EAST RUTHERFORD: Don't tug on Superman's cape.
Your sure not try to set it on fire!
Giants fans not only tugged on Saquon Barkley's cape, they spit into the wind when the MetLife crowd booed Barkley every time he touched the ball.
Well, until the second quarter started.
The former Giants superstar running back had just 17 yards on six carries at the end of the first quarter.
Was the level of bitterness towards him bothering him enough to affect his performance?
Then the second quarter started and everything changed.
Barkley's first carry of the second quarter was off left tackle that went for zero yards.
Kellen Moore then called for no huddle and handed the ball to Barkley who went around the left end for 55 yards all the way to the Giants 19-yard line.
After a Kenneth Gainwell 12-yard run, Barkley barreled into the end zone from the three.
The Birds coaches ended up calling 45 running plays that went for 269 yards and three touchdowns, as the Eagles (4-2) rolled to a 28-3 victory.
At least for now, the victory will no doubt quiet Eagles fans and national observers who want Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni gone after last week’s too-close-for-comfort win over the Cleveland Browns.
Barkley would finish with 176 yards on 17 carries and the touchdown.
Many thought Barkley would get a warm reception from Giants fans.
The Coplay, PA native played his guts out for Big Blue for six seasons and carried himself well as a team spokesman and leader. He did not want to leave the Giants. Big Blue said no to every offer.
That wasn’t the case on Sunday. Some fans burned his jersey in the parking lot. There were professionally made cards handed out portraying Barkley as a clown and urging Giants fans to boo him, and boo they did.
Barkley was asked if he was aware, while the game was going, of the fans negative reaction towards him.
Was he paying attention?
“It’s kind of hard not to hear that,” the former Penn State star said at his postgame press conference. “I think I kind of, I didn’t help myself when I said earlier in the week, I didn’t think I was going to get booed, but they’re booing for a reason. It’s a compliment at the end of the day. That’s how I took it.”
Barkley was asked if he was surprised by all the vitriol towards him. Did he know that a few people burned his jersey? He said he not only heard about the burnings, but saw it with his own eyes.
“That was crazy. That was crazy,” Barkley said. “I’ve seen my jersey get burned before on social media, but the timing of it. I’m locked in, I’m listening to my music, and I see the fans, and all I see is fans just pointing, and I look and I’m like what are they pointing at?
“I see smoke and I’m just like, where’s my jersey at? That was definitely different. I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced anything like that in my life and hopefully, I don’t experience that again but, in that moment, I was ready for third-and-one. I’ll just say that.”
BOTH TEAMS HUNTED THE QUARTERBACK...AND WON
It was a sack-happy day for both defenses.
The Eagles offensive line gave up four sacks to Hurts and one during garbage time to Kenny Pickett.
The highly regarded O-line was already missing starting left tackle Jordan Mailata from a hamstring injury. It also lost right guard Mekhi Becton for the game (and likely next week against the Bengals) due to a concussion.
The Eagles defensive line clobbered the Giant’s O-line for eight sacks total, seven on starter Danny Jones, who was pulled early in the fourth quarter for Drew Lock.
EAGLES DEFENSE HAS NOT ALLOWED A TOUCHDOWN IN NINE CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS
Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham was asked whether the Eagles are gaining momentum.
“I think so,” said Graham. “We just got to stay focused. We can't worry about all the ups and downs of the year. We won today with eight sacks. I happy for (Jordan) Davis, Nolan (Smith, sack, two tackles for loss and a QB hit)...all the guys that everybody's been questioning, got a piece in there.
“JC (Jalen Carter-two sacks, two tackles for loss and two QB Hits) got ‘em too today...Nakobe (Dean-led team with 11 total tackles, two sacks, four QB hits). I am just happy for those guys. I know what it feels like when you finally got that off your back.”
Graham was asked about Nick Sirianni’s demeanor in the week leading up to the Giants game.
“What I've seen from him is he just kept doing his job,” said Graham, who had played well this season. “He ain't going to like every little thing, but I know from him…he knows you can't get mad at what other people's job is...People's job is to critique.
“For me, that can only make us closer. That's how he took it. That's how I felt how we...that's the energy we felt. And we put a complete game together. Let's not worry about what people are talking about after a win...a win is a win. Our game is going to come. I came today as far as the way we won.”
Graham was asked about the stat that the Eagles defense has not allowed a touchdown in nine consecutive quarters.
“We're tracking them,” Graham said. “I'm thankful that everybody is coming around. We have a first year coordinator in Vic (Fangio) with the team. Everybody is just starting to blend on what he needs. Everything is feeling good. We've just got to stay healthy, stay right, and make sure everybody is doing their job. That felt good out there.”
Carter was asked about how the Eagles defense has matured.
“Everybody was just ready to play,” Carter said. “Everybody showed what that can do. We just got to get better every week, and next week and next week.
“Ain't nothing changed,” Carter continued. “We've been playing football every week. It was just out opportunity came today. It showed. We have to move on to next week. I'm happy I got two sacks this week, whatever. Now it's time to move on to next week.”
