Eagles hold on for 28-23 win over the Jaguars thanks to Saquon Barkley and Nakobe Dean’s heroics

Just when it seemed like the Jacksonville Jaguars were about to pull off a comeback on Sunday evening at Lincoln Financial Field, Nakobe Dean called game.

The 23-year-old inside linebacker picked off Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the end zone, squashing their second-half surge and sealing the Eagles’ 28-23 victory. The Eagles dominated the first 35 minutes of the game, going up 22-0 early in the third quarter. Jacksonville exploded in the second half, scoring 23 points to the Eagles’ six, but Dean’s play ensured that the Eagles would earn their fourth straight win.

Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ nail-biter of a victory over the Jaguars:

Saquon Barkley brought his metaphorical magician’s hat to the Linc early on, turning an inch into a mile on multiple plays. Early in the second quarter on third-and-6, the Eagles running back snared a pass in the flat from Jalen Hurts, made a pair of defenders miss as he turned upfield, then hurdled backward over another Jaguar, racking up a 14-yard gain.

The Eagles sputtered in the red zone later on in that drive, forcing them to settle for a Jake Elliott field goal. But Barkley got in the end zone himself on two occasions, one rushing and one receiving. His first touchdown came on the Eagles’ second possession of the afternoon after Sydney Brown forced a fumble by Jaguars punt returner Austin Trammell and Kelee Ringo recovered the loose ball at Jacksonville’s 20-yard line. On second-and-10 from that spot, Barkley burned Jaguars safety Darnell Savage on a wheel route, hauling in a touchdown pass for the Eagles’ first first-quarter points of the year and putting them up 7-0.

With just over 30 seconds remaining in the first half, Johnny Wilson nullified his own touchdown by committing offensive pass interference. On the ensuing third-and-16, Barkley ran up the middle and bounced outside to the right, befuddling a trio of Jaguars defenders who bit inside as the running back cruised into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. The Eagles were unsuccessful on the two-point conversion and pulled ahead 16-0.

Barkley’s early performance was nearly marred by a fumble late in the third quarter. He lost the ball on a 3-yard run as he was being tackled by Jaguars linebacker Ventrell Miller. Defensive end Travon Walker recovered the loose ball and ran it into the end zone as the Jaguars drew closer, 22-16. The play was reviewed, but despite Barkley appearing to be tripped to the ground before the ground caused the fumble, the officials upheld the call and ruled Barkley was not down by contact.

The running back finished the day with a season-high 27 carries for 159 yards and a touchdown, plus three receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown. Barkley surpassed 1,000 all-purpose yards, becoming the third Eagle since the 1970 merger to reach that milestone in the first eight games of a season (LeSean McCoy in 2011 and 2013; Brian Westbrook in 2007).

“Outside of the hurdle, I had a decent game,” Barkley said. “But there’s two to three plays that I would love to go back and have. That’s the nature of football. My teammates had my back. Defense had my back. We played together and got the win. That’s the only thing that matters.”

One week after forcing a pair of takeaways against the Cincinnati Bengals, the defense continued to help the Eagles win the turnover battle. On the first play of the Jaguars’ fifth possession, with just under two minutes remaining in the first half, Lawrence targeted running back Travis Etienne over the middle of the field. The pass bounced off the running back and landed in the hands of a diving Zack Baun, marking his first interception in an Eagles uniform.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts saves Nick Sirianni’s bacon in a messy Eagles win over the Jaguars and Doug Pederson

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound inside linebacker, who signed with the Eagles in free agency, made plays all over the field, finishing the day with a team-high 10 tackles and two pass breakups in addition to the pick. He wasn’t the only newcomer to make an impact on the defense — for a second consecutive week, rookie slot cornerback Cooper DeJean made another fourth-down stop, which Vic Fangio considered as valuable as a takeaway in his weekly press conference following the Bengals game. On fourth-and-1 at the Jaguars’ 39-yard line, DeJean forced an incompletion to tight end Evan Engram thanks to an alert from Brandon Graham.

“He was like, ‘There’s no way they’re running this ball right now,’” DeJean recalled after the game. “And then I saw, they kind of made a check. [Engram]’s one of their pass-catching tight ends. Once I’d seen him kind of go out, I just had to find my way through the traffic and find a way to make a stop.”

After jumping out to a 22-0 lead early in the third quarter, the Eagles let the Jaguars hang around. Lawrence led a 10-play, 61-yard scoring drive in the third quarter, which he capped off with a 1-yard keeper for a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion to make it 22-8. Barkley fumbled on the Eagles’ first play on the ensuing drive, leading to Walker’s recovery for a touchdown.

On the following possession, the Eagles offense stalled in Jaguars territory. On fourth-and-1 from the Jacksonville 25, instead of running the Tush Push or attempting a field goal, Hurts attempted a pass to DeVonta Smith that fell incomplete. It was a relatively quiet night for Elliott, as the Eagles went for a trio of two-point conversions — all unsuccessfully — on three of their four touchdowns.

However, Smith came up big on the next possession, hauling in a one-handed, 25-yard touchdown reception to put the Eagles up, 28-16. The Birds were unsuccessful on the two-point conversion attempt, but the Jaguars couldn’t pull off the comeback despite scoring on their next drive and Elliott missing a 57-yard field goal try after that.

“Obviously, we want to end the game on our terms, and I don’t think we did that,” Hurts said. “I think that’s something that you don’t want to deal with that. Not as a quarterback, and I think not as an offense when you have an opportunity to do something. We just need to learn from it.”

Ben VanSumeren exited the game in the second quarter while being evaluated for a concussion and was later ruled out. He had caught his first reception as a fullback for no gain in the first quarter.

A.J. Brown went back to the locker room early in the third quarter with a knee injury before the Eagles offense ever took the field out of halftime. The Eagles’ top receiver had taken a hard hit on a reception right before the two-minute warning, but he did not leave the game. He was downgraded to out at the start of the fourth quarter. Sirianni did not have an update on Brown after the game.

Fred Johnson went down while blocking for Hurts on his 18-yard touchdown run after Jaguars safety Andre Cisco made a low hit on the left tackle. However, after a visit to the medical tent, Johnson returned to game action on the ensuing Eagles possession.