Saquon Barkley’s controversial fumble, Nick Sirianni’s decision-making, and more of Reddit’s biggest Eagles questions

After each Eagles game this season, Inquirer columnist David Murphy will answer questions posed by Eagles fans on Reddit about what they saw on the field — and what it means moving forward — in a weekly mailbag of sorts.

Here are some of the best questions we received from r/Eagles this week, as well some answers, going into their Week 10 matchup against the Cowboys and with the NFL trade deadline looming …

All I can tell you is what the NFL said. Apparently the NFL differentiates contact that knocks a player to the ground and contact that causes a “stumble.” I did not know that beforehand. Here’s what NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth told a pool reporter after the game:

“On that play, the running back was touched by a defensive player, No. 51, and then he did have contact with No. 69 on the offense,” Mr. Butterworth said. “It was deemed a stumble on the field, so because it was a stumble, when he went down, he would not be down by contact and therefore it was a fumble.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley backward hurdles his way into becoming the centerpiece of the Eagles offense

I guess we now know that’s the rule. Saquon Barkley, for one, said he wasn’t surprised by the ruling because the same thing happened to him last year in Green Bay.

The decision to go for them is all Nick Sirianni, made with the full faith and credit of the Eagles’ analytics department. That said, somebody has to explain to Sirianni the difference between facing Patrick Mahomes, as the Bucs were last night when they declined to go for two, and Trevor Lawrence, against whom the Eagles should have had a 20-0 lead.

There are games where the risk-reward calculus is in favor of tacking extra points on the scoreboard and there are games where the calculus assigns a higher penalty to the potential losing of points. In this case, the Eagles gave the Jaguars an extra possession, and it almost bit them.

Sure doesn’t look it.

» READ MORE: The Eagles are the anti-Jaguars, and Nick Sirianni deserves some credit for that. Now, let’s talk about situational awareness.

Hey, maybe there’s something there. Would explain Sirianni’s decision-making Sunday.

I really don’t think there’s anything impactful they can do. The Raiders aren’t trading Maxx Crosby. The Cowboys aren’t trading Micah Parsons. The Eagles’ pass rush has actually improved to a point where a lot of the replacement-level-ish options probably aren’t going to do much for them.