Eagles RB Saquon Barkley had a fine night in the loss to the Falcons, carrying 22 times for 95 yards and catching four of five targets. He watched as QB Jalen Hurts vultured a fourth-quarter TD from a yard out -- but then Barkley added a two-point conversion. The RB hurt himself and his team, though, by dropping a third-down pass late in the third quarter. It would have extended Philly's penultimate drive and potentially delivered another shot at a TD. Instead, the Eagles had to settle for a FG and then surrendered Atlanta's game-winning TD drive.
Ryan Field of WABC-TV in New York City: "Saquon Barkley has 16 drops since the 2021 season. No other NFL running back has more."
That's obviously not a good stat, but it also doesn't really matter.
A big part of Barkley's lead in that category is his target count. Only four RBs have seen more since the start of 2021. His drop left a sour finish on Barkley's Week 2, but his 5 targets and 4 receptions each ranked second among Eagles for the game.
Barkley also now has 46 carries through two games, with Kenneth Gainwell picking up the only three RB rushes that haven't gone to Barkley. And you can't even complain about the Hurts TD rush after Barkley ran for two scores in the opener.
Philly is using its new RB like the workhorse his contract suggested he'd be. And even an inconsistent Philadelphia offense figures to keep delivering scoring chances.
What we'll have to keep evaluating is Barkley's target share when WR A.J. Brown's healthy. The RB got just 5.9% target share in his lone game with Brown so far vs. 16.7% in the game Brown missed.
I'd bet on him settling somewhere between those two rates on average.
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