NO EXCUSES
Saquon says he won’t use knee as ‘crutch’ after shaky Giant return
Saquon Barkley’s return to the field was supposed to be a celebration.
Instead, the Giants’ running back was clearly not himself in Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos, feeling his way back on his surgically repaired right knee.
Any fulfillment over hitting his “milestone” and “goal” of playing in Week 1 washed away quickly in his assessment of his own play and the running game in a 27-13 loss.
“I don’t want the theme to be, ‘Oh, the run game’s not going ‘cause Saquon’s knee. He’s still getting right back from the knee,’” Barkley, 24, said. “That’s not the mindset I’m gonna have. I’m not gonna use that as a crutch. The gig is up. I’m back on the field.
“Hopefully week by week, my knee keeps responding properly and my rep count keeps going,” the fourth-year back added. “The carries I do get, [it’s time to] to get this run game going. Because once we get it going, I think we could be a very good offense.”
No one expected Barkley to look 100% like his old self immediately after recovering from last season’s torn ACL and partially torn meniscus in his right knee.
But it was concerning to see Barkley slip down several times when he planted hard on the turf, almost as if he didn’t trust what he felt.
He played on only 29 of the Giants’ 61 snaps, rushing 10 times for 26 yards and making one catch for one yard. The Giants had only 20 carries for 60 rushing yards as a team, including only seven rushes for eight yards in the first half.
Barkley assured “nothing alarmed me” with his knee on any contact but admitted to overthinking.
“I don’t think that’s any indicator of anything with my knee,” he said. “I guess that could be part of rust or probably overthinking it. I don’t want to do either. Just want to get ready for Thursday Night Football.”
Barkley sounded like he intends to play in Thursday’s Week 2 visit to Washington, though he wouldn’t answer definitively when asked if there were any doubt.
“Right now, I’m going to go home, see how my knee responds and take it day by day,” Barkley said. “God willing, the knee responds really well, and then when I come in we’ll have the conversation again and see what the game plan is for the week.”
There is no telling how long it will take Barkley to get back to form, though, which might explain why the Giants called on free agent running back Latavius Murray recently, according to NBC’s Peter King, prior to his signing with the Baltimore Ravens.
Offseason signing Devontae Booker had only four carries for seven yards and one catch for six yards. Eli Penny and Gary Brightwell didn’t carry the ball. Brightwell had one catch for six yards. Penny had one target and no catches.
Daniel Jones was the Giants’ leading rusher with six carries for 27 yards, but he also fumbled in the red zone on one of them.
Barkley interestingly admitted he was “nervous” at the beginning of the week when the Giants started having real conversations about activating him for Week 1.
“It wasn’t a scared nerve, more anxious,” he said.
He felt “a little weird” on Monday but still had a “great practice,” and settled down until he drove to MetLife Stadium on Sunday morning.
“As I got closer to the stadium, you see the fans and hear the crowd, you get a little anxious,” he said. “But when we got in there and called the first play, I was locked in, I was ready.”
The Giants didn’t lock then, though. The Broncos locked them down. And now, while Barkley is happy that he is back from that devastating September 2020 knee injury, he is not going to spend too much time patting himself on the back about the past.
“It happened. I hit that milestone. I’m happy I was able to play in Week 1,” he said. “That was a goal of mine: to play in Week 1 and try to help my team win. Now it’s actually getting out there and helping my team win.”