Saquon Barkley is one of the most well-known athletes in Lehigh Valley sports history.
But at least a certain segment of Lehigh Valley football fans are also well aware of Chase Edmonds.
That’s because Edmonds made annual stops in the area to play either Lehigh or Lafayette from 2014-17 as a member of the Fordham Rams.
On Sunday, Barkley and the Giants got a taste of what Mountain Hawks and Leopards teams experienced for four seasons.
Edmonds had the best day of his NFL career, running for 126 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-21 Arizona Cardinals win in the rain at MetLife Stadium.
The Patriot League’s all-time leading rusher with 5,862 yards and 67 touchdowns while playing across the George Washington Bridge in the Bronx, Edmonds scored on TD runs of 20, 20 and 22 yards.
He helped the Cardinals build a 17-0 lead, and Arizona (3-3-1) was able to hold off the Giants (2-5), who welcomed back Barkley to the lineup after he missed 31/2 games with a high ankle sprain.
Barkley carried 18 times for 72 yards and scored a 7-yard touchdown with 8:22 left that pulled New York within 24-21. He also had three catches for 8 yards.
But the same problems that plagued Eli Manning surfaced for rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.
The Giants added to their league-leading turnover total with three giveaways, and Jones was responsible for each with an interception and two fumbles. He was also sacked eight times.
New York was also hurt by six penalties for 75 yards, three of them being holding calls, and missed 37-yard field goal attempt by Aldrick Rosas.
All of that sloppiness aside, the Giants still had a chance with two fourth-quarter possessions.
The first one ended with a questionable play call and a strip-sack. Trailing 24-21 and facing a third-and-18 from their 30, the Giants ran a draw play to Barkley that produced 3 yards. On the next play, Jones fumbled away the ball after being hit by Patrick Peterson, and the Cardinals then kicked a field goal to go up six with 2:09 left.
On its last possession, the Giants got a first down before two sacks, including one that produced another fumble — this one recovered by New York — and two incompletions ended it.
Barkley banter
The former Whitehall High and Penn State star exceeded expectations by returning to so quickly after his ankle injury at Tampa Bay on Sept. 22.
“I felt fine,” he said. “Cutting was fine. I broke some long ones and made some people miss. Even when I went negative [was thrown for a loss] I made some people miss. I just didn’t do enough to help my team win. Physically, I feel good but we didn’t win and I’m never satisfied with that.”
There was one scare when he hobbled to the sideline and missed a few plays, but he said someone fell on him, and he just needed to get his ankle re-taped.
As for the third-and-18 play call that will likely generate a lot of conversation and criticism, Barkley said: “I think it’s a great call. You have one of your best playmakers on the field with the ball in his hands and try to get a one-on-one situation. We didn’t get a one-on-one because Arizona played it well.”
Pressed further, Barkley still defended the call.
“It was a two-down situation and if it pops the way it should pop, nobody will ask a question about it,” he said. “It’s a draw play and a lot of people back off and play the sticks, and usually there’s a lot of running room. But Patrick Peterson, everybody knows what kind of talent he is, and their linebackers played it well and took away the two lanes where I could cut.”
The Giants are now 7-16 in Barkley’s career and 3-9 at home and it’s clear the losing is wearing on him as well as a fan base that continues to show up in large numbers with No. 26 jerseys.
Arizona entered the game ranked 30th in the NFL in defense allowing 414 yards and 28.5 points per game, but the Giants managed just 263 yards.
“We’re in a spot where we have to go back to the drawing board, watch film and learn from what we did,” Barkley said. “It’s a copy cat league and the things that we messed up on and things that happened in this game, we’ll probably see again.”
Barkley now has 309 yards on 55 carries for an average of 5.6 yards per carry and two TDs this season. He has 14 catches for 82 yards.
Chase chatter
Edmonds, a Harrisburg native and Central Dauphin East graduate who was taken in the fourth round of the 2018 draft (the 134th pick), entered the game with 369 career yards rushing and three TDs.
He left New Jersey on Sunday night as the guy most likely to be picked up by Fantasy League owners this week.
It was a happy homecoming for him even if Fordham lost to Lehigh on Saturday.
“It was extremely special for me to have my family and friends come here, have a great game and get a great win,” Edmonds said.
He had about 15 family and friends at the game, not counting a bunch of others who got to know him at Fordham.
David Johnson, Arizona’s leading rusher with 300 yards and two touchdowns, was supposed to be healthy enough to carry the load. Instead, Edmonds took over the ball and the game.
“Behind the scenes, we knew he was going to be pretty limited,” Edmonds said. “David is such a selfless guy. He’s like a big brother to me. I really look up to him. We had that kind of understanding between us that I was going to have most of the load today.”
“Chase played right down the road at an FCS school, so to come back and do that, what a great story,” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “He works as hard as anybody in our building. He had that eye of the tiger today, some extra juice. I could tell by how he was bouncing around he was going to have a [great] day.”
Up next
The Giants play at Detroit on Sunday and return home for a Monday nighter against Dallas on Nov. 4.
The Cardinals play at New Orleans on Sunday.
Keith Groller can be reached at 610-820-6740 or kgroller@mcall.com.
