Eagles-Giants Stock Market: Saquon Delivers, Defense Dominates, Trouble For Joe

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Maybe the only thing that couldn’t happen for the New York Giants did when they were blown out of their own building by Saquon Barkley rushing for 176 yards at 10.4 yards per clip and the Eagles’ first touchdown in what turned out to be the only one Philadelphia would need during a 28-3 drubbing of the Giants.

It was an utter and complete domination for the Eagles, who held the Barkley-less New York offense to 119 total yards and tortured embattled quarterback Daniel Jones with eight sacks.

Here’s the weekly stock marget report:

THE BULLS

delivered– It was Saquon week and the Eagles’ star running back delievered in his return to MetLife Stadium despite having his jersey burned in effigy and hearing boos from the first time he touched the football.

Or perhaps, that fueled Barkley to what was a career-best performance. His 176 rushing yards were 13 shy of his career high but the superstar sat for the entire fourth quarter and could have easily crossed the 200 barrier for the first time if the idea was letting him spike the football.

Barkley broke the game open with a 55-yard run around left end with the help of a great lead block by Cam Jurgens in the second quarter that set up Philadelphia’s first touchdown. Turns out that’s all Philadelphia would need because of the Giants’ hapless offense.

Barkley led a rushing attack that put up 269 yards and finished just 13 yards off his career-high.

New York sports radio is going to be fun this week unless distracted by the Yankees’ latest World Series run.

VIC FANGIO’S DEFENSE – All of a sudden Vic Fangio’s defense looks like sharks circling.

Eight sacks and just 119 total yards allowed to the hapless Giants.

Fangio’s group hasn’t allowed a touchdown in nine quarters against lesser competition. All you can do is play who is in front of you on the schedule and take advantage of those opportunities. The added impact of domination on weaker foes should result in greater confidence down the line.

THE PHILADELPHIA BULLDOGS – Much has been made of Howie Roseman’s recent penchant for dipping into the talent pool at Georgia and that tendency has been questioned with some slower-than-expected trajectories for players like Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, and Nolan Smith.

Against the Giants, Dean and another UGA product few question in Jalen Carter, each had two sacks. Smith got to Jones on one occasion and the Davis is one of the core foundational pieces of a surging defense that hasn’t allowed a touchdown in nine quarters.

THE BEARS

FIRST QUARTER SCORING – Nick Sirianni might tell you the defense started fast again. And it did. The offense on the other hand made progress on the first possession, netting a first down before things went off the rails with a sack.

Over the first 15 minutes Philadelphia didn’t score again and remain the only team in the NFL with no first-quarter points despite a 4-2 record. Those kinds of starts may not mean much against an offensively challenged team like the Giants, they are not sustainable against fast-break offenses that tend to go far.

Everyone at the NovaCare Complex knows the first-quarter follies need to be fixed and the effort to fix it is there. The results have not been.

JOE SCHOEN’S JOB PROSPECTS – The worst thing that could have happened for Schoen mainfested itself.

Barkley showed up and embarrassed his old team.

The Giants GM did the right thing by moving on from Barkley. They tried to make it work for six years and couldn’t. Now the star running back is with a supporting cast that can amplify his skills and the results were on display in front of the owner who is going to lose sleep over it thinking that 176 would translate to the Giants in some kind of vacuum even after watching how it did not over an extended period.

STATS – These impressive statistics will get lumped in with the others resulting in a conflation that happens every year with every NFL team. They are empty calories in a small-sample-size league like the NFL vs. say Major League Baseball which has a massive sample size making the cliche that says “You are what the back of the baseball card says you are.”

MORE NFL: Saquon Barkley Returns To New York, Leads Eagles To Blowout Of Giants