Saquon Barkley struggles to duplicate his 2,000-yard rushing season for defending champion Eagles

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Maybe Saquon Barkley should fire off a cryptic social media post in the next day or two if he wants to carry the ball more than six times.

What else would it take for the Philadelphia Eagles to remember they have a 2,000-yard rusher and the 2024 AP Offensive Player of the Year in the backfield?

Forget chasing history as the first running back to get consecutive 2,000-yard rushing seasons. Barkley might not even crack 1,000 yards at his paltry rate through five games for the Eagles (4-1). Barkley rushed for only 30 yards — he got 17 of them on one carry in his longest run of the season — in Sunday's 21-17 loss to Denver and has only 267 yards total on the season.

For a quick refresher on just how dominant Barkley was last season, he ran for a franchise-record 255 yards and 205 yards in two games against the Rams.

Barkley returns to his first NFL home to play the New York Giants on Thursday night looking for any kind of spark to get his season going. Of course, he's not the one calling the plays; that falls on first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo (with game-planning input from coach Nick Sirianni) and he's the one who decided to give Barkley a season-low six carries.

One possible reason for the decline in carries against Denver: The Eagles listed Barkley on their Monday injury report with a knee issue. The Eagles did not practice on Monday but estimated Barkley would have sat out.

The Eagles tried to placate their receivers after Brown caused a minor stir last week with a post that seemed to indicate he was unhappy with his role. Brown later clarified his post was much ado about nothing, though it's clear the Eagles listened. DeVonta Smith had his first 100-yard receiving game of the season and Brown was targeted eight times (with five catches).

Barkley actually topped Brown in receiving yards 58-43 thanks to a 47-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter that stretched the Eagles' lead to 17-3.

Denver scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns as part of a comeback that saw the Eagles get shut out in the final frame.

“You always want to come out of that game with Saquon getting enough touches for the type of player he is,” Sirianni said. “We’ll look for solutions. We’re on a short week trying to get better to put ourselves in position to go play against another NFC opponent.”

Barkley — who in March signed a two-year contract extension with $36 million guaranteed — took the high road when pressed on his light workload.

“I’m not really going to get too caught up in that,” Barkley said. “At the end of the day, whether we ran the ball enough or not, we had an opportunity to win a football game. We didn’t.”

Barkley ran for 176 yards in his only game against the Giants last season and sat out the finale with nothing at stake for the Eagles except his shot at topping Eric Dickerson for the NFL season rushing record. Barkley's postseason run did help him set the NFL total season rushing record with 2,504 yards. He ran for a modest 57 yards against Kansas City in the Super Bowl.

Who knew that number would be considered a breakout performance this season?

Smith and Brown each flashed reminders of their value to the offense.

Cleaning up penalties. The Broncos caught a huge break in their rally when the Eagles had a late fourth-down pass conversion called back on an illegal shift penalty whistled against Barkley. The Eagles were instead forced to punt.

“Saquon started the motion before we were set, so that’s on us,” Sirianni said. “We want to get up and get set as quick as we possibly can, so then you can go through all the different things that you need to go through at the line of scrimmage to help you execute the play. That’s something where we can’t make that mistake. That’s a mistake that’ll get you, and it obviously got us.”

Smith didn't raise the fuss that Brown did, but he also was unhappy with his lack of touches this season. He had a season-long 52-yard reception and a season-high 114 yards receiving.

Jalen Hurts did throw for 280 yards and two touchdown passses. He also has seven passing TDs this season without an interception. But he took six sacks — and there were dropbacks where he could have thrown the ball away — and passed for only 68 yards on the Eagles' final five possessions when the defending champions were in dire need of a comeback.

The Eagles lost left guard Landon Dickerson to an ankle injury, and there was no immediate update on his availability for Thursday. The three-time Pro Bowl lineman appeared to get hurt when a teammate rolled over his leg on a block.

Dickerson needed meniscus surgery on his right knee during training camp but was still in the lineup on opening night only 22 days after the procedure. He later suffered a back injury.

Brett Toth filled in for Dickerson against the Broncos.

Dallas Goedert has a touchdown catch in three straight games for the longest streak by an Eagles tight end since Zach Ertz had one in four straight games in 2017.

The Eagles have a short week and a short road trip against the Giants to try to get things right and start playing like defending champions.

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Philadelphia Eagles guard Landon Dickerson (69) walks off the field after an injury during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Devonta Smith (6) reacts to a catch for a first down during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown signals first down during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts looks to pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) carries the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

LONDON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump says he's strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO, ratcheting up his criticism of European allies and exposing a wider rift in the trans-Atlantic alliance — this time over the Iran war.

