Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts did his part in the Saquon Barkley Revenge Game with three touchdowns and three fourth-down conversions on Sunday, and the titular ball-carrier took care of the rest.
Barkley signed with the Eagles as a free agent during the offseason after playing for the New York Giants in his first six NFL campaigns. In his first outing against his former team, Barkley ran for 176 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries and caught two passes for 11 yards in Philadelphia’s 28-3 victory after fans burned his jersey in the parking lot and booed him vigorously at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday.
“I’m so happy this game’s over,” Barkley said. “I don’t think I should get, besides today, anymore questions about the Giants. …
“I think I talked a little bit more (expletive) than I usually do, but I think I did a really good job of being locked in during the week.”
Barkley said he and Hurts “had a really good talk” before the game.
“He’s a big-time player,” Hurts said about his talk with Barkley, “and in this world all you have to do is be yourself. Be yourself, that’s always enough. I’m happy with how he handled this week and carried himself this week and attacked this team.”
Hurts threw just 14 passes, completing 10 for 114 yards and one touchdown and no interceptions, and ran for 22 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries as he moved past Pro Football Hall of Famer Otto Graham on the NFL list for career rushing TDs by a quarterback.
The former Alabama signal-caller scored from 1 yard out on a pair of Brotherly Shove quarterback sneaks with 7:03 left in the third quarter and 11:26 remaining in the game.
With 45 rushing touchdowns in his career, Hurts moved out of a tie with Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young for fourth place on the all-time QB rushing touchdown list and passed Graham into third place. (Graham’s total includes his statistics from the Cleveland Browns’ seasons in the All-American Football Conference.)
The quarterbacks who have run for more touchdowns than Hurts are former Auburn All-American Cam Newton with 75 and current Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen with 56.
Hurts made his 57th NFL regular-season start on Sunday. Newton had 144, Allen has 100, Graham had 114 and Young had 143.
Hurts’ touchdown pass on Sunday came on a fourth-and-3 throw from the Giants 41-yard line as he connected with wide receiver A.J. Brown. The long pass down the left sideline allowed Philadelphia to take a 14-0 lead with 4:27 left in the first half.
“It was just a great opportunity one-on-one in that situation of the game,” Hurts said. “An aggressive play, and another one that worked out for us.”
Playing without left tackle Jordan Mailata and tight end Dallas Goedert, the Eagles converted only one of their 13 third-down snaps. But Philadelphia went 3-for-3 on fourth down.
Hurts scrambled for 4 yards on a fourth-and-2 snap at the Giants 5-yard line to set up his first touchdown, and his second touchdown came on a fourth-and-goal snap.
The Eagles improved to 4-2 while dropping the Giants to 2-5.
Philadelphia plays the Cincinnati Bengals at noon CDT Oct. 27 at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
