Saquon Barkley’s top speed highlights NFC East defeat

Saquon Barkley’s return to MetLife Stadium couldn’t have gone better for the Eagles.

Their free agent addition needed just three quarters to finish 13 yards shy of his career high. His 176 yards on the ground were part of a rushing attack that totaled 269 yards on the day. The Eagles looked to run behind a collapsed offensive line and were able to control the clock as their defense dominated the New York Giants.

Here are four statistics that help tell the story of the Eagles’ 28-3 victory over their NFC East foe.

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21.93

Do you think Barkley wasn’t thrilled about that? He has never run faster in his career, according to Next Gen Stats.

Barkley reaches top speed 21.93 mph during his 55-yard run in the second quarter. It was not only Barkley’s fastest recorded speed, but also the second-fastest achieved by a ball carrier this season.

The run was a big deal for the Eagles, whose offense had stalled in the first quarter and whose running game had only 20 yards on eight carries to that point. Barkley gained 134 of his 176 yards on three big runs.

Barkley now accounts for two of the top five speeds among ball carriers this season. He previously clocked 21.66 mph on his 65-yard touchdown run in New Orleans during his team’s Week 3 win over the Saints.

Barkley’s 658 yards are the Eagles’ best through the first six games of the season.

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21.6%

The Eagles entered Sunday with 11 sacks this season. They left MetLife Stadium ranked eighth in the NFL with 19 sacks. Six different Eagles tallied at least one sack, with Nakobe Dean and Jalen Carter coming home twice. In the last two games, the Eagles have 13 sacks against teams with weakened offensive lines.

The Eagles didn’t have to do much to get to Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. All eight of their sacks came in games involving four players, according to Next Gen Stats. This marked the highest number of sacks and the highest percentage of sacks (21.6%) by a four-man pass on any team in a game this season.

One of the early storylines this season for the Eagles has been the slow start of break rusher Bryce Huff, whom the team signed to a $51.1 million deal last offseason. Huff had five pressures on 18 passes Sunday and had his first full sack of the season, according to Next Gen Stats. He entered the game with just two pressures on 83 passes.

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119

Barkley’s standout performance at his former stadium stole the spotlight, but the defense came out strong for the second straight game and allowed the Eagles to play up front and keep the ball in the hands of Barkley and Kenneth Gainwell.

The Eagles were only allowed Total 119 net yards in the Giants’ 55 games, he averaged just 2.2 yards per play. It was the fewest yards the Eagles allowed in a game since they held Washington to just 89 yards in a 24-0 win on Dec. 30, 2018. marked the Giants’ lowest offensive output in 25 years.

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10

Sunday was boom or bust for Barkley. If you take away his three explosive rushes, he has just 42 yards on 14 carries (three yards per carry).

Sunday’s passing game wasn’t anything special, mostly because it didn’t need to be, but it also featured a key explosive play as Jalen Hurts connected with AJ Brown for a 41-yard touchdown.

The Eagles talk a lot about explosive plays, and they made several of them on Sunday. Explosive plays are generally defined as passing plays over 20 yards and running plays over 15 yards.

The Eagles might want the NFL to create a new category. Let’s call it “Super Explosive Pieces.” The Eagles now lead the NFL with Total of 10 plays over 40 yards. Six of them flew through the air and four on the ground. Next on Monday’s Super Explosive Play list are the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions with seven plays of 40-plus yards each.