Saquon Barkley, Eagles run all over the Giants to head into the bye 6-2

PHILADELPHIA — No A.J. Brown, no Cam Jurgens, no problem.

The Eagles avenged their blowout loss to the New York Giants on Oct. 9, handing their NFC East foe a 38-20 defeat on Sunday afternoon. Even though Philadelphia was missing two of its top players on offense, it was still dominant on the ground and through the air, posting 428 net yards of offense.

Jalen Hurts excelled again in the passing game, finishing with 15 completions on 20 attempts for 179 yards and four touchdowns.

Here’s an instant analysis from the Eagles’ second straight win as they head into the bye week with a 6-2 record:

Barkley, Bigsby get busy

Barkley rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time since the NFC championship game. Before his third-quarter exit due to a groin injury, he rushed for 150 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. He also had 24 receiving yards and another score.

He reintroduced himself to his former Giants teammates on the second play of the game, using a familiar wrinkle that the Eagles leaned on last week against the Minnesota Vikings. Fred Johnson was on the field as the sixth offensive lineman and Hurts was lined up under center, but the Giants seemed to anticipate a pass, as both safeties stayed deep.

On second-and-10 from the Eagles’ 35-yard line, Barkley burst through a hole on the left side of the offensive line opened up by Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson and Brett Toth. DeVonta Smith chipped in, too, with a block down the field on cornerback Cor’Dale Flott. Barkley took off untouched down the left sideline for a 65-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up, 7-0.

Barkley found the end zone again in the second quarter. With the game tied at 7, the Eagles took advantage of a failed challenge from the Giants on a fourth-down Tush Push conversion. The Giants had disputed that Hurts’ forward progress had been stopped before the ball came out of his grasp, but the officials ruled in the Eagles’ favor.

Two plays later, Barkley scored his second touchdown of the game on a wide-open wheel route in the red zone. Hurts got the pass off in time before an unblocked Kayvon Thibodeaux could hit him, pulling the Eagles ahead, 14-7.

Barkley had success running outside. He exploded for a 28-yarder at the end of the third quarter when he followed a pulling Toth to the right side. Barkley visited the medical tent briefly after the run, and while he came back to the sideline with his helmet, he was deemed questionable to return and did not see the field again.

Tank Bigsby spelled Barkley occasionally and found success on the ground. In the fourth quarter while Barkley was in the tent, the Eagles fell well behind the sticks when Hurts took a 16-yard sack by outside linebacker Brian Burns.

On second-and-26, Bigsby took a handoff and inside linebacker Darius Muasau whiffed on the tackle, picking up the first down on a 29-yard run. Bigsby finished the game with 104 rushing yards on nine carries.

Receivers step up

The Eagles were missing Brown on Sunday as the star receiver had been sidelined all week with a hamstring injury.

That didn’t stop the Philadelphia passing game. Smith was the centerpiece of the passing game for a second straight week, collecting 84 yards on six receptions.

Dallas Goedert got involved in the red zone, scoring his sixth and seventh touchdowns of the season, a career high. The Eagles opted for an empty set to spread out the defense on second-and-2 from the Giants’ 6-yard line. Goedert was matched up on the outside with safety Tyler Nubin.

Goedert ran a slant and Hurts threaded a pass for the tight end between Nubin and Muasau. While Nubin wrapped Goedert up short of the goal line, he refused to go down, driving his legs into the end zone and dragging the safety with him. His first touchdown put the Eagles up, 21-10, late in the second quarter.

Goedert wasn’t finished. In the fourth quarter, he capitalized on Bigsby’s explosive run that brought the Eagles to the red zone for a third time on Sunday. On a run-pass option, Hurts rolled out to his right and connected with Goedert for a 17-yard touchdown reception.

Inside linebacker Bobby Okereke was supposed to be covering Goedert, but he appeared to trip over the feet of Smith, who was blocking cornerback Deonte Banks. Goedert’s second touchdown made it 31-13, Eagles.

The Eagles earned some favorable matchups in the passing game, as the Giants went into the game without starting cornerback Paulson Adebo and top safety Jevon Holland. Flott, who had often aligned across from Smith, went down in the second quarter with a concussion.

Hurts took advantage of rookie cornerback Korie Black, who had recently been signed to the Giants’ active roster from the New York Jets’ practice squad. Late in the fourth quarter, Jahan Dotson caught a 40-yard leaping touchdown pass from Hurts with Black in single coverage. The TD pass marked Hurts’ 100th of his career.

Skattebo goes down

The Giants offense suffered a major loss in the second quarter when rookie running back Cam Skattebo went down with a dislocated ankle. He had been the heartbeat of their offense, contributing a receiving touchdown before he exited the game.

It was tough sledding for Dart before his garbage time touchdown with under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Dart was under duress for most of the game, taking sacks from Zack Baun, Jalyx Hunt, Moro Ojomo, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.

Dart completed 14 of 24 passes for 193 and the passing touchdown to Skattebo. The Eagles fared much better at containing Dart on the ground than they did two weeks ago, mostly because the Giants fell behind quickly. Dart finished with six carries for 17 yards.