The NFC Championship game is going to be three hours of nightmare fuel for the New York Giants. Two division rivals in the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles will be facing off, the latter of of whom sports possible MVP candidate Saquon Barkley in their backfield.
Not only have the Giants been getting dunked on all season long for letting Barkley walk in free agency, but the fact he has boosted a division rival to Super Bowl level has to make fans even more sick. It didn't take long for Barkley to make his presence felt against a beat-up Washington defense.
After a lengthy 18-play drive that ended in a Washington field goal to open the game, Barkley managed to take his first snap (a toss to the left), and spin out of tackles left and right on his way to a 60-yard touchdown gallop that helped put Philadelphia up 7-3.
After a Dyami Brown fumble gave Philadelphia some excellent field goal position, Barkley managed to scoot towards the end zone in his next touch, giving him 64 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns after just two carries. The pain and misery of this Giants season, and Barkley's decision, is still fresh.
It took 2 plays for Saquon Barkley to rip Giants fans’ hearts out in NFC Championship
Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, who has had to put up with nonstop Barkley comments all season long, voiced his displeasure with the avalanche of Giants haters coming out of the woodwork. This is going to be a long day for Big Blue.
Barkley, who managed to go over 2,000 yards and forfeited a chance to possibly break Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record, has helped the Eagles overcome a limited offense that often has to overcome Jalen Hurts producing average results when confined to the pocket.
The Giants managed to find a running back late in the draft in Tyrone Tracy Jr, but Tracy on his best day is not coming anywhere close to the level of quality Barkley is putting on display. In the biggest game of his career, Barkley has already come through.
The fact that the Eagles are now sitting in prime position to make it to the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons while the Giants are crossing their fingers and hoping a quarterback falls to them shows just how brutal of a time 2024 has been for this franchise.