While Trump's talk of a possible NATO pullout dates back years, the comments to The Telegraph newspaper in the U.K., published Wednesday, were among the clearest and most disparaging yet — suggesting that the fracture has deepened perhaps to a point of no return.

Asked whether he would reconsider U.S. membership in the alliance after the conflict in the Middle East ends, Trump replied: “Oh yes, I would say (it’s) beyond reconsideration."

NATO didn't provide immediate comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government was “fully committed to NATO” and called it “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.”

Many European leaders have felt political pressure over the war, which faces opposition in their countries and has sent petroleum prices soaring as Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes.

“Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I am going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions I make,” Starmer said Wednesday.

The U.K. is working on plans that could help assuage Trump, and Starmer said military planners will work on a postwar security plan for the Strait.

On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will host a virtual meeting of 35 countries that have signed up to help ensure security for shipping in the Strait — after the fighting ends.

Iulia-Sabina Joja, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, alluded to Trump's exhortation on Tuesday for allies to “go get your own oil” — in a social media post insisting it wasn't America's job to secure the Strait.

“The Europeans are not keen to go into an active warfare situation, to so-called ‘get’ their energy out of the Strait,” said Joba, a former deputy project manager at NATO Allied Command Transformation in Virginia.

Long-simmering tensions within the alliance have bubbled up again over the war.

As energy prices have spiked, Trump has been desperate to get countries to send their ships to the Strait of Hormuz. He has called NATO allies “cowards."

Even since his first term, Trump has urged the allies to assume greater responsibility for their own security and spend more on defense. He has argued that the U.S. has done more for them than the other way around.

A U.S. pullout would essentially spell the end of NATO, which flourished for decades under American leadership.

Speaking Tuesday on Fox News, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “I do think, unfortunately, we are going to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose.”

Rubio raised questions with interviewer Sean Hannity about whether NATO has “become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to defend Europe — but when we need the help of our allies, they’re going to deny us basing rights and they’re going to deny us overflight.”

The criticism from Rubio could raise concerns in the alliance about whether the U.S. under Trump may no longer consider NATO as worth the time, money and personnel that Washington has invested in it.

The very mention of a pullout could weaken the alliance’s deterrence, particularly with Russia: It relies on ensuring that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes NATO will retaliate if he decides to one day expand Moscow's war in Ukraine.

NATO is built on Article 5 of its founding treaty, which pledges that an attack on any one member will be met with a response from them all.

As the Iran war has spread, missiles and drones have been fired toward NATO member Turkey and a British military base on Cyprus, fueling speculation about what might prompt NATO to trigger its collective security guarantee and come to their rescue.

The alliance hasn't intervened or signaled any plan to. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte — who has voiced support for Trump and Washington's role in the alliance — has been focusing mostly on the Russia-Ukraine war since Ukraine borders four NATO countries.

NATO operates uniquely by consensus. All 32 countries must agree for it to take decisions, so political priorities play a role. Even invoking Article 5 requires agreement among the allies. Turkey or the U.K. can't trigger it alone.

The U.S. can’t just simply walk away all that easy.

A Defense Act passed under U.S. President Joe Biden in 2024 prevents an American president from withdrawing from NATO without support of two-thirds of the Senate or under another act by Congress. It is unclear whether the Trump administration, which during his first term claimed broader authority on the matter, would challenge that law.

European leaders have called for the Middle East conflict to stop and want the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, which Washington and Israel see as a threat.

The vocal opposition in Europe to Trump's war against Iran has started to turn into action.

Spain has closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the war.

Early last month, France agreed to let the U.S. Air Force use a base in southern France after receiving a “full guarantee” from the United States that planes not involved in carrying out strikes against Iran would land there.

The government of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, long seen as one of the European Union leaders with the best personal ties with Trump, denied permission for U.S. bombers to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily for one mission related to the Middle East.

Franco Pavoncello, a professor of political science at Rome’s John Cabot University, said that decision might cost Meloni a lot of her political capital in Washington.

But he said: “The Italian government could not be seen by the European allies as too submissive to American interests, as it would have very negative repercussions both at home and in the EU.”

U.S. relations with Europe had already soured in recent months over Trump's call for Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of stalwart NATO ally Denmark — to become part of the United States, prompting many EU countries to rally behind Copenhagen.

Jamey Keaten reported from Geneva. Lorne Cook in Brussels, Giada Zampano in Rome, Sam McNeil in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Matthew Lee in Washington, contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)