Eagles beat Giants in Saquon Barkley revenge game, 28 to 3

The Philadelphia Eagles are 4-2 after beating the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon! Final score: 28 to 3.

After yet another slow start to mark eight straight games without first quarter points, the Eagles eventually got their act together.

Saquon Barkley — who, fun fact, used to play for the Giants — largely powered the offense with 17 carries for 176 yards (10.4 average) and one touchdown in addition to two catches for 11 more yards. Barkley sure made life easy on Jalen Hurts, who only had to throw 14 times in this game. Hurts did well to not put the ball in harm’s way, marking his second straight game without a turnover.

As the score indicates, the Eagles’ defense did well to limit the Giants to just three points. It’s the second week in a row that Vic Fangio’s unit did not allow a touchdown after previously keeping the Cleveland Browns out of the end zone. Facing bad offenses with bad quarterbacks and bad offensive lines has undoubtedly helped. But give the Eagles’ defensive line for taking advantage of their matchups and regularly generating disruption. Philly finished the game with eight sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 11 quarterback hits.

All told, this was an encouraging win! It’s the first time the Eagles won by multiple possessions since nearly an entire year ago (October 22, 2023). Nick Sirianni, who’s all too often been a liability this season, did well to actually give his team an edge in this game by being aggressive. Maybe him and the rest of the team has found a groove with this performance?

We’ll see. Up next for the Eagles is a road game against the Cincinnati Bengals, who are 3-4 after winning three of their last four games (and the one loss being a three-point overtime defeat to the Baltimore Ravens). The Birds will probably need to be much sharper against them.

The Eagles still have much to improve upon. For now, though, it feels like they took a step in the right direction.

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.

FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles won the opening coin toss and elected to defer, as they usually do. The Eagles were penalized on the opening kickoff for the second time this season (previously in Week 1). Daniel Jones’ first pass attempt was complete to Malik Nabers for a first down with … Josh Sweat … trailing in coverage. Facing 3rd-and-3, Jones’ pass was off target with a blitzing Nakobe Dean bearing down on him. Some redemption for Dean after a missed tackle on second down. Nice aggression by Vic Fangio to help create a stop. Cowardly decision by Brian Daboll to punt from 4th-and-3 at the plus 45-yard line.
• The Eagles took over at their own 16-yard line to loud boos from the crowd directed at Saquon Barkley. The Eagles’ first play was a Jalen Hurts completed pass to A.J. Brown for 11 yards and a first down! Amazing! Then Barkley got stuffed on a carry for just one yard. Then Hurts held the ball and got sacked. Facing 3rd-and-14, Hurts checked down to Barkley — who did his best to try to fight through contact — to bring up a punt. The streak of early ineptitude continues. Sigh.

• Facing 3rd-and-6 after picking up one first down, Josh Sweat beat the combination of a chipping tight end and backup tackle (read: total sieve) Joshua Ezeudu to sack Jones and force a punt. Giants clearly missing Andrew Thomas.

• The Eagles took over at their own 34-yard line. Barkley took another carry to more booing, picking up five yards. Hurts had a screen pass batted down by Brian Burns. Facing 3rd-and-5, Landon Dickerson got called for a false start. Facing 3rd-and-10, Hurts got sacked by Burns, who beat Fred Johnson starting in place of Jordan Mailata. Three-and-out.

• The Giants took over at their own 38-yard line after a muffed punt return fortuitously bounced out of bounds. Facing 3rd-and-3, Nolan Smith beat the Giants’ horrendous backup left tackle for his third career sack. Smith also had a sack against the Cleveland Browns last week.

• The Eagles took over at their own 13-yard line after Jalyx Hunt got called for an illegal block in the back penalty (yet another ST mistake) on DeJean’s return. Hurts to Brown resulted in another first down. Ben VanSumeren entered the game at fullback for the second time this season (previously in Week 4). On an under-center run, Barkley fought through contact for a first down. Then Hurts to Brown for a first down again just shy of midfield. A Kenny Gainwell carry got the Eagles past the halfway point. The Eagles ran a wildcat play to Barkley that resulted in him taking the direct snap and getting tackled for a loss. Definitely a real great time to get tricky after finally stringing some positive plays together! Facing 3rd-and-10, Hurts faced pressure and took off running backwards and tried to make some defensive linemen miss before getting sacked yet again.

