Stealing Souls: Eagles' Tone-Setters Are Shaking Opponents

PHILADELPHIA - It wasn’t the first time a soul was stolen at Lincoln Financial Field.

Saquon Barkley’s 60-yard touchdown run on the Eagles’ first offensive play in Sunday’s record-setting 55-23 win over Washington in the NFC Championship Game served notice that the Commanders didn’t belong on the same field as Philadelphia, which won its third conference championship over the past eight seasons.

Taking the heart of an opponent has become a thing in South Philadelphia dating back to the 2018 NFL Championship Game when a Chris Long hurry of Case Keenum turned into a Patrick Robinson pick-six that shook the foundation of the building and generated a tsunami of noise that startled those on the other side of the Delaware River in South Jersey.

A 7-0 start for the talented Minnesota Vikings turned into a 7-7 game en route to a 38-7 Eagles blowout win.

Jonathan Gannon was an assistant coach with the Vikings that day and never forgot the atmosphere that stifled the will of the Vikings.

Fast forward to the 2023 Championship Game and Gannon was the defensive coordinator for the Eagles when he stopped his vehicle to hype Eagles fans en route to the Linc and inform them that “we’re gonna f@#$in gut these guys” in reference to the San Francisco 49ers.

Haason Reddick took Gannon literally and wrecked the game by knocking out quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson as Philadelphia routed the 49ers 31-7.

This year the Eagles got started earlier over Wild Card Weekend after the coaching staff spent all week emphasizing how important it was to stop dynamic return man Keisean Nixon from giving Green Bay an advantage with field position.

On the opening kickoff linebacker Oren Burks hammered Nixon, forcing a fumble that the Eagles turned into seven points three plays later. The Packers never led and ultimately lost 22-10.

On Sunday, the upstart Commanders scratched and clawed to get 54 yards on 18 plays with two fourth-down conversions over the first 7:03 of the game to take what turned out to be their only lead at 3-0.

By the end of the slog, Dan Quinn tapped out of trying for a third fourth-down conversation at the Eagles’ 16-yard line and went conservative, flipping over to the take-the-points crowd perpetually stuck in neutral.

The folly of that mindset was unveiled in 18 seconds of game time.

Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had a simple toss crack called to Barkley.

.@Commanders @Eagles @saquon goes 60 for a House Call; but only after @JalenHurts gets everyone lined up and the correct call The Maestro. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/qna4VWOjuc
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) January 27, 2025

Jalen Hurts checked out of the play before a Commanders’ adjustment signaled the quarterback to return to the original idea.

With things finally settled Hurts went under center Landon Dickerson, and waited for DeVonta Smith's ghost motion to clear before pitching the football to Barkley as A.J. Brown delivered a crack block so violent against edge rusher Dante Fowler it shook the second-team All-Pro receiver up while forcing Fowler to fall as Barkley raced to the edge.

Fowler’s loss of footing affected Bobby Wagner’s pursuit with the linebacker stumbling to fill the hole. Seal blocks by Jordan Mailata on the inside and Dallas Goedert on the outside allowed Barkley to explode untouched for 25 yards or so before the home run hitter dusted Jeremy Chinn and Quan Martin with a reverse spin and used his vision to break back inside for the 60-yard score.

"We wanted to send a message, and we did that," Barkley said. "We had a great play call. Great block by AJ, Dallas, [and] Jordan. I made a guy miss, and that’s a sweet start in a championship game."

It was much more than just a sweet start. The Commanders were crestfallen after seeing all there grinding be erased in less than 20 seconds of game time.

“Good tone-setter, right?” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni told Philadelphia Eagles on SI after the game. “We knew they were going to sell out to stop the run. We kind of knew that. Then [Barkley] breaks two or three tackles to start. We get a great block from A.J. on the toss crack to get around the edge; then great block by Dallas to kind of set it off.

“If Saquon gets into the second level, third level, now it's, ‘Hey, can you tackle this guy?’ He's hard to tackle. … Special performance, special player, special job by the entire group to make that play go to start things off.”

Soul stolen on the way to New Orleans and Super Bowl LIX.

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