for the short week ahead.
“Now we have adversity. Real adversity,” Barkley said. “Like our first real adversity. We lost a football game. We haven’t lost a football game since Washington last year. So, we have a lot of guys banged up. We’ve got to get healthy, and we’ve got to come to work. That’s the thing we have about this team, though. We have a lot of great leaders and a lot of great talent, but we have super competitive people too, and it’s not going to sit well with anyone in this locker room. And we’ll get better from it.”
A team that faces adversity together is one that will learn how to emerge victorious together.