SECOND QUARTER

• The Giants took over at their own 19-yard line and quickly picked up two first downs. Then a blitzing Dean (clearly at his best when he’s operating downhill) got to Jones to blow up an attempted screen. Facing 3rd-and-17, Jalen Carter jumped early to give the Giants a free play (C.J. Gardner-Johnson dropped interception that turned into a deflection for a Reed Blankenship interception that didn’t count). Facing 3rd-and-12, Jones took off running and stiff-armed the crap out of DeJean … but for just a gain of two yards.
• The Eagles took over at their own 26-yard line after a bit of a shanked punt only went 34 yards. Tyler Steen entered the game with Mekhi Becton ruled out due to a concussion. Barkley broke off a big 55-yard run to the left edge with a pulling Cam Jurgens leading the way. Then the Eagles went back to the left edge with Kenny Gainwell picking up a first down. With goal-to-go at the 7-yard line, the Eagles ran Gainwell again. And then Barkley punched it in with help from the offensive line pushing him forward for the Eagles’ first points. Saquon anytime TD was $uch a lock. 5 plays, 74 yards with the Eagles not even passing the ball. EAGLES 7, GIANTS 0.

• The Eagles benefited from Jones throwing behind a wiiiiiiide open Darius Slayton in the middle of the field for a would-be first down. Facing 3rd-and-11, Bryce Huff (!) got to Jones for a sack. Must be comfortable playing on the MetLife turf once again.
• The Eagles took over at their own 42-yard line after a real nice 28-yard punt return by DeJean, who forced multiple missed tackles by both eluding tacklers and breaking through contact. Facing 3rd-and-3 from just beyond midfield, Hurts had time and an open crossing DeVonta Smith but he inexplicably held onto the ball too long and threw the ball away. Sirianni correctly decided to go for it on 4th-and-3 in no man’s land at the plus-43 yard line … and Hurts hung in against pressure and lofted it downfield to A.J. Brown, who won his 1-on-1 (why would anyone single cover Brown lol) and made the over-the-shoulder catch for a touchdown! Dime of a throw by Hurts. Huge play with Sirianni’s aggression being rewarded. A good vibes play all around. EAGLES 14, GIANTS 0.

• The Giants took over at their own 30-yard line after a touchback. Jalen Carter sacked Jones. Facing 3rd-and-13, Jones aired it out deep and Quinyon Mitchell almost made an over-the-shoulder interception. Q looked like he could’ve been the wide receiver on the play. Three-and-out.
• The Eagles took over at their own 27-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-11, Lawrence beat Jurgens by driving him back to get to Hurts for another Giants sack.
• Sydney Brown (welcome back) got penalized for illegally running out of bounds for yet another special teams mistake. The Giants took over at their own 41-yard line with 1:41 on the clock and two timeouts to work with. The Giants moved past midfield. Jones took off running out of bounds and somehow failed to get the ball beyond the marker to bring up third down. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Giants sneaked for a new set of downs and took their penultimate timeout. Carter jumping offside for the second time in the game gave the Giants some more free yardage. Jones hit Nabers, who beat Darius Slay, for a first down into the red zone and the Giants called their final timeout at 0:28 from the 16-yard line. Jones hit Wan’Dale Robinson (who took a big hit from Dean) for six yards and then the Giants spiked the ball with 0:14 left. Facing 3rd-and-4, Jones hit … Theo Johnson … for a touchdown in the middle of the end zone. But Johnson got called for a blatant push off on Zack Baun for offensive pass interference to negate the score. Facing 3rd-and-14 at the 20-yard line with 0:09 on the clock, the Eagles called a timeout to get a look at the Giants’ formation. Then Daboll changed his mind and sent out the field goal team. Eagles defense could’ve been better but also could’ve been worse. EAGLES 14, GIANTS 3.
• The Eagles took a knee to run out the first half.

