MINNEAPOLIS — Saquon Barkley has done his homework.
Preparing for the first playoff game of his career, the New York Giants’ star running back hit the record books.
Barkley marveled at the postseason production of Pro Football Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith, Eric Dickerson, Franco Harris and John Riggins. Not just dropping their names, mind you, but citing their staggering statistics, as if he scribbled those numbers on note cards and reviewed each prior to speaking with reporters on Thursday.
Then, in quoting Michael Jackson, Barkley spoke into existence what he hopes will serve as his playoff mantra, inspiring the upstart Giants in the process as they prepare for Sunday’s Super Wild Card game against the Minnesota Vikings.
‘Study the greats,’ Barkley said. ‘And be greater.’
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Barkley and the Giants have earned the opportunity to be on the stage that turns performance into greatness.
In each of his first four seasons, the Giants lost 10 games or more. Two head coaches were fired.
There were injuries and frustration as seemingly nothing went right, casting doubt over Barkley’s future with the Giants beyond this season, let alone if he could be the same playmaker that took the league by storm as a rookie.
None of this reality was easily ignored – even by a player as grounded and as strong-willed in his belief as one of the league’s best running backs as Barkley. Embracing the challenge set quite a tone, however.
He’s established a new career best for rushing yards with 1,312, eclipsing his rookie total of 1,307. He was one rushing touchdown from tying his career high, also from his banner rookie campaign.
The production matters, of course. So does his health, as Barkley started the Giants’ first 16 games, playing through a shoulder injury he sustained in London against the Packers, and then a stinger suffered in practice last month.
With the Giants resting their starters to avoid the risk of injury last Sunday against the Eagles, Barkley reset his focus and recharged his body for the next chapter.
All of that is part of the journey for Barkley and the Giants to this moment Sunday afternoon. He’ll step inside U.S. Bank Stadium where, the last time he touched the football, he scored a dazzling touchdown on a fourth-and-2 that ultimately helped the Giants pull even on the scoreboard in the closing minutes of the foruth quarter.
Greg Joseph and the Vikings wound up ruining the party by drilling a 61-yard field goal to prevail as time expired, but Barkley walked off the field that day believing Big Blue would get another shot at Minnesota. This is that shot.
Barkley and the Giants (9-7-1) have gone out and made believers of many who doubted them, and now they are here.
‘I’m excited. Obviously, I know it’s a playoff game. More attention, more eyes, but to me, I won’t be nervous,’ Barkley said. ‘Will I be hype? Yeah, I get hyped for every single game. Nerves, I wouldn’t say that. For me, it’s just another football game. I talked to [Michael] Strahan when he was here not too long ago and I asked him, ‘What’s really the difference between playoff football?’ He said obviously the intensity rises and all that, but the best advice he gave me was, ‘Don’t make the game bigger than it needs to be.’ I’m keeping that advice and sticking with that advice.’
The 25-year-old Barkley was the best player on the practice field from the moment the offseason program began, and under Brian Daboll and the new coaching staff, he was finally featured in all the ways the Giants have promised in the past. He looked healthy, fresh and explosive, and confident in how he was moving with the football in his hands.
Barkley’s rookie contract is set to expire, so he has been playing for a new deal, the value of which for a running back is viewed as high risk, given the physical and fiscal toll of the position. Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen love Barkley, and believe he can be a cornerstone of the foundation they are trying to build. They expressed that sentiment to Barkley’s camp during the bye week the first week of November, and while the two sides engaged in early contract talks, no deal was reached, leading to the tabling of discussions until after the season.
The Giants can keep Barkley here with the franchise tag, estimated to be worth between $10-11 million for next season, giving them more time to work out a long-term deal without allowing him to hit the market.
There will always be the debate over whether Barkley was the right pick, the positional value of running backs being what it is. In the three seasons since his celebrated rookie year, the Giants have done a lot of losing, with and without Barkley, whose career has been dotted with injuries, including knee reconstruction that cost him the 2020 season.
With an urgency to put everything back together, Barkley has answered any questions about his current place in the game.
‘You want to make it to the playoffs. The only way you do that is through having the right mindset, hard work and win enough games to get there,’ Barkley said. ‘The goal is not just to make it to the playoffs. You want to give yourself the opportunity to compete for the whole thing. We gave ourselves that chance. Now, we got to take it game by game. We got a big one, the biggest one because it’s the next game on our schedule, and if you don’t take care of this, [the season’s over].’
