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Oct 5, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) looks for room to run during the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Lincoln Financial Field. Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Eagles Pre-Snap Problems Are Real

Originally posted on Philadelphia Eagles on SI
By John McMullen | Last updated Oct 5, 2025 8:52 PM ET

When asked about Saquon Barkley’s illegal shift penalty on a key fourth-down conversion attempt in the fourth quarter of a disappointing 21-17 collapse against the Denver Broncos, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts admitted getting too deep into the play clock was a factor in the mental error.

Reviewing the mistake, the Eagles reached the line of scrimmage with about 15 seconds on the play clock, and Barkley began his motion with nine seconds left. The All-Pro running back returned to the backfield with two seconds left and needed to be set for one, leaving no margin for error.

Philadelphia was flagged on the play and backed up, forcing a Braden Mann punt.

“Two players went in motion. So, by rule, when two players go in motion, both have to reset for a second before the snap,” Referee Adrian Hill told pool reporter Zach Berman of The Athletic. “One player stopped, but 26 continued in motion, so that’s what created the illegal shift.

“They didn’t both reset for a full second.”

Although the officiating staff was far too busy on Sunday afternoon, it got this particular call correct and what would have been a 30-yard strike to DeVonta Smith at the Broncos’ 21-yard line, putting the Eagles in position to go back on top in an 18-17 game, turned into an untenable fourth down situation followed by the worst Mann punt of the season, a 23-yarder with five minutes to go.

Gotta Be Detailed

“I just gotta be detailed better,” Barkley admitted. “Definitely could’ve come back faster. That’s how you lose football games – not being detailed. On that play, I definitely wasn’t (detailed) enough.

“I don’t know if they said someone else was moving, too. We weren’t detailed on a lot of things in that game. On that play, I gotta own it. I gotta be better in that situation, especially with Smitty making a big play there. I think they called it on me. I own it. I gotta be better.”

The issue kick-started a Broncos’ drive that siphoned all but 66 seconds off the clock and forced Philadelphia to burn all its timeouts. When Wil Lutz booted a 36-yard field goal for the Broncos, it was a 21-17 game, and the Eagles had to go 74 yards, coming up just short after two deep shots from the Denver 29-yard line.

"No miscommunication,” Hurts said of the miscue. “From what I remember, the clock was low and on [the fourth-and-four] or whatever it was, he counted at the mercy of the clock.

“I think if we operate a little faster, get to the ball, we can maybe avoid some of that. Nonetheless, when you have a motion tagged to a play, I put that towards operation as a unit and that starts with me. So I own that. I can play smarter in that and make it work given what we're doing.”

Head coach Nick Sirianni again insisted that getting in the play calls on time hasn’t been an issue despite the Eagles ranking near the bottom of the NFL in snaps late into the play clock.

“No. Again, there's so many things that go into that. Obviously, we had the one that was a huge one on fourth down where we got up and kind of snapped it on one,” Sirianni said. “A lot of things that go into that. Again, we're doing everything we can do to find solutions, not assign blame, and we're a team. We're together, so it's always going to be an us thing.”

This article first appeared on Philadelphia Eagles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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