PHILADELPHIA – Sunday’s convincing 27-13 win over Pittsburgh is exactly what Howie Roseman envisioned when he put together the 2024 Eagles.

On paper, Philadelphia’s GM set up a nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators by adding superstar running back Saquon Barkley to the game’s best offensive line and a passing attack led by Jalen Hurts moving the football to star receivers AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith brought.

What happened was success along the lines of a 12-2 start with 10 straight wins, but Barkley had taken on the load to such an extent that the passing game looked anemic in recent wins at Baltimore and against Carolina.

Things changed against the hard-nosed Steelers as Hurts returned to form, hitting on his first eight passes and completing 25 of 32 for 290 yards with a touchdown to Brown and Smith.

Barkley, a leading MVP candidate, rushed for 65 yards on 19 carries, his second-worst total of the season.

Completing a 22-yard shot, Barkley only had 43 yards on his other 18 totes, a disappointing 2.4 yards per carry, and the RB1 also hit his right knee.

First things first: After sitting out a bit in the second quarter to loosen up his knee, Barkley was able to return and complete his regular workload.

“Nothing crazy. “A little setback,” Barkley said of his mishap. “Just get ready for next week.”

What was new was leaving Barkley and using the passing game to outscore Pittsburgh.

“Everyone knows what this team is capable of. We finally showed it,” Barkley said. “I said it earlier in the week, when a team figures out how to slow down the run, we’re able to pass. If they are able to stop the pass, we can compete with the team we have.

“Big shout out to Jalen, AJ and Smitty. They did what we all know they are capable of.”

The next goal is to lock up the NFC East in Washington next week, and the NFC’s No. 1 seed is now in play after Buffalo upset Detroit on Sunday.

“We kept the main thing. We continued to focus and believe in each other,” Barkley said. “We have to continue to do that. It’s still a long season and to achieve what we want to achieve, we face a big division opponent.”

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