THIRD QUARTER

• The Eagles took over at their own 30-yard line after a touchback. Facing 3rd-and-6, Hurts targeted Jahan Dotson (!) down the left sideline for an incompletion. Nick McCloud probably could’ve been called for pass interference but it wasn’t egregious contact and Dotson didn’t exactly do a great job of fighting for the ball. Three-and-out.

• The Giants took over at their own 20-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-3, Slay hit Wan’Dale Robinson as the ball got to the receiver to force an incompletion. Good stop.
• The Eagles took over at their own 23-yard line. Hurts to Brown for another first down, money. Barkley broke off a 38-yard run through a huge hole up the middle. Barkley then bowled over a Giants defender, who got injured on the play, on a run to the 7-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-2, the Eagles lined up in shotgun and Barkley was wide open in the end zone for a touchdown … but Hurts didn’t see him and the QB had to throw the ball away after rolling left. Facing 4th-and-2, Sirianni kept the offense on the field … and Hurts took off running to just get ahead of the marker, taking a big hit in the process. The Eagles ran the ball and Brian Burns left the field with an injury. Facing 2nd-and-goal from a full yard (slightly more?) out, the Eagles went Brotherly Shove. The Giants got called for being offside. The Eagles went Brotherly Shove from closer distance for the score. Hurts really vultured a Barkley TD there. Nice 10-play, 77-yard TD drive to take 4:47 off the clock. EAGLES 21, GIANTS 3.

• The Giants methodically drove just shy of midfield. Carter picked up his second sack on Jones to knock the Giants back. Facing 3rd-and-7, pressure from Huff forced Jones to step up into a sack by Dean. Another good stop by Fangio’s defense.

• The Eagles took over at their own 8-yard line. Barkley instantly broke another big run, this one for 41 yards. Unstoppable. The Eagles then went with three straight Gainwell runs to get to the plus 35-yard line to end the third quarter. Offensive line (and fullback Ben VanSumeren) taking over.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Facing 3rd-and-7, an unblocked blitzer got to Hurts but he somehow broke through the arm tackle and took off running for the first down! For the Eagles’ first third down conversion of the entire game (previously 0/7)! Huge. Have you ever heard that Hurts is pretty strong? The Eagles kept pounding the rock with Gainwell to get to 3rd-and-goal from a little outside of the 1-yard line. The Eagles went Brotherly Shove to get closer for a fourth down attempt. Facing 4th-and-goal, Sirianni called a timeout. The Eagles went Brotherly Shove again for another Hurts rushing TD. EAGLES 28, GIANTS 3.

• The Giants waved the white flag by putting Drew Lock in the game to replace Jones with 11:25 left in the fourth quarter. The Giants promptly went three-and-out.
• Kenny Pickett replaced Hurts with 10:32 remaining in the game. Jack Driscoll came in for Lane Johnson at right tackle and Nick Gates came in for Landon Dickerson at left guard. Johnny Wilson and Parris Campbell came in for A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Pickett’s third down throw was inaccurate and short of the sticks anyway.
• Really good one-on-one open field tackle by Kelee Ringo as the gunner on punt coverage. Jalyx Hunt strip-sacked Lock but the Giants recovered to then punt.
• Will Shipley logged his first NFL carry in garbage time.
• Sydney Brown ranged over and deflected a Lock pass that would’ve been a first down completion to Nabers to instead force a punt.
• Some more garbage time stuff happened (good recapping, right?) before the clock ultimately ran out.

FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 28 to 3

EAGLES LINEUP NOTES

• Jake Elliott handled the Eagles’ kickoffs. The Eagles had been using punter Braden Mann for those prior to today.
• Nolan Smith, not Bryce Huff, officially started on the edge opposite from Josh Sweat.
• Fred Johnson did indeed start at left tackle.

EAGLES INJURY UPDATES

• Mekhi Becton (concussion) was ruled out early in the second quarter.
• Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was in the medical tent early in the second quarter.
• DeVonta Smith got banged up in the second quarter but quickly re-entered the game.
• Darius Slay limped off the field very late in the second quarter. He returned for the second half.
• Zack Baun (shoulder) was ruled questionable to return late in the fourth quarter. With the game in hand, the Eagles likely held him out even if he was able to return.