EAGLES OFFENSE PLAYED ITS BEST GAME SINCE 2022
The Eagles rushed 45 times for 269 yards, three TDs and a 6.0 yards per carry. That number is lower than what was really happening during the game if you take out all the sneaks and garbage time runs that only averaged 1.9 yards per play.
Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson who led the way on those sneaks, talked about the execution of the offense.
“It feels good to just be executing plays,” Dickerson said. “It's always talk about execution fuels emotion. Regardless if it's running the ball, throwing the ball when you have those big plays like that.
“It always feels good...guys get fired up. Especially when you start moving the ball the way we were able to do towards the middle, end of the game. It's always a good feeling.”
For the second consecutive week, Jalen Hurts put in an efficient, productive day, free of turnovers.
The five-year veteran was 10 of 14 for 114 yards including a daring fourth down 41-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 4:27 left in the half. Hurts’ QB rating was
119.3.
Hurts was asked about the Eagles offense when he only needs to throw the ball 14 times and you can hand the ball off to Barkley and dominate a game that way?
"You want to be able to win in multiple ways," said Hurts, who rushed seven times for 22 yards and two QB sneaks into the end zone. "I think as we continue to build, I think we'll continue to see that even more. That's what the good offenses have. They're capable of doing both. They're not one dimensional. We just want to continue to build our toolbox. Build our portfolio, if you will, of what we can do and how efficiently we can do all these different things."
SIRIANNI LISTENED AND CHOSE TO HANDLE THE OUSIDE NOISE – REVEALS SELFLESS MOVE BY BARKLEY.
Sirianni took a lot of heat that was fueled by ESPN’s morning show hosts obviously looking for a viewership spike. He was vilified to a stunning level and forced to apologize about interacting with a drunken fan in the stands shortly after the Eagles win over the Browns.
He was asked, acknowledging he is happy for his players, that after being under a lot of criticism this week. How did it feel to go out and get a win like that after being under such manufactured scrutiny?
“I think what I said to our team, just to let you know a little bit of that, is obviously you try not to listen, but you do media seven times a week,” Sirianni said at his postgame press conference. “I think the thing that I learned this week, and I just told the team that it happened a bunch of different ways.
“There was a bunch of different ways that I learned this week. It wasn't just through the situation that I was in. I'm not even going to go into all that, but it's like, you can be angry, but all anger does is cloud your ability to… If you really are holding onto anger, all anger does is cloud your ability to get better and control the things that you need to control.
“So, what I said to the team is I put my head down. ‘When you have criticism when you have those different things, you put your head down and you work even harder’. The thing about that is the hard work that the team had and that we had throughout the week helped put us in position to be successful today.
“The other thing it does, to be quite honest with you, is it unites. You can look at it as a positive if you allow yourself to do that. I think that this game is constantly teaching us things, and that's what it taught me this week.”
Sirianni was asked if he considered leaving Barkley in the game since he was near a career high.
“I usually like to keep my conversations with guys private,” Sirianni said. “(Former NFL Coach) Frank Reich always would say to me, ‘Make sure we know when somebody's on the verge of doing something really special because it's hard to do that.’
“It's hard to recapture that, or breaking a record, or whatever it is. Similar to (wide receiver) DeVonta (Smith) breaking the rookie single season record a couple of years ago. We really wanted to get that one. That was on our mind because I got the word from the box that he was close to his career high. I sat there with him, and I said, ‘Listen, here's where you are, and here's what it is’. He looked at me and he said, this gives me chills to think about. This guy is such a great teammate and all he cares about is winning. He looked at me and he said, ‘Let the other guys eat’.
“I was like ‘You're special dude’. He's a special player. He's a special person. I read all the stuff that all the Giants players were saying about him. They said it was going to be war. They all loved him. I know this football team loves him.
“When somebody's selfless, you talk about team and the things that it takes to be a team. Selflessness is a big part of it. That guy's selfless. That guy's a baller. I can't say enough good things about him. I had some apprehension. ‘Put Saquon in right now? We're winning 28-3. Do I feel good about putting him in?’ I wanted to leave it up to him. That's what he told me.”
GIANTS HEAD COACH BRIAN DABOLL ANSWERS ALL THE QUESTIONS BEFORE THEY WERE ASKED
"Certainly a tough game,”Daboll said. “Got outcoached, got outplayed. Made a change in the fourth quarter when it was 28-3, we had 100 yards, just to create a spark. Daniel (Jones) will be the quarterback going forward.
“But, obviously, we didn't do enough offensively. Hardly had any yards, no points. Defensively, I thought we battled hard. We had two big runs in the first half and then that fourth down (pass) to A.J. (Brown).
“Then the game kind of got away from us. They ran the ball. Just not a good day, all the way around. No excuses. We got to play better and coach better.”
MORE STATS
Running back Kenneth Gainwell rushed 13 times for 56 yards, caught a pass for 11 more.
Rookie Will Shipley rushed eight times for 15 yards.
Brown finished with five catches (five targets) for 89 yards. Barkley had two receptions for 11 yards.
Defensive end Nolan Smith recorded two solo tackles, a sack and a QB hit.
Linebacker Zack Baun registered six total tackles (four solo).
Kelee Ringo had two special teams tackles.*
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com
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