While the early results for Saquon Barkley as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles have been overwhelmingly positive, the two-time Pro Bowler’s dropped pass late in the fourth quarter Monday night against the Atlanta Falcons proved to be extremely costly.

After the Eagles’ 22-21 loss, Barkley took responsibility for not making the catch on third-and-3 that would have secured the victory for Philadelphia.

“I dropped the ball,” he told reporters. “I let my team down today. The defense shouldn’t have been put in that position.”

The Eagles led 21-18 with 1:46 left and tried to run out the clock. They rushed Barkley out of the backfield for a quick pass that would have allowed him to get upfield for a first down or a touchdown to secure the win, but the ball hit his hands and fell incomplete.

After the Eagles settled for a field goal, Kirk Cousins ​​led the Falcons 70 yards in six plays, capping it off with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Drake London. Younghoe Koo fired an extra point from 47 yards for the lead after London was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Philadelphia’s last attempt to get into field goal position failed when Jessie Bates III intercepted a pass from Jalen Hurts intended for DeVonta Smith with 19 seconds left.

Even though Barkley should have caught the ball to end the game, head coach Nick Sirianni deserves some blame for the decision to pass in that situation and then shoot a field goal on fourth down.

The Falcons had no timeouts prior to the third-down play, so even a failed run would have run the clock to about 1:05 remaining. The Eagles could have run a play on fourth down to try to score. Even if it failed, it would have taken more time off the clock and forced the Falcons to drive 50 yards to get into position for a tying field goal.

Looking at the probability of winning, the Eagles made a bad decision by punting and taking a six-point lead in that situation, because a touchdown from the other team is still better than a touchdown.