Saquon scores 1st TD since 2019
With a leap from the 1-yard line into the end zone, Saquon Barkley gave the Giants their first lead of the game Sunday and thrust his season back toward normalcy.
The scenario was typical: a first-and-goal situation, a short-yardage opportunity that called for a team’s lead back to flip a gamelong deficit and snap another losing streak.
But the past year turned that from a normal occurrence into one that kept evading the Giants, when Barkley missed all but two games last season with an ACL injury and then didn’t score in the Giants’ first two games this year.
Against the Falcons on Sunday, with the Giants trailing 7-6 early in the fourth quarter,
Eli Penny plunged forward into the offensive line and created the gap Barkley followed, bouncing off defensive lineman Grady Jar- rett’s chest but not before stretching the ball across the goal line.
Barkley’s first touchdown since Dec. 29, 2019 gave the Giants a lead that lasted until the Falcons scored with four minutes left to tie the game and then again in the final seconds to seal the visitors’ 17-14 victory. Barkley finished with 51 yards on 16 rushing attempts and six receptions — his most carries and catches since returning from the knee ailment. That reemergence, along with the return of a balanced stat line reflecting contributions in both the rushing and passing attack, came when the Giants lost two of their top receivers, Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard, to hamstring injuries.
“There’s definitely more to go,” Barkley said. “I can see it, my teammates can see it, they’ve been telling me that it’s coming, I’m starting to look like myself again.”
But, Barkley added, he knew this role wasn’t going to be easy. It would take time to return from a year-long absence and finish reversing the trend of a franchise that won a total of 12 games between 2016 and 2019 after winning 11 in 2015. Then, after starting 0-5 last year, the Giants won six games, nearly took the NFC East’s playoff spot, and somehow, in a losing season, flashed some hope.
“I’d seen him have some productive runs right there,” head coach Joe Judge said postgame, when asked about Barkley’s ability to scamper through open holes.