Eagles RB Saquon Barkley hurt his left shoulder on the first play of Sunday's win over the Titans. He managed to return for 11 more snaps in the second half, but finished the game with just four carries and a catch for 20 total yards. In Barkley's near-absence, Tank Bigsby "led" the Philly rushing with 33 yards on 13 attempts, a sickly 2.5-yard average. Will Shipley followed with seven carries for 24 yards (3.4 per rush). Each guy caught both of his targets for a mere 5 yards apiece. Bigsby contributed the team's lone rushing score.
What They're Saying
Brooks Kubena of The Athletic: "The run game that first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion's system was supposed to rely on is still dragging the operation down. The Eagles averaged 2.8 yards per carry against the Titans, tied for eighth-lowest in the [HC Nick] Sirianni era. ... The Titans neutralized the Eagles' wide-zone run concepts by bringing their safeties down along the edges and sending exotic blitz packages, as the Commanders had before them. Titans defenders flooded the backfield; the Eagles averaged 0.66 yards before contact. The Eagles had no 10-yard rushes for only the fifth time since 2021. Such explosive runs are vital to a system that intends to play both pss and run off each other by creating similar looks. Instead, the lack of a run game contributed to an average third-down distance of 7.8 yards."
2026 Fantasy Football Impact: This Could be a Problem for Barkley ... and the Offense
Philly's run game is bound to not fare as well when Barkley goes down, but it also didn't look great with Barkley fully available in Week 1.
The primary issue appears to be poor interior blocking, which will struggle to rebound while LG Landon Dickerson's on IR. And that weakness has been exposed so far by defenses that finished last year just 27th and 21st in rush DVOA.
This issue means you should look for sell opportunities on Barkley once he's back healthy and enjoys a productive game or two. But it also could damage Philadelphia's offensive performance on whole.
The unit should benefit from a Week 3 trip to Chicago. The Rams and Jaguars figure to present bigger challenges the following two weeks, though.
