Zone reads: A look around at the Eagles' win Sunday in New Orleans

Ben Brigandi

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Zone reads: A look around at the Eagles' win Sunday in New Orleans image

Put those Bill Belichick to Philadelphia rumors to rest for at least another week. 

The Eagles are 2-1, thanks to Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goedert, and winning a defensive struggle, 15-12 Sunday over the New Orleans Saints.

Coach Nick Sirianni didn’t make it easy on himself, but he’s perhaps off a hot seat as he got his team to 2-1 with a game next weekend at Tampa Bay. 

Until then, it’s time to take a closer look at how others saw Sunday’s game unfold. 

Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer said Sirianni owned up to his decisions, even if they appeared like a series of coin-flips. 

“Yet there was Sirianni after one of the wildest wins he’s experienced with the Eagles, standing behind a lectern, beginning his press conference by embarking on a six-minute monologue about resilience and the difference between a victim mindset and a purpose mindset, announcing that every doubt or question or criticism aimed at his team was his to absorb. His team, his responsibility.”

Barkley told The Associated Press that recovering from the Atlanta loss and the late-game dropped pass was easier than maybe it appeared because of the team’s unity. 

“When things like that happen, everyone thinks the world’s ending, but it really doesn’t matter what the outside world thinks,” Barkley said. “Today, we kept trusting each other and kept having each other’s back.”

Jeff McLane of the Inquirer said it was a good game for Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis up front, their first such performance in three games. 

"Carter and Davis took a lot of heat for the early-season defensive struggles. (Milton) Williams was the only lineman to record a sack in the first two games. But Davis got his first sack off a stunt in nearly a year and Carter won many of his pass-rushing battles when not double-teamed."

The single-biggest play of the game was Dallas Goedert’s 65-yard catch that set up Barkley’s second touchdown run and the 15-12 lead. Shamus Clancy of the Philly Voice said, fair or not, the catch felt like it held the fate of the season. 

"With A.J. Brown sidelined, Goedert put up a monster game, totaling 170 yards on 10 catches and being the reliable target he was for Hurts earlier in their partnership. I wrote earlier this week about how Goedert's efficiency has trickled down over the last couple of seasons and how he entered Week 3 averaging a career-worst 1.15 yards per route run, the worst mark of his career. The talent is undeniable if Hurts looks his way and he's actually health, understandably a big if, he can dominate."

Martin Frank of the Delaware News Journal saw Goedert earn his cape and that the roster bailed out Sirianni. 

"After all, the Eagles don't win the game without Saquon "Mother (expletive)" Barkley, as left tackle Jordan Mailata called him, after Barkley racked up 147 rushing yards, including a 65-yard TD run and the game-winner on a 4-yard run with 1:01 left."

Reuben Frank is ready to declare Barkley the NFL MVP after three games. Don’t believe him? Consider his evidence.

“Barkley’s 406 scrimmage yards are the most by anybody in their first three games in an Eagles uniform in the franchise’s 91-year history. Charlie Garner previously had the most with 331 back in 1994.

Barkley is only the eighth player in NFL history with 350 rushing yards, a 5.5 rushing average and five touchdowns three weeks into a season. 

He’s the first Eagle with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a one-possession game since LeSean McCoy in the Snow Bowl vs. the Lions in 2013.”

Ben Brigandi

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Ben Brigandi is a lifelong professional in sports media, as a writer and editor. Career highlights include covering future pros in high school and even younger, from kicker Robbie Gould in high school to Jurickson Profar, Cody Bellinger, and others at the Little League World Series held in his neighborhood. Born and raised in central Pennsylvania, Ben graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism and covered Nittany Lion games for nearly two decades after attending games as a kid growing up in Happy Valley. He’s seen the Eagles go from hated rivals to his boyhood favorite Washington Commanders to accepting their success as Dan Snyder ruined his fandom. One day, Ben dreams of again playing golf to a legit single-digit handicap, without either putting in the work or sinking pesky 3-foot putts.