Saquon Barkley — Week 1: One Run, Forty-Two of the Eighty-Three
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Barkley carried fifteen times for eighty-three yards and no touchdown, forty-two of the yards on one third-and-two run in the second quarter and forty-one on the other fourteen carries, with five successful and minus zero point seven expected points. He was thrown to twice and caught one for minus three, and none of his carries came inside the ten, in a 24–22 win over the Commanders.
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The full episode, in writing
Third and two at the Philadelphia 46, eight 10 left in the second quarter, Eagles up seven to three, no huddle. Saquon Barkley behind the right guard for 42 yards to the Washington 12. The run was worth +3.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — the largest figure on any Eagles run all day, and 6.7 points of win probability, the chance of winning after the play against before it, the fifth-largest gain on any Eagles pass or run. Two snaps later — Tank Bigsby for three, then second and seven from the nine — Jalen Hurts threw short left to Dontayvion Wicks for the touchdown, 14 to three.
15 carries, 83 yards, no touchdown, two first downs, five of the 15 successful, −0.7 expected points on the carries. 42 of the yards came on one carry; the other 14 produced 41. Nine carries for 64 before halftime, six for 19 after. The first quarter was five carries for nine yards, among them a run around left end at seven 32 that the play-by-play records at one yard after a holding penalty on Jurgens, and a −2 up the middle from the Washington 16 with 39 seconds left, on the drive Dallas Goedert finished on third and 17. The third quarter was four carries for six, with a −1 and a −3. The fourth was two carries, six and seven yards, both on the drive that ended in Goedert's 43-yard touchdown. None of the 15 came inside the 10. The two targets: incomplete short right on the first drive, and a catch for −3 on first and 10 at the Philadelphia 39 with eight 50 left in the fourth, three snaps before Hurts's 22-yard scramble on third and 18, with a false start in between.
The split: Barkley 15, Hurts five — all of them scrambles — Will Shipley two, Bigsby one. 10 designed runs before halftime and eight after, against 16 pass plays and 12. Philadelphia ran 23 times counting the scrambles for a hundred 38 yards, and 48 of those were Hurts's. His two targets were fewer than Makai Lemon's four. Philadelphia ran six plays in the red zone and scored no rushing touchdown.
Back in June the preview called Barkley a lean, overpriced — RB8 at pick 15 for a year-eight back coming off a fourteenth-place season, with the aging rule pointing down and a receiving role that had cratered to 37 catches — and it said to watch the receiving usage and the yards over expected. Sunday was one catch for −3 on two targets, 15 carries, and a line that reads 83 because of one run and 41 without it. That is one game, and the lean was written about a season; the receiving half of the watch list showed up looking the way the lean expected, and the other half is not in this data. Philadelphia is at the Titans on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Saquon Barkley's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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