Saquon Barkley: ‘I’m finally a Philadelphia Eagle’ after gutting Giants, ‘sucks’ to see Daniel Jones benched and booed

NEW YORK — Saquon Barkley wasn’t reveling in any revenge.

He didn’t gloat. He wasn’t dancing on the Giants’ graves after gutting Joe Schoen’s team Sunday as a Philadelphia Eagle, 28-3, in a butt-kicking that got Daniel Jones benched.

The former face of the Giants’ franchise told the New York Daily News, alone in the visitors’ locker room at MetLife Stadium, that his 187-yard-and-a-touchdown eruption to quiet the boos was not about doing anything to the Giants’ leadership that considered him expendable.

It was about closing a chapter in his own life and officially beginning a new one.

“It’s not about doing it to them. It’s not about that,” Barkley told the News with a smile. “The beauty of it is I feel like that monkey is off my back. I think it’s the last time I’ve got to talk about the Giants, ya feel me?

“And not in a negative way. I’ve got nothing but love for them,” he said. “But even still, any time I do a media thing, the Giants are still brought up. And I’m like I haven’t played — I’m not on the Giants anymore. So it’s like I feel like I got over that now. I feel like I’m finally a Philadelphia Eagle.

“I got over the boos,” he continued. “I came here. I conquered that. Whether we won or lost, that was gonna be my mindset: it’s like, at least that part is over.”

As Barkley strode out of the stadium feeling renewed alongside teammate Nick Gates, though, he left a Giant pile of wreckage in his wake.

Brian Daboll’s offense generated a pathetic 119 total yards — their lowest output since 1999 — in the Giants’ first game without left tackle Andrew Thomas.

Co-owner John Mara, who told Schoen in March that he would have “a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philly,” watched the Eagles embarrass his Giants with their $40 million quarterback Jalen Hurts handing the ball off to Barkley, the Eagles’ $12.5 million running back.

“We’re gonna upgrade the offensive line, and you’re paying the guy [Jones] $40 million,” Schoen said in HBO’s Hard Knocks to director of player personnel Tim McDonnell. “It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back.”

Daboll benched Jones with 11:26 minutes remaining while trailing by three touchdowns “to create a spark,” the coach said, and Drew Lock then gained 15 yards on 12 plays across the Giants’ final four drives.

“I was frustrated,” Jones said of the benching. “I want to be out there. I want to be out there with my teammates trying to score points. Didn’t like it, obviously.”

The truth is Jones didn’t have much of a chance Sunday. Daboll came out throwing the ball early, and Jones was sacked seven times. Pressure was coming from all angles.

Instead of taking out overmatched left tackle Josh Ezeudu, Daboll abruptly benched his quarterback — a rip cord that demonstrates a last-gasp from a head coach on the ropes.

“It wasn’t much of a conversation,” Jones said. “Just said he was going to go with Drew. Looking for a spark. That was about it.”

Daboll insisted Jones would “be the quarterback going forward” despite the benching. Jones was asked if he’s concerned about his status as the starting QB in New York.

“Daboll can — it’s his team and up to him to make those decisions,” Jones said. “Obviously I believe in myself and this offense. So I’m just gonna focus on myself.”

Down the hallway in the Eagles’ locker room, Barkley said seeing Jones get benched “sucks.” But he liked the crowd’s attitude towards Jones even less.

“The boos for him suck, too,” Barkley said. “Fans don’t get it. They give us a hard time. We know sometimes the games don’t go the way that we would like. But he works his ass off, and he’ll do anything for the organization to try to win a Super Bowl – and likewise when I was here.

“They’re a good team, and [sometimes] games aren’t going the way they want to go,” the running back continued. “And I know the fans are over it, and the fans are tired of the B.S. and the same old stuff. But it’s sad. Because there’s guys who don’t care in this league, and there’s guys who do care. And he’s one of those guys. So it sucks to see that. But he’ll shake back.”

The Giants might not bounce back as a team, though. Corner Deonte Banks quit on a play for the second time in four games, deciding not to pursue Hurts near the sideline on a scramble.

“I really just thought he was gonna slide or whatever, but it was a bad play by me, bad effort play by me,” Banks said. “I think I could have made it … I play this game because I love this s–t. Sometimes you get frustrated out there when s–t’s not going your way. That’s me just letting the emotions get the best of me.”

Defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson went wild on Banks on the sideline immediately when the play happened at the start of Sunday’s fourth quarter, but Daboll left Banks in the game — just as he had after loafing on a CeeDee Lamb Cowboys touchdown in Week 4.

“We’ll take a look at all that stuff and whatever we need to address, we’ll address,” Daboll said. “But the guys are putting effort into it each and every week … I’m not going to get into the sideline or coaching part of it.”

He can say whatever he wants. The room is burning, and Daboll is the man in the chair saying ‘everything is fine.’

Schoen’s decision to let Barkley walk in free agency to the Eagles, however, is an even worse look than Banks’ on-field quit.

Barkley rattled off runs of 55, 41 and 38 yards as Philly bludgeoned the Giants defense for 269 rushing yards, three TDs and 6.0 yards per carry on 45 runs. Andre Patterson’s defensive line got pushed around and dominated.

The Giants fell to 0-3 in the NFC East this season, 0-4 at home and an astounding 1-10-0 against the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys since Schoen and Daboll took over in 2022.

“They’re a good team,” Barkley said. “I know their record’s not what they want to be right now, but watching film on them, I’ve got nothing but respect. They’re a well-coached team, especially on that defensive side of the ball.

“But our O-line did a really good job of leaning on them and not giving up,” he added. “Dex[ter Lawrence] is a beast. Dex is hard to block. He’s hard to block for four quarters. But we were able to make adjustments at halftime and start [springing] some runs.”

Barkley credited his trainer, Ryan Flaherty, for preparing him mentally for tough environments like Sunday’s. He half-joked that he’s “more mature,” writing notes down in “my little planner,” focused on consistency so that Saturday night wasn’t a nervous sleep.

“It’s being locked into the real stuff [so] when those moments happen and you get booed by however many thousand people, you fall back to your training,” he said.

Not that Barkley was above some trash talk when emotions were running high in-game.

In the third quarter, Lawrence and the Giants defense stopped a Barkley goal-line run and a Hurts quarterback dive on Philly’s famous ‘Tush Push’ play. Lawrence started jawing.

So Barkley said he and the Eagles offensive players told the Giants defense they were going to run another ‘Tush Push,’ and Hurts scored from 1-yard out. Barkley and Giants safety Tyler Nubin eventually were face-to-face as the Eagles’ back kept talking.

“I mean, everybody knows it’s coming, right?” Barkley said with a smile. “I hated that [‘Tush Push’] play when I was on the opposite side. But Dex made a big play [on] the play before, he was talking a little s–t, so we just told him what we were gonna do.

“Everyone knows it’s coming, right?” he smirked. “So it wasn’t like I was telling him a secret.”

The question now is how much time Schoen and Daboll have left running the Giants.

In early August, Mara said his initial disagreement with Schoen over letting Barkley go this spring did “not really” raise the stakes for Schoen in his third season as Giants GM. But Mara added this:

“I mean, every year there’s gonna be a personnel decision that I’m not 100 percent in favor of, but at the end of the day, you let the general manager and the coach — particularly if they have a unified conviction — make the decisions. And then bitch about it later,” Mara said with a laugh.

“But that was the decision that they made, and no I wasn’t crazy about it at the time,” the co-owner added. “I didn’t want to lose [Barkley]. But I understood what their philosophy was, and you’ve got to let them do their jobs.”

For as long as they have those jobs, anyway.

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