Eagles-Rams analysis: Saquon Barkley reaches historic heights as the Birds march to seventh straight win

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Not far from Hollywood, a familiar movie played out inside SoFi Stadium.

The Philadelphia Eagles, behind a running back worthy of his own Hollywood star and an offensive line built to bully opposing defenses and make room for him to run, exerted their will on the Los Angeles Rams.

Saquon Barkley took a handoff from Jalen Hurts on the first play from scrimmage in the second half and plowed through a hole. He reached the first-down marker and deftly cut to his right, and with three accelerating steps he was off and running with no Rams defender capable of catching him. Barkley’s 70-yard touchdown run gave the Eagles a two-score lead after a first half that was a little back and forth.

It was the quick strike the Eagles needed, and it gave a defense that continued its dominant ways plenty of breathing room to work with in an eventual 37-20 Eagles win.

The Eagles were heading back east with their seventh consecutive victory, and a three-game lead in the loss column on the Washington Commanders, who lost earlier Sunday.

Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ win:

Barkley’s big day

Is it possible for someone to have a quiet 73-yard half? That’s what it felt like Barkley had at halftime Sunday. The Eagles handed to him 13 times, and besides one 11-yard run, Barkley kept getting chunk gain after chunk gain.

Then came the game-busting burst to begin the second half. The Eagles led 13-7 at the break, but Barkley’s score blew the game open and put him over 100 yards for the seventh time this season, one shy of Wilbert Montgomery’s franchise record of eight 100-yard games in a season.

Barkley, of course, wasn’t done. With the Eagles killing time late in the fourth quarter, Barkley exploded for another long run, a 72-yard score that put him over 200 yards for the first time in his NFL career and made Sunday’s score a laugher.

Barkley ended the day setting an Eagles single-game record with 255 rushing yards on 26 carries. He had another 47 yards on four catches. Barkley, the league’s leading rusher, has more rushing yards than the entire New York Giants team does through 11 games.

Defense bends early, then bullies

It looked early on like it would be a long day for an Eagles defense that has vaulted itself to the top of the NFL’s defensive rankings. The Rams moved the ball at will on their first two drives, and thanks to a forced fumble by Isaiah Rodgers that was recovered by Nakobe Dean on the first Los Angeles drive, only one of those early series’ resulted in points — the second one, which Kyren Williams finished off with a 1-yard score to give Los Angeles a 7-3 lead after one quarter.

The Rams tallied 8.4 yards per play on those first two drives. Matthew Stafford had time and targets to throw to. But the Eagles responded quickly. The final three drives off the half all went three-and-out with an average of 0.33 yards per play.

And once Barkley gave the Eagles the two-score lead, the rushers were able to more frequently get to Stafford. The Eagles piled up five sacks. Milton Williams led the way with two. Dean, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham each had one.

Hurts in control

Barkley’s recent performances, and the Eagles’ focus on a run-first attack, has made it so that Hurts doesn’t have to be perfect or even that explosive with his arm for the Eagles to win. That was the case again Sunday, though Hurts was in total control of the offense when he wasn’t handing it to Barkley.

He tucked it and ran himself when he had to, and when the Eagles needed completions, he mostly delivered. He was 11 for 13 in the first half, and one of those two misses was an intentional throwaway.

The Eagles were without DeVonta Smith, but with Barkley running rampant and A.J. Brown looking every bit of one of the best receivers in the NFL, Hurts had plenty to work with.

Hurts completed just four passes after halftime, going 15 for 22 on the night for 179 yards. His lone touchdown throw was a perfectly-placed ball to Brown late in the second quarter that sent the Eagles into halftime with a lead they never relinquished.

Injury report

Two Eagles left Sunday’s game and did not return: Darius Slay with a concussion, and Graham after suffering an elbow injury.