The Philadelphia Eagles are coming to the Big Apple and that usually means a big football game is about to take place on the gridiron.
But this time? It's even bigger. This will mark the first time that former New York Giants' second-overall pick Saquon Barkley takes his former team on as a rival. Now a divisional foe, Barkley will enter Sunday with a unique hunger to prove the franchise that drafted him wrong for not paying him to stick around.
Barkley has made sure to spice things up even further, talking about the unique rivalry of Giants-Eagles and with a message that he'll "talk a little more crap."
“This rivalry is so much bigger than what happened in the offseason between me and the Giants and Hard Knocks,” Barkley said on an NBC interview earlier this week. “It’s been going on for a very long time. So I’ve been on the other side. I know how Giants fans feel. I don’t know what the environment is going to be like but I’m excited. As a player, as a competitor, you kind of welcome those environments and those moments. Whatever it is, hopefully it gives me a little extra juice and I can perform and help my team win.”
Barkley, who has logged the third-most rushing yards in the league with 486, has hit his stride with the Eagles. He'll come into Week 7 well positioned to his thing against the Giants defense, which ranks ninth in rush EPA/play allowed, per RBSDM. But Saquon knows better than to let the storyline distract him.
"I’m going to try my best to make sure it doesn’t impact me in a negative way," Barkley said. "If anything, try to use it to lift me up. Let my competitive spirit drive me and go out there and keep the main thing the main thing: That’s win football games and go out there and play with my teammates, go out there and play with my guys."
With that being said, Barkley is making sure his former team knows: Trash talk will take place.
"This week, I’m going to have some guys on the other side of the ball too, so it’s going to make it more fun, talk a little more crap," Barkley added.
The only way for Giants players to silence the talk caused by the mistakes of the front office is to bring the man down consistently. We'll see how the matchup goes.
