PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Saquon Barkley dashed 60 yards for a landing on Philadelphia’s first play and completed with 118 yards and three scores, Jalen Hurts rushed for 3 TDs and the Eagles soared into the Tremendous Bowl with a 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
Hurts and the Eagles are within the Tremendous Bowl for the second time in three seasons, and this time Barkley is alongside for the journey. The Eagles will play both the Buffalo Payments or former Eagles coach Andy Reid’s Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.
“I ain’t gonna lie — I tried to downplay it in my head, but it’s just amazing, man. It’s amazing. We’re here. The Super Bowl,” Barkley mentioned. “But the goal wasn’t just getting there. The goal is to win. And we’re going to celebrate and enjoy this and get right back to work.”
The 55 factors are essentially the most any staff has scored in a convention championship recreation for the reason that 1970 merger.
Hurts, carrying a brace on his left knee, additionally threw for 246 yards and a landing cross and the Eagles had a towel-waving crowd in a frenzy for the NFC championship recreation at Lincoln Monetary Area.
“How about our quarterback? How about our quarterback! He’s a stud,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni mentioned. “I knew he was going to play that way. I knew it. Don’t doubt him. All he does is win.”
A.J. Brown caught six passes for 96 yards and a landing and the Eagles scored a season excessive in factors to usher the franchise into their fifth Tremendous Bowl.
The Commanders performed a task in getting the NFC title recreation to Philly with two straight street wins — together with final week’s stunner at No. 1 seed Detroit that set the stage for the second-seeded Eagles to host.
Jayden Daniels threw for 255 yards with one landing, one interception and fell brief in his bid to develop into the primary rookie quarterback to steer his staff to the Tremendous Bowl. The Commanders had been doomed by 4 turnovers, together with a misplaced fumble by Austin Ekeler within the third quarter and the Commanders down 34-23.
“We believed that we belonged here,” Daniels mentioned. “It was just another game for me. That’s how I treated it.”
The Eagles received their solely Tremendous Bowl within the 2017 season and Nick Foles, the QB in that recreation towards New England, was the honorary captain.
The Eagles lower to different stars from that recreation in attendance on the large display screen and now — two years after Eagles misplaced to the Chiefs within the Tremendous Bowl — the franchise has an opportunity at profitable their second one.
A lot as he has all season, Barkley led the best way for the Eagles.
After the Commanders opened the sport with an 18-play drive and a subject aim that quieted a raucous crowd, Barkley whipped the followers that included actor Bradley Cooper right into a frenzy on the Eagles’ first offensive play from scrimmage. Solely the ninth working again to hurry for two,000 yards in a season, Barkley took the pitch from Hurts and lower left, spun round a pair of defenders and took off on the landing run.
The Eagles recovered a fumble on the subsequent drive and Barkley added a 4-yard run — making him 2 for two on carries and touchdowns — for a 14-3 lead.
Together with the playoffs, Barkley prolonged an NFL report Sunday together with his seventh dashing landing of 60-plus yards in a season.
Daniels, who led the Commanders to 6 consecutive victories, made his share of huge performs that included a 36-yard landing cross to Terry McLaurin that pulled them to 14-12.
“I had a lot of confidence in what we would do and how we would play,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn mentioned.
Hurts, who damage his knee when he was sacked final week by the Rams, had his finest recreation but in a postseason the place the Eagles performed all three video games at house. He closed the primary half with a tush push 1-yard landing and threw a 4-yard scoring cross to Brown to ship the Eagles into halftime with a 27-15 lead.
Hurts secured the Tremendous Bowl berth with a tush push landing within the fourth quarter — after a humorous second when an official mentioned he’d award the Eagles a landing if Washington didn’t cease leaping offside — and his ninth profession postseason dashing rating gave them a 41-23 lead.
Small quantities of inexperienced confetti began to fly from the higher deck at that time on the countdown was formally on for the Tremendous Bowl.
The Commanders’ determined gasp at one other late comeback win ended with a thud when Nolan Smith sacked Daniels on fourth down within the fourth quarter. Will Shipley gave Barkley a wanted breather within the blowout and punched in a 2-yard landing run for a 55-23 lead. The “E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!” chants started in earnest and it’s certain to ring loud in New Orleans.