There is one headline dominating Philadelphia sports right now, and that is the job status of Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
After barely getting over 300 yards of offense in the 23-19 NFC Wild Card game loss to the San Francisco 49ers, everyone was talking about Patullo losing his job. ESPN's Adam Schefter has already reported that the Eagles are expected to make significant changes to the offensive coaching staff.
As the Eagles cleaned out their lockers with the season over, Jalen Hurts was the first to make headlines, and he didn't exactly give Patullo support in coming back, refusing to answer the question directly. Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley was also asked about Patullo, but the 2024 AP Offensive Player of the Year made sure that his coach didn't get all the blame for the offense this season.
"I think you have to point the finger at one person, that's what you guys have to do in your job," Barkley said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "Somebody's got to catch the blame — especially when we had the season we had the year before. Do I think that's fair? No, I don't think that's fair at all."
Saquon Barkley doesn't let Kevin Patullo take the blame for offensive struggles
Of all the Eagles on the team that has felt the most from Patullo's play calling and offensive scheme, it has been Barkley. Philly's starting back went from rushing for over 2,000 yards on the ground last year to just over 1,100 yards in 2025.
Everything about Barkley's production declined dramatically this season, with struggles to break out big runs. It wasn't all his fault, though, as the offensive line struggled with injuries and failed to create holes for him, and his offensive coordinator didn't set him up for success.
Too many times throughout the season, Barkley was getting the ball before two or three defenders were already in the back, which led him to try to make guys miss so he could gain some kind of positive yards. Part of that is on the offensive line, but also Patullo's predictable play calls of running the ball on first down in the second half of games when they have the lead.
That's exactly what happened in the 49ers game that made it impossible for him to succeed.
Read more: Dan Orlovsky's vicious takedown of Eagles offense isn't good for Kevin Patullo
Patullo might be out the door soon enough, but Barkley took a hit in his legacy because of it. Every Eagles fan knows that he will be back with vengeance to improve upon this year.