World’s Best Preview: Inside the Giants
Last year, as the second pick in the draft, New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley became the third rookie running back in NFL history to top 2,000 yards from scrimmage. In a season for the ages, he rushed for 1,307 yards (5.0 average with 11 touchdowns) and added 91 receptions for 721 yards and four more scores.
It looked like more of the same to start this season, with 120 rushing yards (10.9 average) in Week 1 vs. Dallas and 107 rushing yards (5.9 average) in Week 2 vs. Buffalo. However, a dreaded high-ankle sprain the following week against Tampa Bay ruined Barkley’s season. In the first three games, Barkley averaged 6.41 yards per carry. In five games upon his return to the lineup, Barkley has averaged 2.77 yards per carry. In the first two games, Barkley rushed for 227 yards. In the last five games headed into Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, he rushed for 224 yards.
Barkley swears he’s not playing hurt, though. In talking to reporters on Wednesday, he quickly jumped in while being asked about a 22-yard run vs. Chicago last week.
“Did I look hurt? I know that’s what you’re going towards. Did I look hurt? No. So, let’s stop making excuses that I’m hurt,” Barkley said. “I’m not hurt. Let’s stop making excuses that I’m not 100 percent. No one is 100 percent. I could pull up multiple clips where you can look back and you can see I’m doing the same thing that I did in college or I did in my first year. This season is not going the way I would like it. No, I’m not going to point blame on anyone else, you have to point the fingers at yourself first. You got to be better, I got to be better. I’m going to keep working. I wrote in my notes today, ‘The great ones figure it out.’ I want to be great and I’m going to figure it out.”
With an average of 90.0 all-purpose yards in his eight games, Barkley is on pace for 1,170 this season – a decrease of 858 yards compared to last year.
“He’s still explosive,” Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. “I think there are some other circumstances that may have affected his production. There are some plays you don’t see anything from an injury standpoint. This is an explosive guy that’s a home-run threat when he touches it. I know he’s had fewer of those plays this year, but I don’t see anything from an injury standpoint.”
Video: Lack of consistency frustrates Pettine
COUGHING IT UP: With aging Eli Manning, it was clear the Giants needed to do something at quarterback. With the sixth pick of this year’s draft, they selected Duke’s Daniel Jones. In college, Jones wasn’t very good but neither were the Blue Devils. Similarly, Jones hasn’t been very good as a rookie but the Giants aren’t very good, either.
Jones hasn’t helped matters, though. The surest way to lose football games is to treat the football as if it’s pocket change by a Salvation Army bell-ringer. Jones has fumbled a league-high 14 times. For sake of comparison:
- No player has fumbled more than 15 times over an entire season over the last decade. Jones, who didn’t start the first two games, has five more games on the schedule.
- Jones has lost 10 fumbles. Combined, the next two players on that dubious list have lost 12 fumbles.
- As an entire team, the Packers have coughed up the football only seven times this season.
- Over 34 games the past three seasons, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has 10 fumbles, including three this year.
“Some of those where he’s trying to throw the ball in rhythm and a guy’s not blocked properly, those don’t necessarily fall on him,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said in a conference call. “But there’s a handful of them – maybe more than a handful – that he’s aware that the ball’s got to come out quicker or he had one against Dallas where he fumbled out running around as a ball-carrier and he had another in a recent game, same thing. Those are things you clean up.”
Defensively, the Packers are squarely in the middle of the pack with nine forced fumbles.
“I would say the majority of the time, when they’re attacking the quarterback in the pocket, they are trying to rake out the ball,” coach Matt LaFleur said.
GIANT-SIZED DEFENSE: The Giants rank 29th with 28.0 points allowed per game and 27th with 377.5 yards allowed per game. However, with a superb defensive front, they are sixth in the league with 3.93 yards allowed per rush.
“I think they do a great job,” LaFleur said. “They play off each other really well, I think it’s a sound defense – gap control, they’ve got some big guys in the middle that are really talented, too. They’ve got a pretty good mix going on between their scheme and their players.”
Dalvin Tomlinson, first-round pick Dexter Lawrence and B.J. Hill are listed as the starters, and the Giants acquired Leonard Williams – a first-round pick in 2015 and Pro Bowler in 2016 – before the trade deadline. Even though he’s been with the Giants for only three games, Williams is tied for third on the team with six quarterback hits.
“When we brought him, obviously his veteran presence was felt immediately in the room,” Shurmur said. “I think aside from the impact he’s had in the run game and the pass game, he’s had a positive impact on the young players in terms of how to train, how to prepare. He’s one of those, even though he is vocal at times, he’s one of those lead-by-example guys.”
Playing good run defense isn’t a guarantee of anything. Of the top 10 teams in yards allowed per carry, only Pittsburgh would be in the playoffs if the season were over today. The Giants’ problem is their pass defense, which ranks 31st with 8.08 yards allowed per attempt. A young secondary – more on that in a moment – will be put to the test.
“The play is not over until the whistle blows with him,” defensive coordinator Mike Bettcher said of Rodgers. “He’s going to extend plays. His knee is going to be 6 inches from the ground he’s going to throw the ball over this shoulder and make a great throw. I went against him a few times in Arizona, as well. We have to finish downs.”
GIANT-SIZED INJURY REPORT: The Giants listed five players as out, which is bad news for Jones but good news for Green Bay’s defense. Tight end Evan Engram is the team’s leader with 44 receptions and 467 receiving yards and receiver Golden Tate is second on the team with 36 receptions and third with 450 receiving yards.
Engram is fourth among tight ends in yards after the catch this season and Tate is No. 1 among all players in yards after the catch over the past five seasons.
Even Engram’s backup, Rhett Ellison, won’t play. That should provide some relief for Pettine’s crew, which has allowed the sixth-most catches, third-most yards and fourth-most touchdowns to tight ends. Rookie Kaden Smith, who has six catches for 18 yards and one touchdown, will get the start.
“He has good football sense. Really good football awareness for a young guy,” offensive coordinator Mike Shula said. “You can tell by the way he asks questions and just little adjustments, whether or not it’s the run game or the pass game. We’re looking forward to him getting him out there a little bit more and giving him more opportunity.”
Defensively, safety Jabrill Peppers is out. He not only leads the team in tackles with 76 but forced fumbles with three. Rookie Julian Love will start in his place, meaning the Giants will have three rookie starters in the secondary with DeAndre Baker at corner and Corey Ballentine in the slot.
“Listen, they’ve got to go out and battle,” Shurmur said. “Aaron Rodgers has made veteran defensive backs look not so good. So, we’ve just got to go out and battle and do what we can to keep them out of the end zone.”
The Giants’ special teams will be impacted, too. The fifth inactive is long snapper Zak DeOssie. Moreover, Tate and Peppers have shared return duties for one of the NFL’s top punt-return units.
