PHILADELPHIA — Miles Sanders had Saquon Barkley’s white New York Giants jersey, stained with paint and grass from a soaked night at Lincoln Financial Field folded neatly on the chair in his locker late Monday night. The Philadelphia Eagles running back had coordinated the postgame jersey swap with his former Penn State teammate earlier in the week.

They made good on the exchange.

Sanders and Barkley met for the first as opponents in prime time in the Eagles’ 23-17 overtime win over the Giants. They’ll meet again in less than three weeks in Week 17, and with Philadelphia and New York slated to meet twice per season as NFC East rivals, there’s the potential for their friendly, competitive rivalry to transcend college to the pros.

The meeting on “Monday Night Football” might have just been the beginning.

“I hope I'm here for a long time,” Sanders said in the week before the game. “But yeah, I look forward to every matchup, especially, I know how this game means to all the Philly fans and Philadelphia itself, so it's going to be fun. I'm excited. It's my first Monday night game.”

On a sloppy track, both running backs flashed the potential that makes them potential game-changing players, but both defenses did a solid job of containing the runners. Sanders carried 15 times for 45 yards (3.0 yards per carry) and caught four passes for 24 yards.

In the process, he passed former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy for the second-most scrimmage yards in a season by an Eagles rookie in team history. His 948 yards from scrimmage rank behind only the 1,008 yards DeSean Jackson posted in 2008.

Barkley, meanwhile, rushed 17 times for 66 yards (3.9 yards per carry) with a long of 11. He added three catches for just one yard against a swarming Eagles defense.

Since halftime of these two teams’ second meeting last November, the Eagles have done a good job of containing Barkley, one of the NFL’s most electric young players.

Over the past game-and-a-half, the Eagles have held Barkley to 21 rushes for 73 yards and four catches for five yards. In his first game-and-a-half against the Eagles, Barkley had 22 carries for 224 yards and two touchdowns to go with 15 catches for 136 yards and another score.

“Just population to the football,” Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said. “He's, to me, the best runner in football, and there really are no 1-on-1s. It's just everybody get to the ball. If he makes somebody else miss, then have another hat right on him.”

Sanders battled a leg injury in the second half and entered the locker room for treatment at one point. But he returned, and he made some significant plays for the Eagles down the stretch. On the first play of overtime, Sanders caught a swing pass out of the backfield and took it 11 yards.

Later, when the Eagles faced third-and-2 at the Giants 18, Sanders lined up in the slot and took an inside handoff back across the formation — similar to Nelson Agholor’s play against the Atlanta Falcons in the 2017 playoffs — for 10-yard gain and a first down. That set up the game-winning touchdown pass from Carson Wentz to Zach Ertz.

“It's like a little reverse play to me,” Sanders said. “It actually closed up, so honestly, I don't know how I got through there, but I did. Got the first down. … I just got vertical and got what I can, but I'm just happy we got the first down to set up the touchdown.”

Barkley and Sanders will get the opportunity to renew their friendly rivalry in Week 17 when the Eagles and Giants close the regular season at MetLife Stadium. The pair is hoping Monday was just the start of a long-time rivalry.

Daniel Gallen covers the Philadelphia Eagles for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow PennLive’s Philadelphia Eagles coverage on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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