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

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 foes a 38-20 defeat on Sunday afternoon. Even though Philadelphia was missing two of its top players on offense, it still was dominant on the ground and through the air, finishing with a season-high 427 total yards.

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

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

Saquon Barkley rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time since the NFC championship game. Before his third-quarter exit because of 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 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.

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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, who started at center in place of Jurgens. 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 score tied at 7, the Eagles took advantage of a failed challenge from the Giants on a fourth-down Tush Push conversion. The Giants disputed that Hurts’ forward progress had been stopped before the ball came out of his grasp, but officials ruled in the Eagles’ favor.

Two plays later, Barkley scored on a wide-open wheel route in the red zone. Hurts got the 9-yard 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.

The 28-year-old running back said postgame that he isn’t worried about the injury, which is something he’s dealt with before.

Tank Bigsby spelled Barkley occasionally — and then permanently following his injury — and found success. 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 picked up the first down on a 29-yard run as inside linebacker Darius Muasau whiffed on a tackle. Bigsby finished with 104 rushing yards on nine carries. Barkley and Bigsby are the first Eagles running back duo to each rush for over 100 yards since LeSean McCoy and Bryce Brown in 2013 (Week 16 against the Chicago Bears).

“I think the O-line did a really good job of dominating up front,” Barkley said. “Creating space for us. It’s cool to see Tank get out there and make some big plays. I’ve never been part of a game, I don’t think so, of having two 100-yard backs. So it was great to see him go out there and make plays, especially to see him finish the game for us.”

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

That didn’t stop their passing game. Smith was the centerpiece for a second straight week, collecting 84 yards on six receptions. With Brown out, Smith was aligned out wide for each of his receptions instead of the slot.

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, an advantageous matchup.

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.

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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 gave the Eagles a 31-13 lead.

“They’ve been letting me get the ball and use my big body to fall into the end zone,” Goedert said. “Did that on the first touchdown today. But it’s cool. We can score in many different ways. We’ve got a lot of different people. I’ve just been trying to do the most with my opportunities.”

The Eagles earned other 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 leaping, 40-yard touchdown pass from Hurts with Black in single coverage. The touchdown pass marked the 100th of Hurts’ career.

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 and contributed a receiving touchdown before he exited the game.

It was tough sledding for Jaxson Dart before his garbage-time rushing touchdown with less than three minutes remaining in the game. 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, in part because the Giants fell behind quickly. Dart finished with six carries for 17 yards.

“We had a really good plan,” Baun said of the defense’s effort to keep Dart at bay. “I think the rush did a really good job, and when the rush is containing him like that, it’s eliminating explosives down the field as well, helping out the coverage.”