With Eagles in ‘grind-it-out mode,’ Kellen Moore naturally turned to Saquon Barkley

With the Eagles up, 34-7, against the Dallas Cowboys going into their first possession of the fourth quarter on Sunday, Kellen Moore went into run mode, and, by default, let’s-get-Saquon-Barkley-to-2,000-rushing-yards mode.

The offensive coordinator helped orchestrate a series that featured six consecutive carries for Barkley, including the final 23-yarder that put him at 2,005 for the season. On that play, the Eagles went with a counter run that involves a guard and a tight end pulling across the formation to open a hole for Barkley. It has been an effective call for them all season long.

Including that milestone-sealing gain, Barkley combined for 52 yards on the drive before Nick Sirianni decided to hold him out for the rest of the game. The head coach called a timeout after his last carry, allowing him to soak in the moment with his teammates and coaches, including Moore.

“Certainly, we wanted to run the football,” Moore said Tuesday. “Objectively, certainly for Saquon, but also for the circumstances of the game. It was going to be, ‘All right, let’s grind this thing out.’ It’s [the] fourth quarter. Got an opportunity to kind of take advantage of it being in kind of that grind-it-out mode. Our guys were all on the same page. They were ready to roll.”

Thanks to his 167 rushing yards on 31 carries against the Cowboys, Barkley is 101 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson’s season record that has remained untouched for the last 40 years.

The lingering question going into the week of preparation for the season finale against the New York Giants centers on whether Barkley will have the opportunity to set the record. Because the Eagles are locked into the NFC’s No. 2 seed for the playoffs, Sirianni could opt to rest the starters in Week 18 before the wild-card round, which would take Barkley’s shot at the record off the table.

When asked about the significance of individual records to players, given that the former Boise State quarterback holds several NCAA marks, Moore spoke about them in the context of the team’s overarching goals.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni says he’s ‘still not there’ on decision to rest Eagles starters for season finale against Giants

“Certainly there’s a lot of records in sports,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of opportunities for all of our guys to accomplish certain things, and they understand that there’s ultimately big goals that everyone has aspirations for collectively. So those things, a lot of times, take care of [themselves]. They present [themselves]. And if you just keep playing really good football, more opportunities will present [themselves].

“Certainly what Saquon’s done this year and our group collectively has been really, really special. We’ll see how this week plays out. I think our guys would embrace whatever the outcome ultimately becomes.”

For the first time in his six-year NFL career, C.J. Gardner-Johnson earned NFC defensive player of the week honors for his two-interception performance against the Cowboys.

One of those interceptions included a 69-yard pick-six, which also was a career first. Gardner-Johnson joins Brian Dawkins (three-time winner), Malcolm Jenkins (two), Kurt Coleman, and Wes Hopkins as the only Eagles safeties to earn the distinction.

Vic Fangio offered insight Tuesday into the defensive coverage that enabled Gardner-Johnson’s pick-six in the first quarter. The defensive coordinator noted that Gardner-Johnson had passed Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson off to Zack Baun on a crossing route. The safety was not a disguised Cover 1 “robber” and sought to take away the middle of the field, which is where Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush ultimately threw the interception.

Now, Gardner-Johnson has six interceptions this season, which ties his 2022 career high and ranks third in the league (a three-way tie with Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey and Minnesota Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy). Gardner-Johnson has four in the last four games.

Fangio said that the veteran safety isn’t doing anything differently to force more turnovers over the last month.

“I just think sometimes those opportunities present themselves in some games,” Fangio said. “In other games, they don’t. This past game, he had the opportunity for two of them and made them.”

Bryce Huff made his return to game action Sunday after a five-game layoff on injured reserve because of a wrist injury. The 26-year-old edge rusher played just 14 defensive snaps, exited the game halfway through the first quarter with a shoulder injury, and returned early in the fourth.

Huff had a quiet outing. He finished the game with one pressure on seven pass-rush snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Huff also had a missed tackle, according to PFF. Fangio called Huff “rusty” in his first game since mid-November.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Landon Dickerson wants Saquon Barkley to pursue Eric Dickerson’s rushing record: ‘That’s a fairy tale ending’

“But I do think there’s something there that hopefully he can build on and improve on, and, hopefully, you know, continue that this week and we’ll see where it goes,” Fangio said.

For the first time this season, the Eagles used Jake Elliott on kickoffs for the entire game against the Cowboys, instead of Braden Mann.

The kicker had a mostly successful day preventing Dallas’ KaVontae Turpin, who leads the league in yards per kick return (33.6), from returning the majority of kicks. Elliott had five touchbacks on seven kickoffs. The kick coverage unit limited Turpin to a 24-yard average on two returns, his third-lowest mark of the season.

Michael Clay, the Eagles’ special teams coordinator, said the wind was blowing left to right on the team’s kickoffs at the Linc. Elliott is better than Mann at kicking to the right, prompting the decision to use the kicker over the punter on kickoffs. Even though Mann struggled on kickoffs two weeks ago against the Washington Commanders in the cold weather, Clay is leaving the door open to either player assuming those duties.

“We have the luxury of having two guys that can kick off,” Clay said. “We just felt with how the wind was going that Jake was the better opportunity, just with the direction and location we wanted. Like I said, he did a great job of keeping it out of Turpin’s hands.

“Just like you guys asked [about punt returners Britain] Covey or Cooper [DeJean], when you have the luxury of having two guys that can be good kickers or good punt returners, we’re going to use it in the best way possible, just to put the team in the best position possible.”