Barkley’s career day lifts Giants to blowout win
LANDOVER, MD. >> Deep within the suburbs of the nation’s capital, Saquon Barkley took flight. The jukes, the hurdles and the downhill explosions that have captivated the NFL landscape grazed the turf at FedExField, where the makings of a legendary rookie season grew ever stronger.
Barkley topped 1,000 rushing yards for his career Sunday as the Giants blasted the reeling Redskins, 40-16, for their fourth victory in five weeks.
The Giants (5-8) remain a longshot to make the playoffs, but the brilliance of their phenom from Penn State continues to inspire hope of a franchise turnaround as other young players develop and previous culture problems become further eradicated.
“He’s a tremendous player, and we’re starting to figure out that kind of this offense runs through him a little bit,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “When we’re running the ball well, it just sets up everything else. It sets up the play-action, it sets up so much.”
Barkley, the league leader in rushes of at least 40 yards, added runs of 78 and 52 yards to his name against Washington (6-7). The first gave New York a three-possession lead midway through the second quarter. The other navigated a third straight touchdown drive into the red zone.
Both highlight reels featured key blocks from wide receiver Sterling Shepard as the Giants faced to a 34-0 halftime lead, their largest since a game against the Vikings in 2010.
“Can we talk about Shep’s block on that play? That was ridiculous,” Barkley said of his 58-yard run. “I mean, first and foremost the o-line did a great job. Our tight ends did a great job on that scheme that we had there of giving me a hole. I got one-on-one with a guy and was able to cut it back. I remember mid-play I’m running and I’m trying to think, like react of how I’m about to set this dude up. And all I see is Shep just fly by: ‘Boom!’ Just killed a guy and I’m literally going, mid-run I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ That was impressive.”
Barkley surpassed the century mark for the fourth straight game with a careerhigh 170 yards on 14 carries. He added four catches for 27 yards in the receiving game — including a one-handed grab in the third quarter — to stay within reasonable reach of Eric Dickerson’s rookie allpurpose yards record of 2,212 established in 1983.
“With Odell (Beckham) being out, I got more man-toman coverage than we’ve seen all season, and they probably had an emphasis on slowing down Saquon,” Manning said. “But the offensive line did a great job, receivers did a great job blocking and then he did a great job once he sees a little crease and gets an opening. He showed some speed today.”
The afternoon began inauspiciously for the Giants’ offense with star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. sidelined by a quad injury. The line suffered breakdowns. Barkley had a rare dropped pass. The lone first down in three drives materialized through a penalty.
But the defense emphatically set the tone by feasting on another backup quarterback this week. Mark Sanchez completed 6-of-14 pass attempts for 38 yards with two interceptions and five sacks before the Redskins inserted former Giants backup Josh Johnson in the third quarter.
With 2:45 left in the first quarter, free safety Curtis Riley redeemed his dropped interception against the Bears last week by picking off Sanchez and returning it for a 9-yard touchdown after outside linebacker Kareem Martin tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage. That gave the Giants a 7-0 lead after both teams’ offenses gained a combined 45 yards on 23 plays.
Linebacker Alec Ogletree corralled his fifth interception of the season with 7:42 remaining in the second quarter and was tackled at the 10yard line.
“We were just firing on all cylinders and guys were making plays all over the field in the run game and in the pass game,” Ogletree said. “Guys up front were just getting after it today. They were attacking their o-line. We knew they were kind of shuffling around a lot of guys (injuries to their o-line), so for us it was just a matter of going out there and doing your job and dominating.”
Three plays later, the Giants secured a 24-point lead — their largest of the season — with a 3-yard pass from Manning to Shepard, who freed himself wide open in the end zone by faking an inside route next to another receiver, confusing Washington’s defense before Shepard cut hard to the corner.
Manning provided sufficient support to the running game with his second threetouchdown game of the year before exiting at the start of the fourth quarter.
With the score 40-0, Kyle Lauletta entered for his first regular-season game action at quarterback. Washington rudely greeted the rookie when middle linebacker Mason Foster telegraphed Lauletta’s second pass attempt for an easy interception. He finished his debut 0-for-5.