Eagles' Sirianni Explains Lack of Saquon Barkley Goal-Line Carries, Prefers Tush Push

The Philadelphia Eagles continue to utilize quarterback Jalen Hurts and the "Tush Push" at the goal line rather than hand the ball off to running back Saquon Barkley despite the latter player's tremendous season.

When asked about the possibility of giving Barkley more goal-line touches, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni responded as follows, per the team transcript (h/t Kevin Patra of NFL.com).

"You always think about that. I think one thing we think about a lot in the red zone...a quarterback sneak, it's tough to lose yardage there.

"So when you come out, the worst thing you can do in red zone football is move backwards. That's one the worst things that can happen there and put you behind the sticks. You always want to stay ahead of the sticks because things get harder and tighter down there as you move down in there."

"So we've had a lot of success with the quarterback sneak. Jalen has scored a lot of touchdowns. So there are times where, yeah -- again, I want to be careful how I'm answering this, but I again want to answer your question. That's probably the best way I can say that. Saquon has done a great job."

Per NFL Research, Barkley has been tackled at the one-or-two-yard line 11 times this season. Hurts has largely taken over afterward, cashing in from the one-yard line on eight different occasions, according to Pro Football Reference.

Ultimately, the Tush Push remains a very successful, high-percentage play with very limited downside. Sure, a hard-working Barkley sometimes won't be able to cash in for a touchdown after doing the heavy lifting on the drives to get the Eagles near the goal line, but Philadelphia is winning ballgames. The current NFC East leaders have won six straight to move to 8-2, one game back of the Detroit Lions for the NFC lead.

In addition, Barkley is still finding paydirt as is, scoring 10 touchdowns to go along with his 1,347 yards from scrimmage. He could be having one of the best offensive seasons in NFL history in a non-Tush Push world, but the play is simply too successful to ever go away from it.

Of more importance is the Eagles' drive for an NFC East title and perhaps the conference's No. 1 seed. Up next is a Sunday Night Football game on Nov. 24 at the Los Angeles Rams.