PHILADELPHIA – PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles looked to be on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead, but a dropped pass by Saquon Barkley that likely would have given the Eagles a first down and allowed them to run out the clock proved fatal.
Having to settle for a field goal, the Atlanta Falcons drove 70 yards in six plays with no timeouts in just 1:05, scoring on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Drake London with 34 seconds left. The touchdown was the final score as the Falcons surprised the Eagles 22-21 in their home opener on Monday night.
“I dropped the ball,” Barkley said. “I let my team down. We shouldn’t have put the defense in that position. If I catch the ball, the game is over.”
London defeated veteran Darius Slay and scored the winning goal.
“Very disappointed, especially in myself at the end of the game,” Slay said. “(Throwing). That hurt me. That was definitely my fault. My eyes were on the backfield and I tried to do more than I should have done.”
“They did a lot of things on that route that were consistent with their habits. I saw two guys go in, and usually the way it goes is everybody is heading that way, so I jumped in too fast and had my eyes on the backfield. That was bad. Then he broke out, so it was, yeah, I messed that up bad. That play there is definitely on me.”
The Eagles’ very last comeback attempt after the Falcons’ lead (1:1) ended with a deep interception pass from Jalen Hurts to Jessie Bates.
This loss will hurt. The Eagles are now 1-1 and in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders. Philly has to travel to New Orleans next Sunday to play the high-flying Saints on a short week. The Eagles don’t play at home again until October 11 against the Cleveland Browns.
The Eagles got a great play from safety CJ Gardner-Johnson when he stopped Bijan Robinson on fourth-and-1 at Philly’s 39-yard line. The play helped the Eagles run down the clock at 1:39 when Jake Elliott kicked a 28-yard field goal for a 21-15 lead.
“It’s win or die,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Him against me. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the deciding (play) to win the game. Like I said, there are other things in this game that we have to look at and get right as a team, both on offense, defense and special teams.”
“We can’t focus on one thing. Everyone wants to watch a game and this and that. We are a team and things happen. We have to focus. I have my brothers’ backs just like they have me’s backs.”
The Eagles tried to tie the game when they reached the 10, but on a third-and-3 throw to a completely free Barkley in the flat field, the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week simply dropped the ball. It looked like he had scored a first down, if not a touchdown.
The game would have ended either way.
Instead, the Falcons took advantage of their new opportunity and achieved a victory.
The Eagles trailed 15-10 when they began their season-long drive, covering 70 yards in 17 plays and consuming 9 minutes, 34 seconds.
They had converted just one third down in six attempts all night, but they went 3 of 4 on that march and 1 of 1 on a successful tush push. Jalen Hurts finished it off with the second successful tush push of the drive after a 5-yard touchdown pass to Saquon Barkley was nullified because Barkley’s knee was ruled half a yard short. The touchdown gave the Eagles an 18-15 lead with 6:47 left to play.
Hurts finished the game with 85 yards, his most since he rushed for 82 yards in a 20-17 loss to the Seahawks on Dec. 18 of last year. Without his best weapon, AJ Brown, he was 23 of 30 passing for 183 yards and a 7-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith. His interception late in the game was his third of the season and his passer rating was 88.6.
Barkley had 22 carries for 85 yards and four catches for 21 yards.
It was the second week that the Eagles lost the turnover battle, losing the ball once and not getting a single one from the Falcons.
Cousins was 20 of 29 passing for 241 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 117.2. Running back Bijan Robinson had 14 carries for 97 yards and Atlanta tore through Philly’s run defense with 152 yards.
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