Saquon Barkley finally gets to the postseason with the Giants
Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants sat out the Week 18 game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. Credit: Getty Images/Mitchell Leff
The regular season had ended about 20 minutes earlier, and there was Saquon Barkley, sitting in the visiting locker room in Philadelphia, wearing street clothes and holding court for reporters.
It was an awkward scene for him, given that he had nothing to do with the Giants’ 22-16 loss to the Eagles on Sunday, in which Brian Daboll rested most of his starters.
A passing teammate good-naturedly ribbed him about it, and he answered, “That’s what I’m saying! I ain’t played!”
But Barkley knew the deal. He is the biggest star on a Giants team that is in the playoffs for the first time in six years and has not won a postseason game since four days before his 15th birthday.
So yup, people were curious about his thoughts on the upcoming Vikings.
Asked jokingly if he plans to play this weekend in Minneapolis, Barkley smiled and said, “I think so. I think I’ll be good to go. I think I might get the nod.”
The Giants need him not only to get the nod but to make the most of it in his first career postseason showcase.
It figures to be a high-scoring game, and without Barkley being productive, the Giants will have little chance of doing enough on offense — no matter how bad the Minnesota pass defense is and no matter how good Daniel Jones and his band of misfit receivers have been.
To drastically oversimplify: The Giants are 8-2 when Barkley rushes for at least 70 yards and 1-4-1 when he does not.
One of those two losses when he did run for 70-plus was the Giants’ previous game against the Vikings, a 27-24 Minnesota victory on Dec. 24 that was among the most entertaining games of the regular season.
The Giants lost it on a 61-yard field goal by Greg Joseph as time expired after going toe-to-toe with the favored Vikings.
Barkley rushed 14 times for 84 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown that tied the score with 2:01 left, and added season highs of eight receptions and 49 receiving yards.
That is precisely the sort of thing that will be required in Sunday’s rematch.
On a team level, that is obvious. But there is a personal subplot, too, with Barkley on the verge of free agency after a season in which he finally was healthy again and finally reminded fans of the promise they saw earlier in his career.
He rushed a career-high 295 times for a career-high 1,312 yards and in his spare time tied Richie James for the team lead in receptions with 57.
The payoff in dollars will come this offseason. The football payoff comes now.
“It’s what you dream of,” Barkley said. “It’s the playoffs, and you want to go in there and give it your all.”
The Giants produced a season-high 445 yards against the Vikings but were sidetracked by a fumble, an interception and a blocked punt.
“We know that we had some critical mistakes and they went out there and made a 61-yard field goal to beat us,” Barkley said. “Now we just have to sharpen up the details, lock in.
“It’s still football, at the end of the day, but the tempo enhances. The details have to enhance.”
Barkley said that after the Dec. 24 game, he spoke to some Vikings and said, “We’ll see you guys again.”
Now the moment is at hand, and the Giants are not shying away from it. As Barkley noted, every game is different, even when it is against the same opponent three weeks apart. But that Christmas Eve experience at least removed some of the mystery from the upcoming challenge.
“It was a great matchup; it was a great game,” Barkley said. “Obviously, they came out with the win. But we’re excited. You’re excited because it’s something you dream about as a kid, being in the National Football League.
“Not many people on this team have had an opportunity to play in the playoffs. It’s been a tough couple of years here. But we’ve finally got our shot and we feel like we’ve got a balanced team that complements each other really well. It’s a one-week season now.”
For Barkley, it is a one-week season five seasons in the making.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
