rewrite this title Eagles reach Super Bowl behind Barkley, Hurts

PHILADELPHIA — Saquon 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. The Eagles will play either the Buffalo Bills or former Eagles coach Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs.

“I ain’t gonna lie — I tried to downplay it in my head, but it’s just amazing, man. It’s amazing. We’re here. The Super Bowl,” Barkley said. “But the goal wasn’t just getting there. The goal is to win. And we’re going to celebrate and enjoy this and get right back to work.”

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.

“How about our quarterback? How about our quarterback! He’s a stud,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “I knew he was going to play that way. I knew it. Don’t doubt him. All he does is win.”

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A.J. Brown caught six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown, and the Eagles finished with a season high in points to usher the franchise into its 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 with 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 the Eagles lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl — the franchise has a chance at winning its 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 excited the fans, including actor Bradley Cooper, 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 two 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.

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 this postseason. 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.

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 as 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.