After spending six seasons as the star running back for the New York Giants, Saquon Barkley found himself going against his old teammates Sunday afternoon, and due to his stellar revenge performance, the Philadelphia Eagles won 28-3 at MetLife stadium.
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Barkley racked up a total of 187 yards and two touchdowns. To emphasize, this was more yards and points than the entire Giants team had combined (105 pass yards, 76 rush yards).
Eagles lead the Giants 28-3
“Overrated” Saquon Barkley has 176 rushing yards
Backups are in
MetLife is half empty in the 4th quarter pic.twitter.com/sKIGVmElIL
— Eagles Fan Central (@EagleFanCentral) October 20, 2024
Before Barkley arrived to the away team locker room, he witnessed some of his former supporters burning his jerseys in the parking lot. With this in mind, he noted in the postgame press conference, this gave him some extra motivation upon taking the field.
To point out also, Barkley (17 carries for 176 rushing yards) was just 14 yards away from breaking his career-high rushing yards mark (189 yards vs. Washington Redskins 12/22/19), and instead of going for it, he told head coach Nick Sirianni, "Let the other guys eat."
As a free agent this offseason, the Giants ultimately chose not to prioritize paying Barkley. That is to say, he signed a three-year $37.75 million contract with the Eagles, and many were surprised that the Giants did not make an effort to outbid their division rivals.
It appeared that despite acknowledging 27-year-old Barkley had been their best player ever since being drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Giants front office evidently thought he was replaceable. And after witnessing Barkley in a white/green uniform, dominate his old team, the 2-4 Giants probably regret their decision not to pay the two-time Pro Bowler.
In view of his stats while in New York, Barkley accumulated 5,211 rushing yards (4.3 yards per carry), 47 total touchdowns in 74 games played.
Now as a member of the Eagles, he has picked up right where he left off, and is actually on pace to have the best year of his career with 658 rushing yards on 108 carries (6.1 yards per carry), to go along with six total touchdowns so far during the first six games of the 2024 season.
CLASS ACT: #Eagles star Saquon Barkley is signing fans Philly & Giants jerseys in his return to MetLife Stadium.
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) October 20, 2024
