Keeping the Rams off the field will be pertinent to winning, and that may mean getting Saquon Barkley more involved in the offense. So far, his longest run this season is 16 yards. In two games against the Rams, Barkley ran for 460 yards on 52 carries, with four touchdowns, two of which were for 70 and 72 yards -- and a 78-yard touchdown in the snow in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' playoff victory over the Rams.
So far this season, the Eagles are 29th overall in offense, although No. 7 in rushing (140 ave.), and Barkley is averaging a respectable 72 yards a game and 3.7 yards a carry, down a staggering 2.1 yards from his regular-season average and career-best mark of 5.8 yards per carry. "We haven't had the glitzy glamor hundred-yard, whatever, the big pop runs that we've had," Eagles' offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said this week, "but if you look at the efficiency and what we asked him to do, especially to close the game out, run it out of backed up and have some crucial runs in times. We had that one drive where we got in a nice flow when he was running the ball good, we hit the screen and then we were able to score. I think we're moving in the right direction."