PHILADELPHIA — Saquon Barkley jumped back in a manic millisecond that defied the mentality of ordinary people. The jump should have been ridiculous. Instead, it was wonderful. Only the brave, courageous and absurd will try again.

After receiving a third and sixth swing pass, who else could make the previous two moves? Who but Barkley could lower his shoulder, blow through a cornerback like a useless buoy, and spin out of a linebacker's arms with the force of a typhoon after a split-second build-up step that belongs in a Barry Sanders role? In whose other brain do the synapses signal to pop right out of Super Mario when they see reinforcements approaching? And whose other calves have the ability to take down another cornerback before the other tacklers finally prove those muscles belong to a mortal?

“It was the best play I’ve ever seen,” Nick Sirianni said.

The head coach initially stammered when trying to even explain it. Like everyone else watching the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-23 at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Sirianni was limited to just staring at the big screen, mouth agape, speechless at the running back who ” “It was more special than I even thought.” He enjoyed thinking about how children all over Philadelphia, across the country, would try to imitate the ridiculous game on their playgrounds.

“I won’t be able to do that,” Sirianni grinned. “He’s probably the only one in the world who can do that.”

Barkley may be the only player in the world who could do that Plan it. After Kelee Ringo watched Barkley fall back to the ground, the second-year cornerback ran to CJ Gardner-Johnson on the sideline. “Do you remember when we talked about this?” He told security. In training camp, they had argued with Barkley over the running back's claims that he might make such a move. It would require not only successful setup and spin, but also a defensive back's decision to dive. That would never happen, they had argued. Until it happened.

“It was supposed to happen the way it happened,” Ringo said. “That’s why it was so hot.”

THE 180 HURDLE??? DID SAQUON JUST INVENT THIS?!

📺: #JAXvsPHI on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/tYThjnbdgG

– NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2024

Not enough delirium for one day? The Eagles nearly squandered their 22-0 lead with sequences that were almost as destructive as the amazing ones they had built. Barkley's third down only resulted in a field goal within that initial surge. A largely forgotten first-half offense that capitalized on a forced fumble by Sydney Brown on a first-drive punt and an interception by a leaping Zack Baun that set up Barkley's two touchdowns. He caught the first on a 20-yard wheel route. On the second run, a 19-yard run, Barkley ran uninterrupted for a third-and-17 yard draw.

Barkley is the guide to understanding the denouement that almost led to Jacksonville's comeback – a tangle of controversy and complications. Firstly, it is one of the main reasons why Philadelphia remained out of reach. No player is more important to the success of the Eagles offense than Barkley. No other player in team history has more yards from offense in eight games than Barkley (1,071). Only LeSean McCoy and Brian Westbrook have passed the 1,000-yard threshold in the same span, and Barkley, who ran for 159 yards against the Jags, joins them as the only Eagles to rush for 100 yards or more in three straight games.

Even McCoy, who was inducted into the franchise's Hall of Fame at halftime, expressed a (perhaps biased) opinion about the identity of the Eagles offense: “Run the ball.” Kellen Moore recently committed. The first-year offensive coordinator continued his spread of under-center presentations against the Jaguars. Barkley rushed for 63 yards on nine carries on under-center snaps – a number that might have been higher had fullback Ben VanSumeren (a converted linebacker) not left the game in the second quarter with a concussion.

Barkley's efficiency supports an offensive system whose running game aims to shape the defense to its will. Jalen Hurts leapt into the end zone with an 18-yard touchdown run on a zone read keeper with Kenneth Gainwell untouched, giving the Eagles their first three-point lead of the third quarter.

But on the first play of their next possession, after the Jags scored to pull within 22-8, Barkley fell shortly after receiving a zoned handoff and the football came loose after his elbow hit the ground and he seemed like he was crawling away for extra yardage. Jaguars edge rusher Travon Walker returned a 35-yard touchdown that was ruled a fumble, turning a potential blowout into a one-score game.

The call was strange, to say the least. Jacksonville linebacker Ventrell Miller lunged at Barkley during the run and touched Barkley's left leg. Typically, Barkley's subsequent fall and crawl could have suggested he was on the ground by contact. But Mark Butterworth, the NFL's vice president of instant replay, later told a pool reporter that officials determined that after Miller touched Barkley, Barkley also made contact with left guard Landon Dickerson. They assumed Barkley had stumbled due to his contact with Dickerson, not Miller, which, in a strange decision that “surprised” CBS Sports rules analyst Gene Steratore, eliminated the possibility of Barkley striking through contact on the ground lay.

“That’s why it was a fumble,” Butterworth said.

Nevertheless, the Eagles had several other opportunities to decide the game. After failing to convert on two Brotherly Shove 2-point conversions early in the game, the Eagles instead went into a four-and-1 situation with a pass in the third quarter. Hurts, flushed out of the pocket, flung the pass incomplete. He later praised Jacksonville's defensive front, saying their edge rushers “posed a challenge for us, not just on that play, but on many other plays in the game.” Such a development is worrisome for the Eagles, who are on brotherly shove attempts against the Bengals, who scored two touchdowns for Hurts, were 4 of 5.

“That play was our bread and butter, and it didn’t work tonight,” Sirianni said. “We’ll watch the tape. … We probably need to be prepared to experience that again.”

The Eagles were loaded with talent and used it to outlast the Jaguars. On a fourth-quarter drive that gave Philadelphia the lead, Hurts threw a 46-yard pass to DeVonta Smith and three plays later, on a third-and-22 situation, he quickly hit Smith for a 25-yard touchdown .

SMITTY IS OUT OF THIS WORLD 🤯👽@DeVontaSmith_6 | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/PZPAGdLtqh

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 3, 2024

Hurts, who completed 18 of 24 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns, said his vision was limited when throwing. But he knew that the Jags' secondary was in the quarterfinals, that he had Smith on the outside in a one-on-one and that he had thrown passes like that to Smith repeatedly throughout their careers and during their offseason workouts.

“That’s a heck of a play he did,” Hurts said.

If there's any conclusion to be drawn about the Eagles, who remain at 6-2 and remain in second place in the NFC East behind the Washington Commanders, it's that their talent has often been able to overcome their circumstances. On Jacksonville's final offensive attack, after reaching the Philadelphia 13 with 1:42 to play, Trevor Lawrence tried to hit running back D'Ernest Johnson with a wheel route in the end zone against Nakobe Dean. But the linebacker caught the pass for a game-winning interception.

“Obviously we want to finish the game on our terms,” Hurts said. “I don’t think we did.”

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)