Saquon thankful for a little helping hand

NEW ORLEANS —- Saquon Barkley nearly undid his dynamic finish to Sunday’s 27-21 comeback victory over the Saints with an overtime fumble. Fortunately, the Giants have a veteran experienced in overtime heroics at the Superdome: tight end Kyle Rudolph.

“Let’s just say I owe Kyle Rudolph a dinner or something like that,” Barkley said with a smile.

Rudolph, 31, caught a game-ending 4-yard TD here to lift the Vikings to a playoff victory over the Saints in January 2020.

And on Sunday, in the Saints’ first home game with a crowd since that loss, Rudolph dove on Barkley’s overtime fumble at the Saints’ 35-yard line to rescue his running back and the deciding drive.

“First of all, he makes four guys miss like he always does,” Rudolph said, recounting Barkley’s heart-stopping play. “Having played with unbelievable running backs in the past, you know that first guy’s never gonna tackle him. So you always chase the ball. You always run. You never know what’s gonna happen. Sure enough the ball popped out, I saw him dive for it and it squirts out again, and I’m able to dive on it.”

The play demonstrated just how fragile NFL wins and losses are, with the Giants running up 485 yards of offense and still needing a fortunate bounce and a poised veteran to save them.

Barkley had fallen and gotten up off the turf just in time to catch a short pass from Daniel Jones, and then chaos ensued.

“I don’t know what happened,” Barkley said of the fumble, which happened as he danced and spun to try and make a play. “I know I fell, got up, fell, got up, caught it, and was able to make a play, and then I don’t think anyone hit me. It kinda just slipped out of my hand. And when I saw that ball hit the ground I was like oh no. I went to go for the ball like this (arms out). That ball can bounce anywhere.”

PEP IN HIS STEP

Jabrill Peppers’ call of heads on the overtime coin toss was another fortunate bounce that went the Giants’ way. It also meant a lot to Peppers, who had been sidelined for the entire second half and overtime by a hamstring injury.

“It helped me stay in tune,”

Peppers said. “I had all this pentup energy. I wanted to feel like I was doing something, ya know what I mean?”

Peppers said he hurt his hamstring “probably three plays before I gave up the touchdown” pass to Saints tight end Juwan Johnson with 23 seconds left in the first half. He didn’t play another snap in the game.

He knows in hindsight he should have subbed himself out immediately when he felt the injury, but since he’s become only a part-time player in Pat Graham’s defense, he wanted to make every snap count.

“‘Cause I hadn’t played that whole series,” Peppers said. “I like being on the field. It probably wasn’t one of my best decisions.”

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

Joe Judge left no detail unturned in preparing his Giants to handle Sunday’s hostile conditions at the Superdome.

Tight end Kyle Rudolph told the Daily News that Judge blasted music in team meetings during the week, in addition to pumping loud music and bass through the speakers at practice.

“He had the music cranking in meetings, on the field,” Rudolph said. “We knew what we were coming into. If you were surprised by this environment today, then you weren’t at work all week.”

Judge had caught heat through the Giants’ first three games for the team’s lack of discipline contrasted with the coach’s much heralded attention to detail.

The Giants were tied for fourth in the NFL with 7.7 penalties per game entering Week 4. That included Dexter Lawrence’s offsides jump on Washington’s last-second field goal miss in Week 2 that gave them a mulligan to beat the Giants.

But Judge clearly used methods during this week that had the Giants poised and prepared for this unique environment. They committed only three penalties and just one pre-snap penalty on a Collin Johnson illegal substitution in overtime.

The others were a Kenny Golladay offensive pass interference and a Matt Skura hold.

“We just had so many people whether it was coach Judge, J.G. (offensive coordinator Jason Garrett), everyone emphasized it all week,” Rudolph said.