Eagles players address if Saquon Barkley is in a 'funk' amid lackluster season

The struggles of Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley generated headlines multiple times this season before he rushed for a paltry 22 yards on 10 carries as the Eagles squandered a 21-0 lead en route to suffering a 24-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys that dropped Philadelphia to 8-3 on the season. 

Per Johnny McGonigal of PennLive, Barkley said after the defeat that he is "in a little funk right now." Eagles All-Pro offensive tackle Jordan Mailata seems to disagree with that assessment. 

Jordan Mailata addresses what is to blame for struggles of Saquon Barkley

"He’s not in a funk, man," Mailata said about Barkley. "That’s just the guy Saquon is. Good dude ... But he’s just being hard on himself. It’s on all of us up front." 

Barkley won the Offensive Player of the Year Award for last season after he led the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards and 2,283 yards from scrimmage. To compare, the StatMuse website shows he began Monday ranked 16th in the NFL with 943 total yards from scrimmage for the ongoing campaign. According to ESPN, he's fifth in the league with 185 carries and 14th with 684 rushing yards on the season. 

"It’s not on Saquon," Mailata continued. "It’s on all of us. You can just watch the film. We always say we’re one block away. As tiring and as repetitive as that is, that’s the truth. I’m tired of saying it. But it starts with us. We’ve got to do a better job of execution. And until we do that, this run game isn’t going anywhere." 

Jalen Hurts defends Saquon Barkley after costly fumble

The Eagles offense has routinely left much to be desired with its play this fall, even though the club won eight of its first 10 games. After Philadelphia was shut out in the second half of Sunday's contest, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts challenged his teammates to let the loss "light a fire in us as a team and stay together and move forward."

Meanwhile, Barkley said he "lost us points" when he fumbled the ball away halfway through the fourth quarter. Following the defeat, Hurts defended his ball-carrier. 

"That’s not all on him," Hurts said about Barkley's turnover. "There are a lot of opportunities in the game to not even be in that situation. Can’t put that on him. As a competitor, I know how he is and where he is, and I know how he’ll work moving forward. And I think that will be infectious to the rest of us."

Barkley will look to produce a bounce-back performance when the Eagles host the Chicago Bears (8-3) this coming Friday. As of Monday morning, ESPN BET had Philadelphia as a seven-point favorite for that game.