Saquon Barkley, Brian Daboll, the Giants and Eagles are all acting like Sunday is just another divisional game. It is not. And they know it. “I don’t have to prove anything to them,” Barkley told reporters in Philadelphia this week. “I’m thankful for the opportunity for this organization, from [owner] Jeffrey [Lurie] to [GM] Howie [Roseman], everybody getting me here. So that’s the people I’ve got to prove it to, and my teammates.” Barkley, in other words, is aiming to reward the Eagles’ belief that his abilities were worth the money Giants GM Joe Schoen wasn’t willing to pay — while Giants co-owner John Mara reluctantly allowed the face of his franchise to leave. Schoen based his decision on his belief in positional value, investing in edge rusher Brian Burns and drafting wide receiver Malik Nabers instead. The GM also had a desperate need to spend money to fix his offensive line, where none of his 2022 draft picks could adequately help. So he risked everything and allowed Barkley to join an Eagles team that has won 13 of the last 16 in this rivalry, and five of the last six, including a 4-1-0 record since Schoen and Daboll took over in New York. The Giants won the last meeting in this series, 27-10, in Week 18 of last season at MetLife Stadium. But guess who scored the majority of their touchdowns? It was Barkley, of course, going for 97 yards and two touchdowns against what turned out to be his future team. Coach Nick Sirianni and the Eagles (3-2) are under enough fire for their poor play that a Philly victory on Sunday truly is mandatory to calm the brewing storm in South Philadelphia. “At the end of the day, the most important thing is winning,” Barkley said. “Whether I go have 300 yards or if I have 10 yards, as long as we win, I don’t have that big of a pride or ego that if I go out there and ball it’s like I’m looking at those guys like ‘Look what you guys let go.’ “There is no hate over there. But at the same time, I do know it’s a big game, an important game. It’s a division rival, and I am going to go in there locked in and do the best I can to try to help us win the game.” But Barkley absolutely harbors a desire to remind the Giants what they’re now missing, and it just so happens that heavy usage of Barkley is probably the Eagles’ best path to a win here. Coordinator Shane Bowen’s Giants defense should be able to mix up enough pressures in front of their ample zone coverages to feel comfortable if inconsistent Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts comes out throwing. But the Giants have not stopped the run well. They are allowing 5.2 yards per carry to opposing offenses, tied for second-worst in the NFL. And the last time Barkley faced a Bowen defense, he went off. In Daboll’s first game as the Giants’ head coach, a 2022 Week 1 win at Tennessee, Barkley gashed the Titans for 18 carries, 164 rushing yards (9.1 per carry) and a touchdown, plus six catches for 30 yards and a game-winning two-point conversion with 1:06 to play. Barkley’s big day included runs of 68, 33, 15 and 13 yards. “I’ve had experience in playing [against] him,” Bowen said of Barkley. “Explosive. You give him space, he finds it. He’s made teams pay already this season on that. Got the ability to … hit the home run every time he has the ball in his hands. So we’ve got to be disciplined. We’ve got to get hats to the party. It’s going to be tough bringing him down with one guy. Big challenge for us.” The Giants’ defense obviously boasts different personnel than those Titans did. So players like star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who is still good friends with Barkley, know the running back’s strengths as well as anybody. “I think we’ve got to stop Saquon from getting going,” Lawrence said. “We’ve got to clog the holes. We’ve got to get a lot of guys on him, a lot of bodies on him. He’s good at finding the second lane, third lane type of thing. We’ve got to stop his feet before he gets going because then he’s explosive. Elite back.” March 12, 2024: Gonna fly nowNew York Daily NewsBack page for March 12, 2024: In crusher for Giant fans, Saquon heads down Turnpike to take flight with hated Eagles. After a year of contract squabbles, Saquon Barkley not only leaves Giants Monday, but leaves them for hated Eagles. Giants also lose Xavier McKinney to Green Bay, but pick up Brian Burns from Panthers. It’s not just the running backs that concern Bowen. The Giants’ defense has had a lot of trouble containing quarterback runs, which isn’t a good sign entering a matchup with Hurts. “I think the quarterback, the ability to run the football is always there with him,” Bowen said. “You’ve got to do a good job there. Obviously for us, we’ve struggled with some of these guys running the ball on us. On critical downs and third down, we’re going to have to do a good job trying to keep him in the pocket.” Washington’s Jayden Daniels carried the ball 10 times for 44 yards against the Giants in Week 2. Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson managed four for 26 yards in Week 3. Seattle’s Geno Smith escaped for 72 yards on four carries in Week 5. And Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow hit last week’s opening-drive, 47-yard rushing touchdown on a third and 18. He finished with 55 yards on four runs. Bowen took responsibility for going man-to-man on that play and doubling both of the Bengals’ receivers on the same side, which gave Burrow a free lane to take off as the Giants’ pass rushers focused on getting upfield rather than containing. “Yeah, I shouldn’t have called it,” Bowen said. “It’s on me. I should have made a better play call there.” That said, the Giants’ defense is not the reason they limp into Sunday with a 2-4 record needing a win to resuscitate their season. Daboll’s Giants are scoring only 16 points per game this season, including a measly 9.3 in three home losses compared to 22.6 points per game on the road, where the Giants are 2-1. Quarterback Daniel Jones has six TD passes and no interceptions on the road this season, compared to zero TD passes and four interceptions at home. The Giants have scored only one touchdown in three games at MetLife Stadium so far. Jones has not beaten the Eagles, either, since Nov. 28, 2021 under Joe Judge. Jones has a 2-3 career record against the Eagles, and he has missed four of the Giants previous five meetings with Philly due to injury. Speaking of injuries, as always, the Giants’ are piling up. Franchise left tackle Andrew Thomas is out for the season after undergoing foot surgery. Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux is out at least three more games due to surgery on his right wrist. Lawrence and Brian Burns (groin) are both questionable for Sunday’s game, although they both said they intend to play. Both the Giants’ top kicker Graham Gano (groin/hamstring) and punter Jamie Gillan (hamstring) are out due to injuries they initially sustained in practice. Corner Adoree Jackson (neck, Thursday) and defensive tackle D.J. Davidson (shoulder, Friday) became the latest players to pop up with a post-practice injuries this week. Jackson is out Sunday. Wide receiver Darius Slayton (groin) was limited all week. Nabers was pulled late from Thursday’s practice and limited Friday by a groin injury that the receiver said he has been managing since college at LSU. They’ll have to push through all of that Sunday due to this game’s high stakes. The Eagles, idle Dallas Cowboys (3-3) and last-place Giants all are bad, flawed or unimposing teams. So there is opportunity behind the impressive Commanders (4-2) if one of them gets their act together. Washington, which just lost standout defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (torn pec) for the season, easily could come back to Earth, too. A Giants win Sunday would move them to 3-4, right there with the Eagles and Cowboys. That could at least help Daboll convince his team there were some reachable goals still in front of them, as unlikely as a surge would be. A Giants loss, on the other hand, would drop them to 0-4 at home this season, 0-3 in the NFC East, 1-5-0 against the Eagles under Schoen and Daboll since 2022, and 1-10-0 against the Cowboys and Eagles with this regime running the show. Daboll did his best on Friday to avoid discussing the emotional day that is guaranteed to unfold Sunday in the Meadowlands. “Our crowd is great. It’s been great since we’ve been here,” Daboll said of a fan base that booed the Giants off the field at halftime of their Week 1 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. “I don’t know, that’s probably a question for people going to the game. They’ve been great for us. I expect it to be the same way. “That’s not where my focus is. I’ve said I’ve got a lot of respect for Saquon, for how he plays the game. Our focus is on doing what we need to do to try to defend him.” Maybe the Giants will benefit from Barkley’s presence because the boos and animosity will be focused on him, not on Jones and their underperforming offense. That could help Jones and the Giants play loosely and productively. Barkley also has not thrived in the past when he has made too much of one game. He has reflected before on trying too hard to bounce back from a bad Week 1 performance in 2020 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tiki Barber criticized Barkley’s pass protection after that loss, in which Barkley carried the ball 15 times for six yards. And when Barkley arrived in Chicago the next week ready to show the world they were wrong, he tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season. Barber also drove criticism of Barkley’s Eagles signing this past spring, announcing that Barkley was “dead to us” on the radio. So how will No. 26 respond? It’s time to find out Sunday. Schoen, Daboll, Sirianni and Barkley, just to name a few, have everything riding on this result. Mara famously said in HBO’s Offseason Hard Knocks that he would have a tough time sleeping if Barkley ended up signing with the Eagles. Imagine how long it will keep Mara up into Monday if Barkley runs wild in this one and the Giants lose.