DeVonta Smith needs just two words to sum up Saquon Barkley after back's stellar Eagles debut

You've undoubtedly seen highlights from Saquon Barkley's first game as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles by now. The dude absolutely balled out. Barkley had 132 total yards and not one, not two, but three (!) touchdowns in his first game in an Eagles jersey. Two of his touchdowns came on the ground, while the first one came through the air on a beautiful toss from quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Barkley made some franchise history in the process by becoming just the second player in team history to score three touchdowns in his debut. He joined Terrell Owens, who accomplished the feat 20 years ago in 2004.

Like everyone else, DeVonta Smith is very impressed by Saquon Barkley after his Birds debut

There's an ocean of adjectives that you could use to describe Barkley's Eagles debut. Stellar. Sensational. Unbelievable. Amazing. Astonishing. Any of those would work, and there's about a million more that you could pull out of the thesaurus. But, Eagles star wide receiver DeVonta Smith only needed two words to sum up Barkley after his big performance.

"He's different," Smith said.

Simple as that. And Smith isn't wrong, Barkley is different. Very few backs in the league have the combination of speed and strength that Barkley possess, and few have the ability to be equally dangerous as both a runner and receiver, as Barkley is.

The Eagles have had some good backs in recent years. D'Andre Swift made the Pro Bowl as a member of the Eagles last season, and Miles Sanders was no slouch during his four-year run as Philadelphia's starting running back. But, neither of those guys is Barkley, who is by far the best back that the team has had in recent memory.

Having to play against Barkley twice a year when he was a member of the New York Giants, Eagles players were already very well aware of just how special Barkley was. Now, they're just happy he's on their side.

“I feel so bad for everybody else who has to tackle him,” Eagles safety Reed Blankenship said of Barkley. “Because we had to tackle him when he was with the Giants. He’s a big dude, man, and he’s hard to get down. I’m happy we have him on our side of the ball.”

The Eagles have some things to clean up on both sides of the ball following their 34-29 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the season opener, but there was plenty of reasons for optimism and none bigger than the play of Barkley.