Yup, that’s me.
That is what Saquon Barkley thought when he took a look back at his 36-yard touchdown run Monday night in the Giants’ 23-16 loss to the Cowboys. Barkley has had longer runs this season — he went for 68 yards in the opener at Tennessee — but there was something about that particular show of athleticism that had Barkley hearkening back to the good old days before his ACL surgery.
“Yeah, you know, not to be arrogant, when you see plays like when I went back, and you watch film on the touchdown run I had on Monday — making that jump cut inside a hole and making those two guys miss and find a way to score,’’ Barkley said Thursday. “Those are the plays where it’s like, kind of put a smile on your face and you’re like, ‘That’s the guy I know. That’s the guy who always was there.’ He was there last year to be completely honest; I just had a hard time finding a way to bring him out.
“That’s coming with a mental disconnect. I lost confidence, and it’s human nature — that happens. You’re going to have your ups and downs in life, but you got to find a way not to waiver and continue to trust yourself, continue to trust the process, and just find belief in yourself again. I feel like I’m starting to do that also with the help of the coaches and my teammates.’’
Sure enough, Barkley is healthy and performing at a high level in his contract year. He has an NFL-high 317 rushing yards — averaging a robust 6.0 yards per carry. Add in his 91 receiving yards and he also leads the league with 408 yards from scrimmage.
At his pace, Barkley will finish the season with 1,796 rushing yards and 2,312 yard from scrimmage. The franchise record for rushing yards (1,860) was set in 2005 by Tiki Barber. Barkley had 2,028 yards from scrimmage as a rookie in 2018.
“I don’t look at my numbers,’’ Barkley said. “I’m not naive, I’m not stupid. You scroll on Instagram and see the top-five rushers. I don’t go searching for my numbers. The way I go about it is like — I take care of the little things and the rest will take care of itself. I know the goals, and I know the things I want to accomplish. It’s not necessarily a certain number that — I just look at it as you continue to keep climbing up that mountain and the only way you can get to the top of that mountain is by taking it one step at a time.’’
Getting the ball into Barkley’s hands is a smart game plan, especially considering the shabby state of the Giants’ receiver corps and passing attack. The Giants were within one score of the Cowboys for the majority of the game last week (they did trail 23-13 late in the fourth quarter), yet Barkley had only 14 rushing attempts. Figure that number will rise Sunday against the Bears.
“I think you have to evaluate that and that’s what we do as staff every week: How do we get certain guys going, making sure we are doing the right things?’’ offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “There’s plenty of good to build on and there’s things that you want to continue to improve on.’’