Saquon Barkley runs wild, Daniel Jones benched in Eagles' rout of Giants 

The boos and catcalls reverberated throughout MetLife Stadium.

It was 1:07 Sunday afternoon and a significant percentage of the 82,779 fans in attendance directed months of stored angst at Saquon Barkley for spurning the Giants for their forever rivals 92 miles to the south.

Even though the Giants made Barkley the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Even though he is the franchise’s fourth all-time leading rusher in spite of long-standing defects at quarterback and on the offensive line that were never repaired. Even though Barkley had not received a contract offer from general manager Joe Schoen at any point during the offseason.

They were angry at Barkley for leaving the Giants, and this was their first opportunity to let him hear it. To have him feel it.

One hour and three minutes later, though, their vitriol began to be redirected toward the home team. Which is where it stayed for the remainder of the Giants’ 28-3 loss to the Eagles, a game in which Barkley torched his former team for 176 yards on 17 carries, including a 3-yard TD run in the second quarter. 

“Just not a good day,” coach Brian Daboll said. “All the way around. No excuses. [We have] to play better, coach better.”

Because the Giants (2-5) have lost consecutive games and with each defeat are growing closer to an inflection point in a season that, for all intents and purposes, is viewed as a referendum on the individual and collective futures with the franchise for Schoen, Daboll and quarterback Daniel Jones.

Against an Eagles squad that entered the season as an NFC playoff contender but had alternated wins and losses over the first five weeks, the Giants were significantly outclassed.

The Giants were outgained 339-119. They were limited to 76 yards on the ground on 18 carries. Jones, when he wasn’t being sacked seven times, threw for 99 yards.

“Just not good enough,” Daboll said.

By comparison, Barkley was more than good enough. Most of Barkley's yardage came on three long runs of 55, 41 and 38 yards. The former Giant also caught two passes for 11 yards. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown in the second quarter and plunged in for 1-yard scores in the third and fourth.

Hurts completed 10 of 14 passes for 114 yards. After his second TD run made it 28-3 with 11:26 left in the fourth quarter, he gave way to Kenny Pickett for the rest of the game.

“To be honest, I’m so happy this game’s over. I don’t think I should get — besides today — any more questions about the Giants,” said Barkley, before acknowledging the obvious.

“It’s kind of hard not to hear that,” he said of the booing. “I didn’t help myself when I said early in the week that I didn’t think I was going to get booed. But they’re booing for a reason. It’s a compliment at the end of the day. That’s how I took it.”

While Barkley and the Eagles (4-2) left feeling good about themselves, the Giants once again had the realization that they have a near microscopic margin for error on a game-by-game basis.

So questionable in-game and personnel decisions don’t improve their odds of being competitive, to say nothing of winning. Decisions such as the ones Daboll made late in the first half and early in the fourth quarter.

With nine seconds left in the first half and the Giants having the ball on the Philadelphia 20-yard line trailing 14-0, instead of taking a shot at the end zone, Daboll opted to have Greg Joseph kick a 38-yard field goal, which cut the deficit to 11. The Giants had scored on a 10-yard Jones pass to rookie tight end Theo Johnson on the previous play, but Johnson was flagged for offensive pass interference.

“Thought it was the best thing to do,” Daboll said when asked why he settled for the field goal.

Later, in what could have long-term ramifications for the remainder of the season, Daboll replaced Jones with Drew Lock early in the fourth quarter.

Lock finished 3-for-8 for 6 yards.

During his postgame news conference, Daboll explained that he wanted to “create a spark” for the offense but that Jones will be the starter “going forward.”

Jones said that he and Daboll did not have “much of a conversation” after being told of the decision but acknowledged he was “frustrated” and wants "to be out there playing with my teammates and try to score points.”

Which has been something the Giants have not done much of at MetLife Stadium this season. The Giants have scored one touchdown and are averaging 7.75 points in their four home games.

“[As a] quarterback I think it’s really my responsibility to get everything going and build rhythm. Build momentum. Execute the opportunities that are there,” Jones said. “Certainly look at myself first and see where I can improve. Football’s a team game and it takes everybody playing well. I [have] a big role in that.”