Nick Sirianni: You think about Saquon Barkley on the goal line, but it’s hard to lose yards on the QB sneak

Running back Saquon Barkley has rushed for eight touchdowns in his first 10 games as an Eagle, but that number could be significantly higher.

The Eagles have used their trusty tush push to get quarterback Jalen Hurt’s eight touchdown runs after Barkley or others have moved the ball to the lip of the end zone this season. Barkley has touchdown runs of two and three yards, and head coach Nick Sirianni was asked this week if he ever feels compelled to give Barkley a chance to finish drives.

Sirianni said Barkley is a “good teammate” and noted that it’s hard to lose yards when they run sneaks — Barkley lost yards on his only carry from the 1-yard line — so close to the goal line.

“Yeah, you always think about that,” Sirianni said via a team transcript. “I think one thing we think about a lot in the red zone — without giving away too much information because I want to answer your question and respect your question — a quarterback sneak, it’s hard to lose yardage So when you come out, the worst thing you can do in red zone football is move backwards. That’s one of the worst things that can happen there and put you behind the sticks in front of the sticks because things are getting harder and tighter down there when you move down there. So we’ve had a lot of success with the quarterback sneak. Jalen has scored a lot of touchdowns.”

There were some questions about whether the Eagles would remain effective running backs without center Jason Kelce. The answer has been a resounding yes, and it’s no surprise that the Eagles aren’t looking for ways to fix things that aren’t broken.