Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith’s talent rescued the Eagles against the Jaguars

Saquon Barkley caught what appeared to be a routine pass from Jalen Hurts in the flat. It was third-and-6 for the Eagles from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 44-yard line, early in the second quarter Sunday, and Barkley was about to turn the routine into the extraordinary.

That ability is the reason Eagles chairman Jeffrey Lurie is contractually obligated to pay Barkley as much as $37.75 million over the next three years. That ability is the reason New York Giants chairman John Mara would have paid Barkley twice that … and is probably going through a bottle of antacids daily. That ability produced maybe the most breathtaking play of this season, maybe the most thrilling moment of the Eagles’ wild 28-23 win over the Jaguars, and a moment that will be added to every Eagles highlight sequence and edited into a meme and rerun on an infinite online loop, if all those things haven’t happened already.

DeVonta Smith lined up across from Jaguars cornerback — and former Eagle — Ronald Darby. It was third-and-22 for the Eagles from the Jaguars’ 25-yard line, midway through the fourth quarter, and Smith was about to turn the tense into the extraordinary.

That ability is the reason Lurie is contractually obligated to pay Smith as much as $75 million over the next three years. That ability is the reason that Lurie felt comfortable signing Smith, who is good enough to be just about any NFL team’s No. 1 wide receiver, to such a contract even though the Eagles already have A.J. Brown, who might be the No. 1 wide receiver in the entire league. That ability produced maybe the most breathtaking play of this season, maybe the most thrilling moment of the Eagles’ wild win over the Jaguars, and …

Detecting a pattern here? The Eagles are 6-2, and they seem fond of setting up obstacles along their road to victory just to knock them down. Sunday was about as egregious an example of this tendency as they could offer. Nick Sirianni kept having his offense go for it on fourth down and on two-point-conversion attempts, as if he wanted to prove to Lurie and Howie Roseman that he could be as aggressive in chasing points as they could have ever hoped. He passed up chances to have Jake Elliott kick extra points and run-of-the-mill field goals, then sent Elliott out there to try a 57-yarder with just more than two minutes left in regulation. The Eagles’ refusal to take the easy route against an inferior opponent almost cost them.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts and context, Nick Sirianni and calmness, and other self-evident Eagles truths

What saved them, ultimately, was the sheer talent of two players: Barkley and Smith. The former had a remarkable day: 199 yards of total offense, a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown. Even his biggest mistake was a barn burner: a fumble that might not have been a fumble that Jaguars defensive end Travon Walker returned 35 yards for a TD. But there was that one moment in the second quarter that everyone will remember.

Barkley was at the 45, a yard behind the line of scrimmage, when he caught the ball. Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell closed in on him quickly, but Barkley, like a matador sidestepping an angry bull, darted to his right just a hair to dodge him. Linebacker Devin Lloyd zoomed in from Barkley’s right. Somehow, Barkley saw him, planted his right foot, and spun to the left, leaving Lloyd to tackle a few oxygen molecules and nothing more.

“Got to credit God,” Barkley said. “God blessed me.”

Having advanced the ball far enough to earn the Eagles a first down, Barkley saw cornerback Jarrian Jones approaching and decided — Eh, why not? — to turn his back to him and jump over him. It was the kind of aerial maneuver that a human being usually can’t pull off without a pommel horse. A thousand middle-aged men tore their hamstrings just by watching it. Had Barkley been a member of this year’s U.S. Olympic team, the breaking event wouldn’t have been such a dud.

“It was,” Sirianni said, “the best play I’ve ever seen.”

Then, two quarters later, Smith topped him, or came close. He surged into his route toward the middle of the field, then swerved to the outside, past Darby. Hurts lofted the ball to the deepest corner of the end zone, and Smith hauled it in with one hand while still tapping his toes inbounds. To watch the play in real time was to wonder how he did it. There’s no way he caught that ball. … Lemme look at the replay. … Holy cow, he did. To shake Smith‘s hand is to understand how he did it. His hands are huge, as if each were an outfielder‘s mitt. The rest is practice and repetition, years’ worth.

"Just having a good feel," he said, “being aware of when I’m close to the sidelines, just letting my legs go dead, get ready to drag.”

Barkley, Smith, Brown — these three are the Eagles’ separators. They are so gifted that they can allow this team to overcome its shortcomings, at least against a team like the Jaguars, against an opponent now 2-7 and going nowhere. The Eagles got away with one Sunday. Two of their players made two of their finest plays. Otherwise, this would have promised to be one downcast week at One NovaCare Way.