The New York Giants’ week just got a whole lot worse.
After cutting the cord on quarterback Daniel Jones, the perennial under-achievers suffered an embarrassing 7-30 blowout loss to a trash-talking Baker Mayfield and his swashbuckling Buccaneers on Sunday evening.
Then Saquon Barkley, once the jewel in the G-Men’s crown, had his biggest game yet in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform to compound the Giants’ misery.
‘Quadzilla’ put the Los Angeles Rams to the sword on Sunday night, bulldozing his way to a career-high 255 yards rushing in a 37-20 win.
The 27-year-old superstar finished the game with a pair of touchdowns on 26 carries and added four receptions for 47 yards.
To make matters worse, at least for the Giants, anyway, the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year had more rushing yards in Week 12 than the entire Giants’ offense.
Barkley had 302 total yards for two TDs while the Giants offense had 245 total yards and one TD.
He has also outgained the entire Giants offense in rushing yards for the season – 1,392 rushing yards for Barkley vs 1,275 for the Giants.
Unsurprisingly, social media had a field day at the Giants’ expense, trolling the franchise and owner John Mara for allowing Barkley to leave in the offseason.
‘Big Blue’ decided against paying Barkley earlier this year. He ended up signing with the Eagles as a free agent on a three-year deal worth $37 million.
“I’ll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia,” Giants owner John Mara infamously said during an episode of Hard Knocks before Barkley’s move was finalized.
Allowing Saquon to leave looks more egregious with every passing week, and now fans are calling for the entire Giants’ front office, including Mara and GM Joe Schoen, to be fired.
“Fire Joe Schoen now,” wrote one fan.
“Fire the entire Giants front office,” added another.
“If Joe Schoen isn’t fired on black Monday, then John Mara needs to refund every Giants fan for the three years of tickets, PSL’s, parking passes, jersey sales, food, and therapy co-pays,” a third posted.
“Imagine giving Daniel Jones a long-term deal over Saquon. How does Joe Schoen sleep at night?” questioned one fan.
“It must be brutal being Joe Schoen, watching Saquon Barkley do amazing things every week and thinking, “Well s***, I’m fired,” joked another.
The running back’s performances this season have been nothing short of historic.
The one-man wrecking crew racked up the ninth-most yards rushing in a game in NFL history against the Rams. He also set the single-game Eagles record for rushing yards and notched the 5th most scrimmage yards by a running back in a single game and the fourth-most since 2000.
Barkley also leads the league with 1,392 yards rushing, including a league-best seven 100-yard rushing games. He is only 608 rushing yards away from becoming the ninth running back in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards or more in a single season.
He has more rushing yards this season as an individual than 18 NFL teams.
In a league dominated by elite quarterback play, from Patrick Mahomes to Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, Barkley strengthened his case to being the first non-QB MVP since Adrian Peterson in 2012.
“Saquon Barkley is a serious candidate to win NFL MVP,” former NFL QB Robert Griffin III posted on X.
“Saquon is my MVP,” Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt wrote.
Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert discussed Barkley’s mindset about the award.
“He’s incredible, he’s a specimen. God gifted him with a lot of abilities, but he definitely puts them to work,” the TE said.
“He’s in early, doing treatment, he’s been getting a lot of carries for us. At practice you see him bursting through the lines, just like he does in games. This guy is special.
“(Barkley) is an incredible person. He said to me the other day that there has never been a Super Bowl-winning team with MVP at running back. So he’s okay not winning if it can get us a Super Bowl.”
The Giants are now 2-9 and firmly in the race for the No.1 pick in next year’s draft.
The 9-2 Eagles, meanwhile, look like legitimate Super Bowl contenders, revitalized by Barkley’s energy and efficiency.
The Giants face the Eagles in the final game of the regular season in Philadelphia. Barkley could easily put an exclamation point on his MVP-calibre season.