A shaky afternoon for Jake Elliott still ended with a win, but the Eagles left obvious points on the field, and their veteran kicker didn’t dodge the reality of what comes next.
After missing from 42 and 51 yards, Elliott said he understands the NFL is “production-based,” and that if Philadelphia wants to look at other kickers, that part is out of his hands. He can only keep working and try to clean it up.
From there, the offense leaned into a tone-setting formula, and Saquon Barkley was the centerpiece. According to ESPN, Barkley finished with 132 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, with 84 yards after contact, his most in a game since 2019.
Barkley said his mindset was to run like he was “230, 235,” a point he credited to running backs coach Jemal Singleton, and he framed it as an approach he wants to build on instead of bouncing between styles week to week.
The defining snap matched the quote. Early in the fourth quarter, Barkley hit a seam on a 12-yard touchdown run, dropped his shoulder through first contact, then spun and powered through would-be tacklers to finish. Offensive tackle Jordan Mailata called it an “angry run,” and said that kind of physical finish energizes the group.
That edge mattered because the kicking issues kept the margin tighter than it needed to be. Even so, Nick Sirianni stayed publicly firm afterward, saying he has the “utmost confidence” in Elliott and expects him to respond.
Philadelphia clearly isn’t treating one messy game as an automatic change, but Elliott’s own comments made it clear he knows how quickly evaluations can happen.
If the Eagles keep getting this version of Barkley, the offense can survive a week like this. But as January gets closer, they’ll need both parts to travel, the bruising run game that closes quarters, and the routine kicks that close drives.
