The New York Giants couldn’t stop Saquon Barkley on Sunday afternoon.
Barkley led the Philadelphia Eagles to a dominating 28-3 victory over his former team at MetLife Stadium, amassing nearly 200 rushing yards and improving the Eagles to 4-2 on the year. Not only was it his best day since joining the Eagles this season, but it was his best rushing performance in years.
Barkley had a season-high 176 rushing yards on 17 carries in the big win, keeping the Eagles in first place in the NFC East behind the Washington Commanders. He had three runs of 35 yards or more in a game, the first time he had done so in the NFL since Isaiah Crowell with the New York Jets during the 2018 season.
Barkley’s minutes this afternoon fell short of his career high of 189 rushing yards against Washington in 2019. It was also the second-best rushing day by a running back in NFL history against his former team.
Barkley put the Eagles ahead with a 3-yard rush midway through the second quarter. He set it up with a 55-yard run early on that drive.
Jalen Hurts scored a 41-yard touchdown on fourth down, and the Eagles scored again on the next drive to take a 14-point lead at halftime.
The Eagles then scored on consecutive drives in the second half to tie the game. Both were near the goal line and Hurts scored a 1-yard touchdown run. Barkley took off on both drives, first recording a 49-yard tear and then a 41-yard gain.
By the time the second touch-push touchdown got on the board, the game was effectively over. After the third quarter, Barkley had 176 rushing yards and the Eagles cruised to a 25-point victory.
Things got so bad for the Giants in the fourth quarter that they actually pulled starting QB Daniel Jones and replaced him with Drew Lock. Jones was sacked seven times and finished just 14 of 21 for 99 yards before being pulled. Lock wasn’t very good down the stretch, gaining only 3 of 8 for 6 yards.
Hurts completed 10 of 14 for 114 yards and one touchdown. He also had seven carries for 22 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns. Brown gained 89 receiving yards and scored a touchdown on five catches. Hurts currently has six career games with a passing touchdown and multiple rushing touchdowns, which is second most in the modern era behind Cam Newton.
Barkley has 658 rushing yards this season, the most rushing yards in Eagles history through the first six games of the season. Barkley entered the game averaging just over 96 rushing yards per game, but nearly doubled that number on Sunday. His performance was also the best the Giants have allowed a running back in the past decade.
While the Giants clearly have issues to fix on both sides of the ball — they’re just 2-5 and have yet to win a home game this fall — Barkley gave him his. He wasn’t afraid to run all over the team. NFL starts. He seems to fit in well in Philadelphia.
