Barkley wants to just focus on getting better

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Saquon Barkley believes he has spent most of the season discussing everyone else’s expectations for him coming off major knee surgery.

The questions never stopped. Has recovering from an ACL injury been tougher than expected? Is he going to return to being one of the NFL’S top running backs? Why is he gaining fewer yards than expected?

With three games left in the season, Barkley seemingly wants to shut out the noise with the Giants (4-10) preparing to play the rival Philadelphia Eagles (7-7) on Sunday.

“The only thing that really matters is my thought process, you know what I mean?” Barkley said Thursday after practice. “I’ve got to go out there and control what I can control. I say football is an 11-man sport. It’s the greatest team sport in the world, but I’ve got to go out there and control what I can control.”

Barkley has carried 115 times for 429 yards and two touchdowns. He has caught 37 passes for 248 yards and two TDS. In his rookie season in 2018, the former Penn State star ran for 1,307 yards and 11 TDS. He also caught 91 passes for 721 yards and four TDS.

Barkley said there are two things he wants to focus on. He intends to play with a team-first approach while also focusing on himself and getting better every day.

Barkley, 24, tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee in the second game of the 2020 season. He had surgery a little more than a month later and then spent the next nine months getting ready for training camp and eventually the season. It wasn’t decided until days before New York’s opener that he would play against Denver, and that was on a limited basis.

It took him a month to shows signs of the Barkley of old. In a road game at New Orleans on Oct. 3, Barkley ran for 52 yards on 13 carries and scored the winning TD on a 6-yard run in overtime. The second pick overall in 2018 also had five catches for 74 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown catch.

The following week, the Giants went to Dallas and Barkley was stoked. “I felt very confident that I was going to be able to have a big performance for the team and hopefully be able to turn the season around,” Barkley said.

With just over six minutes left in the first quarter, Barkley stepped on the foot of Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis. He sprained his left ankle and missed the next four games.