Thursday night's game vs. the Giants set up as a get-right spot for Eagles RB Saquon Barkley. New York entered this one dead last in our Run Defense Power Rankings and 29th in adjusted fantasy points allowed to RBs. Opposing backs averaged 107 rushing yards per game on 5.6 yards per carry vs. the Giants over the first five weeks. Barkley mustered just 58 rushing yards on 12 carries in the match. That's a nice 4.8 yards per carry. But the vast majority of Barkley's damage came on his first two runs of the game: 18- and 13-yarders. His final 10 carries totaled just 27 yards. Five of those runs went for no gain or a loss. And, unlike last week, Barkley did not salvage his fantasy outing with receiving production. He caught two of his three targets for just nine yards.
There's plenty of blame to go around here.
The Eagles surprisingly fell behind the Giants by 10 in the first quarter and were trailing for the rest of the game. The defense consistently failed to get stops on third downs, keeping the offense off the field. The Eagles ran just 56 offensive plays, limiting Barkley's volume.
The offensive line continued to struggle. Barkley averaged just 1.3 yards before contact per attempt vs. the Giants -- down from 1.7 over the first five games of the season, and way down from 3.8 last year.
The Eagles' play calling also remained uninspiring under OC Kevin Patullo. RT Lane Johnson said after Thursday night's loss that the offense needs to be "less predictable."
"It seems a lot harder than it needs to be," Johnson added. "Maybe moving forward, just have a little bit more variety, hitting the perimeter some."
We'll see what adjustments the Eagles make, but there's probably not much Barkley owners can do at this point. His role is still far too strong to consider benching him. For all the struggles, Barkley ranked 11th among RBs in both expected and actual PPR points per game through Week 5.
The schedule should at least help going forward. The Eagles get the Vikings' 20th-ranked RB defense in Week 7, followed by a Week 8 rematch with the Giants. Overall, it's the 11th easiest RB schedule from Week 7 to 17.
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