Eagles Postgame Report: Barkley Breaks Out Against Former Team

The season has been a far slower one for Eagles standout tunning back Saquon Barkley, but he didn’t have to wait to long hosting the Giants. After Lane Johnson tripped stepping backwards on the first play of the game, Toth, Dickerson and Smith blocked out a gaping hole for Barkley, who took it for 65-yards to the house for the early lead.

The defense responded with a three and out, but the Eagles stalled after a questionable 0-yard run on 3rd down by Hurts and then a false start by Steen attempting the fourth-down. It made them settle for a field goal that hit the upright and the penalty likely cost them the points. With a short field, the Eagles allowed a touchdown, though Nakobe Dean had the sack lined up and had the most obvious hold against him go uncalled to let the game be tied.

Will Shipley got the offense rolling with a 41-yard return and that, along with the 26-yard deep ball to Smith, setup the easy short pass for a 9-yard score to Barkley (assisted by a tush push where Hurts obviously fumbled, but the incompetence of the refs benefitted the Eagles).

The Eagles defense were able to force a punt, but the Eagles went three and out following. The key happening in those drives was Skattebo taking a brutal injury and needing to be carted off the field.

The Giants should have been forced to a three an out, but Jalyx Hunt whiffed on another sack and that kept the Giants alive long enough to kick a field goal. The Eagles offense responded once again by burning most of the clock and all of the Giants timeouts on the way to a 6-yard touchdown slant.

The Giants kneeled out the half, the Eagles entering halftime with the 21-10 lead.

After the half, the Eagles defense forced a three-and-out before the offense appeared to be clicking before two negative plays left the Eagles to settle for a field goal.

The Eagles were close to forcing a punt several times, but Zack Baun didn’t trust Jalen Carter to contain the QB and vacated his coverage to convert on third down and not long after Nakobe Dean got burned for a deep ball that was poorly thrown and could have been picked off had Dean been in better coverage or had a way to know to turn around a few steps behind the running back. That allowed the Giants to kick another field goal and keep the lead to just 11.

The Eagles turned to the ground game and a 28-yard run by Barkley nearly put up the TD. The Birds looked to be moving backward when Hurts took a 16-yard sack with an incredibly poor scramble attempt, but Tank Bigsby converted on the next play wihta  29-yard run. They kept it on the ground until the last play when a smile bite on the run left Goedert wide-open for a 17-yard walk-in touchdown.

The Eagles defense forced a fumble on a strip sack, but the call was overturned, even though no one could provide any real proof or explanation as to how or why. That officiating error almost caught the Eagles, as Mitchell was burned for a touchdown. The hand fighting looked worse in real time than it was in slow-mo and the only thig I can think is that the receiver using his far arm to hold Mitchell’s chest plate got the undeserved OPI to for the punt.

The offense kept the ball on the ground to keep the clock moving but some chunk runs from Bigsby kept the chains moving. Then came a deep throw to Jahan Dotson. It was very underthrown and basically right to the corner, but Dotson went up and over to take the ball away, then found his balance to run it in for a touchdown to all but ice the game, using up 3:30 of clock and leaving only six minutes left.

At this point, the Eagles sent out only backups to play defense. Kelee Ringo appeared to be the only player that played early not to come off the field. They bent, but were able to force a fourth and goal. The Giants ultimately did score, but they forced them to burn over half the time left on the clock.

The backup offense came out and a 17-yard run took the game to the two-minute warning before they kneeled it out and the Giants accepted defeat.

The Eagles advance to 6-2 to keep pace with anyone else at the top of the NFC and will enter their bye week before returning to take on the Packers on Monday Night Football.

Offensive MVP: Saquon Barkley

Barkley was pulled after three quarters for injury (or perhaps an abundance of caution), but he looked like the 2024 version of himself. Through three quarters, he had 14 carries for 150 yards and a touchdown. He also added four catches for 24 yards and another touchdown.

Defensive MVP: Reed Blankenship

Though he wasn’t the leading tackler, Blankenship was in the secondary being an absolute menace to receivers today. He landed hard hit after hard hit and it got to the point where there were multiple drops from receivers who knew his hit was coming trying to brace for it. It was a strong game from him to help the best rushing day for the Birds this season.

Game Notes

• After all the complaints all week long about how Brett Toth doesn’t deserve to start and shouldn’t be on the team, he made many fans look like fools as he was a better player out there than either Steen or Dickerson beside him in this game.
• Jalyx Hunt whiffed on at least two sacks in this game. I don’t know how you fix a LB/DL that can’t manage to wrap up on a QB.
• Saquon Barkley and the whole run game looked back to last season’s form in this game. Overall, the offensive line and running backs appeared to be working far better and having the run game available made the offense appear to work more smoothly than they have in any previous game.
• Tank Bigsby continued to look great as the backup. It took some time, but that appears to have been a solid trade for the Eagles to bring in a multi-year backup for Barkley. He took over bulk duty after the Barkley injury and had nine carries for 104 yards himself.
• On the flip side, the return of Darius Cooper benched John Metchie – a trade that looks like it’s unlikely to work out.
• The chunks the Eagles gave up on many runs was still a concern, particularly to the outside. It wasn’t as bad as two weeks ago, but clearly still a problem.
• Folks will tell you the Giants offensive line is pretty good now with Thomas back out there at left tackle. Eagles fans should hope that’s true – this was by far their best rushing day with five sacks recorded and we’ll want to see that continue against other offensive lines.
• The referees were all-around terrible in this one. The one thing you could say for this crew was they were awful in pairs that often negated their previous bad call, but it’s a wonder any of these people have jobs.

Injury Notes

• Saquon Barkley left as the third quarter was ending with an apparent groin injury. It’s unknown how severe it is, but there was no reason to have him re-enter the game at that point.

New York Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles – October 26, 2025