Eagles-Ravens Stock Market: Barkley Busts Ravens

In a battle of physical teams, the Ravens are the ones that wilted in Baltimore.

Dec 1, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA;Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) celebrates scoring a touchdown during the second half against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

BALTIMORE - If there were any doubts about Saquon Barkley's ability to sustain a historic season they may have evaporated in chilly Baltimore when the Eagles' MVP candidate was serenaded with MVP chants on the home field of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry.

It was Barkley's 25-yard touchdown run with 7:56 remaining that complemented another strong defensive performance en route to a 24-19 Philadelphia win, it's eighth straight to improve to 10-2 on the season.

Here's the skinny on how the Eagles did it.

THE BULLS

RPOs - The Eagles again started slowly offensively, generating only 22 yards on their first four offensive possessions. From there Braden Mann flipped the field with a punt down to the one-yard line downed by Sydney Brown.

The Philadelphia defense generated a three-and-out with the help of a Lamar Jackson worm-burner to an open Zay Flowers. The short-field opportunity gave the Eagles some juice and Kellen Moore combined several RPO looks with tempo that put the Baltimore defense on its heels and essentially changed the trajectory of the game.

THE PASS RUSH - We got the first look at the Brandon Graham-less pass rush for the Eagles, and it was darn good. Josh Sweat from the outside and Jalen Carter on the inside were particularly problematic for Jackson.

A big 14-yard sack from Zack Baun pushed the struggling Justin Tucker back and the future Hall of Famer missed the first of two off-target field goals at well with Baltimore threatening to take the lead back in the third quarter.

DEFENSE - Vic Fangio's defense continues an amazing season. Baltimore came in averaging a mind-blowing 6.97 yards-per-play and Fangio's bunch cut that to 5.2. Derrick Henry arrived averaging 6.0 yards per carry and the Philly defense rolled that back to 4.3. Jackson arrived with a 117.9 passer rating and that was downgraded to 101.3. And some of that was helped along by a meaningless garbage time touchdown.

SECOND-HALF EXCLAMATION POINT - The Eagles didn't get a first down in the second half until 9:20 was left in the game.

They had six offensive plays in the third quarter -- two three and outs. Baltimore never took advantage with two missed Tucker field goals and a drive that stalled before midfield. The third time was the charm for Philadelphia fueled by a key third-down conversion to Dallas Goedert.

The running game broke through from there with a 14-yard Barkley run, and an 11-yard Jalen Hurts keeper before Barkley broke the dam with a 25-tard touchdown run.

THE BEARS

CLUNKY PASSING GAME - There is just no consistency in the Philadelphia passing game. There are always spurts but the operation feels like it's always straining to find anything outside the A.J. Brown staples. At 10-2, it's just an asterisk at this point but one that feels like it could crop up at the wrong time in a big situation down the road.

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