Dexter Lawrence Ready for 'War' With Saquon Barkley

On Sunday, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will return to MetLife Stadium for the first time since leaving the New York Giants for the greener pastures of Lincoln Financial Field.

Frankly, he won’t be welcomed back with open arms, at least from many of the fans trained to root against all things midnight green. According to who you ask, Barkley spurned the franchise that drafted him and spitefully signed with their biggest rival.

Is it more complicated than that, sure? But there’s a good chance the Giants are far friendlier than their fans in Week 7.

Much of the roster has played with Barkley, befriended Barkley, and were happy to see him secure a three-year, $37.75 million – regardless of who signed the check.

Among them is defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who’s excited to play his former teammate.

“Honestly, I think he did a lot of good for this organization,” Lawrence said . “But, we've got some tough fans and they're going to bring him in however they feel is right by them. I appreciate what he did for this organization and who he was as a teammate and a person to me, most importantly. But, Sunday is war and he knows that.”

That “war” has a chance to get the Giants back on track. At 2-4, a vulnerable Eagles team poses a real threat, but is far from insurmountable. The passing offense looks disjointed, the spine of the defenses is weak, and star left tackle Jordan Mailata is set to miss a couple weeks.

“At the end of the day, to me, it's football,” Lawrence said. “You've got to beat whoever is in front of you and this week it's the Eagles. That's the game plan. I'm excited to compete against Saquon for a full game. Just put my will on him a little bit.”

Stopping Barkley is no small task. Despite an early bye, Barkley has the fourth-most rushing yards in football (482) and has flashed his elite burst left and right. Finally playing behind the type of offensive line his talent deserves, he’s been everything Philadelphia could have hoped for.

Still, New York is set for a real fight. The defense ranks 10th against the run by expected points added and 18th by success rate, suggesting that explosive plays are hard to come by. WIth Lawrence manning the middle, nothing comes easy between the tackles.

“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. We've got to stop his feet. We've got to beat the guys in front of us on the offensive line and make sure Saquon doesn't get started.”

Related: Will Giants Flaunt Rookie Running Back vs. Saquon Barkley?

While easier said than done, shutting down a strong Eagles run game could render the offense one-dimensional, passing the baton to the secondary . From there, it will be on an unsteady offense – now without left tackle Andrew Thomas – to keep Philadelphia behind the eight ball.

Without Barkley in the backfield, that assignment becomes far more difficult.