Saquon Barkley embarrasses Giants in return to MetLife Stadium

During the summer New York Giants owner John Mara told his front office that he would have trouble sleeping if superstar running back Saquon Barkley left the team and joined the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency.

That is exactly what ended up happening. With the way Barkley humiliated the Giants in his first game against his former team on Sunday, there is a good chance Mara is going to be losing a lot more sleep over the move.

Barkley feasted on the Giants defense on Sunday afternoon in a 28-3 Eagles win, rushing for 176 yards on 17 carries. That included runs of 38, 41 and 55 yards, as well as a three-yard touchdown to open the scoring in the first quarter. 

He also added two catches for 11 yards.

This was the worst possible outcome for the Giants. Not only did they let their best and most popular player go in free agency, they allowed him to end up on one of their fiercest rivals and will have to go against him two times every season for the foreseeable future.

Based on the way he ran and played on Sunday, Barkley is going to take that personally and make it his mission to remind the Giants they made the wrong decision every single time he plays them.

He gets to play them again in Philadelphia in Week 18 to close out the regular season.  

Barkley was picked by the Giants with the No. 2 overall selection in the 2018 draft and spent six years with the team. When healthy he has consistently been one of the most exciting and dynamic running backs in the league. Injuries took their toll on him in New York, though, and he never had a great supporting cast around him to fully take advantage of his skills. 

He has been a great fit in the Eagles offense and one of the consistent bright spots on that unit through the first seven games of the season. He is already up to 658 yards on 108 carries with five rushing touchdowns. That is 6.1 yards per carry, which would be by far the highest number of his career.