Why Eagles teammates were so happy to see Saquon get revenge

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — A.J. Brown knows the emotions that were flowing through Saquon Barkley on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.

Brown has played in a revenge game before.

That’s probably part of the reason Brown was so happy to see Saquon put together an unforgettable performance in the Eagles’ 28-3 drubbing of the Giants on Sunday.

“Extremely happy,” Brown said. “He held it in all week. He tried his best. If he said otherwise, he lying. I’m excited for him, I’m happy for him. And he deserves it.”

Yeah, Barkley said the right things all week. That he wasn’t going to make this game bigger than it needed to be. That he needed to control his emotions as he played his former team.

But his teammates knew the deal. Heck, everyone knew the deal.

“I think it's self-explanatory,” Jalen Hurts said. “Everything that's been documented publicly about his journey to becoming an Eagle. I’m just ecstatic for him, happy for him, not only how he performed, but how he was able to keep the main thing the main thing, amongst it all. There were some encouraging moments, from myself and I guess A.J. as well. We're building. He's building and I'm proud of him.”

The split between Barkley and the Giants was very public. Barkley was once the No. 2 overall pick and the face of the franchise in New York but the Giants franchise-tagged him in 2023 and then let him leave as a free agent after the season.

To make matters worse, his free agency played out on national television on Hard Knocks. In one particular scene, Giants owner John Mara said he would have a tough time sleeping if Barkley ended up with the Eagles.

There’s no chance Mara slept on Sunday night.

Because this game was a complete nightmare scenario for the Giants. Barkley was tremendous all afternoon. He rushed for 176 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries and also caught 2 passes for 11 yards. He fell shy of his career high in rushing but did set his personal best at his former home, MetLife Stadium. Had he not been pulled with the rest of the starters early in the fourth quarter, he could have hit 200.

Since Brown played the Titans in a revenge game in 2022, he was able to offer Barkley some sage advice.

“In this game, you’re going against your old team, you can get in your head,” Brown said. “I was just telling him, good or bad, don’t register. Whatever happens in the game, don’t register it in your mind. You make a great play, didn’t happen. You make a bad play, didn’t happen. Just keep going. It’s the next play over and over again. He played really well today.”

Barkley was obviously a big part of the Eagles’ rushing attack, which finished with 269 yards on the ground against the Giants. But his fellow running back Kenny Gainwell had a nice day too with 56 yards.

Gainwell has been teammates with Barkley for months now and said Barkley was mostly normal this week — “Normal but amped.”

“I wasn’t really paying attention to it,” Gainwell said. “But at the same time, I knew he was ready to eat today.”

Yeah, Barkley ate on Sunday and it had to be sweet, especially as some boos rained down on him from Giants fans.

Eagles offensive lineman Nick Gates, who was teammates with Barkley in New York, said he expected to hear some boos and some cheers from Giants fans for Barkley on Sunday.

“He did a lot for this organization and this city,” Gates said. “I think he deserved the cheers he got.”

Barkley’s 176 rushing yards are the second-most all-time by a player against their former team. Cedric Benson once had 189 rushing yards with the Bengals against the Bears in 2009.

And now Barkley has 658 rushing yards through six games. That’s the most ever for an Eagle through six games.

“I didn’t know he had 170-some yards or what, but keep it up,” Brandon Graham said. “Against your (former) team, that’s good revenge right there. Without even saying nothing, just going out there and doing your job, playing.”

After the win on Sunday, Barkley told the story about how as the bus pulled up to MetLife Stadium on Sunday morning, he saw a group of Giants fans burning his No. 26 jersey.

Inside the stadium, there were a bunch of those blue No. 26 jerseys around, many with his name crossed out and some with tape covering up it up.

None of that mattered, though. If anything, it amped him up even more.

Because no matter what Barkley said in the week leading up to this game, it was obvious that Sunday meant an awful lot to him.

“I’m stoked for him,” Gates said. “Even when I wasn’t on the team (yet), I was so happy for him. Happy to see him get behind a good line and see him do his thing.”

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