During the Giants’ offseason appearance on Hard Knocks, cameras caught team owner John Mara telling General Manager Joe Schoen that he would have “a tough time sleeping” if running back Saquon Barkley signed with the Eagles as a free agent.
Barkley signed with the Eagles and his first trip back to MetLife Stadium might result in some sleepless nights around the Giants organization. Barkley shrugged off boos from the Giants crowd to run 17 times for 176 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles’ 28-3 rout of their NFC East rivals.
Barkley said he didn’t expect to be booed, but he could probably hear cheers from Philadelphia while he was making mincemeat of his former teammates. The Eagles ran for 270 yards overall as the Giants couldn’t figure out a way to slow down their ground game on Sunday afternoon.
Jalen Hurts ran for two scores from a yard out in the second half and he hit A.J. Brown with a 41-yard pass for a touchdown in the first half as the Eagles moved to 4-2 on the season. Barkley’s score put the Eagles up 7-0 and their defense ensured that would be enough to carry the day.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was sacked seven times before being pulled from the game in the fourth quarter. The score was 28-3 at that point and Hurts exited on the next Eagles drive, but head coach Brian Daboll will certainly be asked if the team is thinking about moving to Drew Lock for the immediate future.
Jones was 14-of-21 for 99 yards and the Giants had just 10 first downs all day. That came with wide receiver Malik Nabers and running back Devin Singletary back in the lineup, so it’s fair to wonder what kind of upside there is to sticking with Jones given the injury guarantees that are attached to his contract.
The 2-5 Giants will be in Pittsburgh next Monday night while the 4-2 Eagles will head to Cincinnati for a date with the Bengals.
