There was nothing the New York Giants could do to stop Saquon Barkley on Sunday afternoon.
Barkley racked up close to 200 rushing yards while leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a dominant 28-3 win against his former team at MetLife Stadium, which pushed the Eagles to 4-2 on the year. It was not only his best day since joining the Eagles this season, but his best rushing performance in years.
Barkley finished with a season-high 176 rushing yards on 17 carries in the blowout win, which kept the Eagles just behind the Washington Commanders at the top of the NFC East race. He ripped off three runs of more than 35 yards during the game, too, which is something the NFL hasn’t seen since Isaiah Crowell pulled it off for the New York Jets during the 2018 campaign.
Barkley’s afternoon fell short of his career-high when he put up 189 rushing yards against Washington in 2019. It also marked the second-best rushing day for a running back against their former team in NFL history.
Barkley put the Eagles on the board first midway through the second quarter on a 3-yard rush. He had a 55-yard run earlier on that drive to set that up, too.
The Eagles scored again on their next drive after Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 41-yard touchdown on fourth down, which gave them a 14-point lead at halftime.
The Eagles then scored on back-to-back drives in the second half to put the game away, both on 1-yard touchdown runs from Hurts right at the goal line. Barkley took off on both of those drives, first for a 49-yard tear and then for a 41-yard gain.
By the time the second tush push touchdown was on the board, the game was essentially over. Barkley, who had 176 rushing yards after the third quarter ended, and the Eagles cruised to the 25-point win.
Things got so bad for the Giants in the fourth quarter that they actually pulled starting quarterback Daniel Jones out in favor of Drew Lock. Jones was sacked seven times before he was pulled, and he went just 14 of 21 for 99 yards. Lock didn’t do much better down the stretch, going just 3 of 8 for six yards.
Hurts finished 10 of 14 for 114 yards and a touchdown. He had 22 yards on seven carries on the ground, too, with his two rushing touchdowns. Brown had 89 receiving yards and his touchdown on five catches. Hurts now has six career games with a passing touchdown and multiple rushing touchdowns, which is the second-most in the modern era behind only Cam Newton.
Barkley now has 658 rushing yards this season, which is the most for any Eagles running back through the first six games of a season in team history. Barkley entered the game averaging just more than 96 rushing yards per contest, a figure he nearly doubled on Sunday. His output was also the most the Giants have allowed by a running back in the last decade.
While the Giants clearly have issues to fix on both sides of the ball — they now sit at just 2-5 and have yet to win a game at home this fall — Barkley didn’t hesitate to run all over the team that gave him his NFL start. He seems to be fitting in in Philadelphia just fine.
