Eagles Wallop Giants, 38-20, Behind Season-Best Rushing Attack
PHILADELPHIA – Every week the question was: Is this the week Saquon Barkley breaks out?
The Eagles running back, behind a strong game from backup center Brett Toth pulling to the outside, finally had an answer – yes. Barkley ran for 150 yards on 14 carries, a 10.7 yards-per-carry average, including a 65-yard burst just 17 seconds into the start of Sunday’s game against his former team, the New York Giants, to spark the Eagles to a 38-20 win.
Barkley added a 9-yard receiving touchdown early in the second quarter. His two-score half gives him six touchdowns this season – four rushing and two receiving. However, he injured his groin on a 28-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles will have a week to heal as they enter their bye week at 6-2 and in first place in the NFC East. The Giants continue on their road to nowhere for yet another year, and still have no answers with Brian Daboll as their head coach after falling to 2-6.
Tank Bigsby Adds To Rushing Attack
It wasn’t just Barkley. Tank Bigsby cleared 100 yards, too, rushing for 104 yards on nine carries (11.6 per carry) as the Eagles ripped the New York defense for a season-best 277 yards rushing.
The last time the Eagles had two running backs over 100 yards rushing in the same game was on December 13, 2020, against the New Orleans Saints. Miles Sanders rushed for 114 yards and Boston Scott rushed for 119 yards in that game.
The win avenged a 34-17 loss to the Giants just 17 days ago, and the running game was a big part of it. The Giants held the Eagles to just 73 yards rushing in that game and a 3.7 yards-per-carry average.
The Eagles weren’t slouches in the passing game, though. Dallas Goedert caught a pair of touchdowns – from 6 yards and 17 yards. He now has seven TD catches this season, which is a new career high.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw four touchdown passes – the two to Goedert, the one to Barkley, and a 40-yard heave to Jahan Dotson, who outjumped a defender to make the grab. It was the 100th TD pass of Hurts' career. A week after posting a perfect 158.3 passer rating, he ended this one with a PR of 141.5. He has 15 this season and only one interception.
THOUGHTS
-Who needs A.J. Brown? That is said tongue-in-cheek, but the Eagles offense ran quite well without the star receiver, who missed the game with a hamstring injury. It was the first time this season the offense put up more total yards than opponent. 427-246.
-DeVonta Smith needed to step up without Brown, and he did, catching six of nine targets for 84 yards.
-What a nice play design by OC Kevin Patullo on the 17-yard TD toss to Dallas Goedert with 11:17 to play in the game. The Eagles were eating on the ground with Tank Bigsby picking up big chunks, when Jalen Hurts kept the ball on a fake handoff to Bigsby. It looked like Hurts was going to sweep the right side for a run, when he pulled up and found a wide-open Goedert to make the score 31-13.
-Speaking Bigsby, he looks like he is entrenched as Barkley’s backup, so A.J. Dillon appears to be a spare part, one who could get released to make room for players expected to come off IR after the bye – Nolan Smith and Jakorian Bennett.
-Will Shipley deserves props for returning two kickoffs for a total of 79 yards – one for 41, the other for 32 – to give the Eagles good starting field position. The Eagles used that good starting position to score the touchdown that put them up 21-10 at halftime – a 6-yard touchdown reception from Dallas Goedert.
-Jordan Davis continues to put together an underrated season. The defensive tackle notched his career-high third sack.
-Speaking of sacks, two Eagles got their first of the season – Jalen Carter and Jalyx Hunt. Until Hunt ended one Giants drive inside the red zone, forcing a field goal with 19 seconds left to pull with 24-10, he had more interceptions (1) than sacks. Zack Baun had his third, but Moro Ojomo continues to lead the team after he notched his fourth.
Eagles Get Good News On Superstar RB
PHILADELPHIA - It took until Week 8 for the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year to get going, but it didn't take long.
It was 17 seconds to be exact when Saquon Barkley took an EZPass lane provided by Brett Toth, Landon Dickerson, and Jordan Mailata 65 yards to paydirt to set the tone in what turned into a 38-20 blowout of the New York Giants.
After a historic season in which he crossed the 2,000-barrier in 2024 (2,005 to be exact), Barkley had been buttoned up early in this campaign, coming into Sunday's game on pace for 896 yards while averaging just 3.3 yards per carry.
Getting off to a 65-yard head start was a pretty good indication that Barkley was going to breeze by his season-high of 88 yards in Week 2 against Kansas City, and sure enough, he brushed by the century mark before the two-minute warning in the second quarter.
By the time it was done, Barkley had rushed for 150 yards on 14 carries, 10.7 yards per clip in just three quarters.
That performance boosted the All-Pro's season yards per carry to 4.1. still-not Barkley-esqe but far more respectable.
Barkley's last run of the afternoon, a 28-yard burst around right end on the final play of the third quarter, put a Halloween-worthy scare into all of Philadelphia.
The superstar pulled up with what looked like a hamstring tweak, but eventually confirmed as a groin.
It was a sinking feeling to the idea that this is just not Barkley's season until the RB1 showed up in the post-game locker room as usual and intimated he'd be good to go for the Eagles' next game on Nov. 10 at the Green Bay Packers.
Not Worried
"I wasn’t worried about it," Barkley said when asked about the injury. "I came off, but nothing crazy. It’s a long season. I tried my best. I always listen to the trainers and the coaches, and they felt like they could (finish) the game without me.
"It was fun to be a cheerleader on the sideline, and see Tank [Bigsby] and Will [Shipley] go out there."
At the time of Barkley's injury, the Eagles were leading 24-13 but his game status was confirmed as questionable to return with 6:37 left in the game, quarterback Jalen Hurts struck on the next play, hitting Jahan Dotson on a 40-yard TD with 5:59 remaining to make it a 38-13 game.
It would have been a dereliction of duty to put Barkley back in at that point, especially with Bigsby gashing the Giants' run defense to the tune of nine carries for 104 yards, an 11.6 average.
"I went out swinging. I’ll say that. But (trainer Tom Hunkele) has been doing this for a long time. So it’s a smart thing to listen to him," Barkley said.
Coming out of a Week 9 bye, the Eagles will now have a rejuvenated running game with Barkley ready to go against a talented Packers team.
"When it comes together, it’s a thing of beauty," Barkley said of the Eagles' running game. "That first run is what it looked like for a very long time. You give us space – and that’s what teams try to do, they don’t want to give us any space – you gives us a chance, you give us space, and good luck."
