Hurts, Barkley each rush for 3 TDs to help Eagles reach Super Bowl with 55-23 win over Commanders

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Saquon Barkley consulted with his family before the star running back decided — yes, it was time to leave his only professional home with the Giants and sign with the Eagles.

His youngest daughter, Jada, had one question for dad as he told her the family was headed to Philadelphia.

Does this mean dad will win now?

As Barkley lay on a football field littered with confetti and cradled his daughter against his chest, the answer was undeniable: You bet Barkley and the Eagles are going to win now — with a chance at the biggest one of the season still ahead with a date in the Super Bowl.

Barkley dashed 60 yards for a touchdown on Philadelphia’s first play and finished with 118 yards and three scores, Jalen Hurts rushed for three TDs and the Eagles soared into the Super Bowl with a 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

Hurts and the Eagles are in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons, and this time Barkley is along for the ride. They will play former Eagles coach Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons.

“I came to Philly to be part of games like this,” Barkley said. “And there’s nothing better than a game where you can advance to the Super Bowl.”

The 55 points are the most any team has scored in a conference championship game since the 1970 merger.

Hurts, wearing a brace on his left knee, also threw for 246 yards and a touchdown pass and the Eagles had a towel-waving crowd in a frenzy for the NFC championship game at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I don’t want anybody else leading this team at quarterback other than him. He’s a winner,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “Again, he deals with so much criticism which just blows my mind because of the questions I have to answer. I don’t look too much into that. The questions I have to answer it’s just like, man, this guy wins. He’s won his entire life.”

A.J. Brown caught six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown — and faked tossing the NFC championship trophy off a platform — and an Eagles team at just 2-2 headed into the bye week scored a season high in points to usher the franchise into their fifth Super Bowl.

The Commanders played a role in getting the NFC title game to Philly with two straight road wins — including last week’s stunner at No. 1 seed Detroit that set the stage for the second-seeded Eagles to host.

Jayden Daniels threw for 255 yards with one touchdown, one interception and fell short in his bid to become the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to the Super Bowl. The Commanders were doomed by four turnovers, including a lost fumble by Austin Ekeler in the third quarter and the Commanders down 34-23.

“We believed that we belonged here,” Daniels said. “It was just another game for me. That’s how I treated it.”

The Eagles won their only Super Bowl in the 2017 season and Nick Foles, the QB in that game against New England, was the honorary captain.

The Eagles cut to other stars from that game in attendance on the big screen and now — two years after Eagles lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl — the franchise has a chance at winning their second one.

Much as he has all season, Barkley led the way for the Eagles.

After the Commanders opened the game with an 18-play drive and a field goal that quieted a raucous crowd, Barkley whipped the fans that included actor Bradley Cooper into a frenzy on the Eagles’ first offensive play from scrimmage.

Only the ninth running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, Barkley took the pitch from Hurts and cut left, spun around a pair of defenders and took off on the touchdown run.

The Eagles recovered a fumble on the next drive and Barkley added a 4-yard run — making him 2 for 2 on carries and touchdowns — for a 14-3 lead.

Including the playoffs, Barkley extended an NFL record Sunday with his seventh rushing touchdown of 60-plus yards in a season.

“When he does it early, it doesn’t really matter who gets the party started, just for us to gain some momentum as an offense and gain a rhythm, (we) keep going,” Hurts said.

Daniels, who led the Commanders to six consecutive victories, made his share of big plays that included a 36-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin that pulled them to 14-12.

“I had a lot of confidence in what we would do and how we would play,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said.

Hurts, who hurt his knee when he was sacked last week by the Rams, had his best game yet in a postseason where the Eagles played all three games at home. He closed the first half with a tush push 1-yard touchdown and threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Brown to send the Eagles into halftime with a 27-15 lead.

“I guess he let me out of my straitjacket a little bit today,” Hurts said of Sirianni’s offense.

Hurts secured the Super Bowl berth with a tush push touchdown in the fourth quarter — after a humorous moment when an official said he’d award the Eagles a touchdown if Washington didn’t stop jumping offside — and his ninth career postseason rushing score gave them a 41-23 lead.

Small amounts of green confetti started to fly from the upper deck at that point at the countdown was officially on for the Super Bowl.

The Commanders’ desperate gasp at another late comeback win ended with a thud when Nolan Smith sacked Daniels on fourth down in the fourth quarter. Will Shipley gave Barkley a needed breather in the blowout and punched in a 2-yard touchdown run for a 55-23 lead. The “E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!” chants began in earnest and it’s sure to ring loud in New Orleans.

Injuries

Eagles: Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens was active and played through a back injury. … G Landon Dickerson suffered a knee injury. … RB Kenneth Gainwell was evaluated for a concussion suffered in the third quarter.

Up next

The Eagles head to New Orleans for a Feb. 9 matchup against the two-time defending champion Chiefs. Barkley turns 28 that day. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35 two years ago in Super Bowl 57.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Dan Gelston, The Associated Press