Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley of the Giants speak on the...

Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley of the Giants speak on the field during the first half of a game against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Dec. 24, 2022, in Minneapolis. Credit: Getty Images/Stephen Maturen

In the NFL, coaching matters. So does trust.

Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones know this. They have lived it.

They have been a tandem since Jones was drafted in 2019. Barkley, drafted a year earlier, emerged as a loyal and consistent believer in the quarterback.

The pairing became unshakable.

They’re Batman and Robin. A modern-day version.

Said Barkley: “Who’s Batman?”

He paused and glanced toward Jones.

“I’ll be Robin,” Barkley said. “He can be Batman.”

From his nearby locker, Giants center Jon Feliciano chimed in: “I think they’re both Batman.”

Barkley has made it clear to Newsday on multiple occasions, and as recently as Wednesday, that he wants to be a long-term Giant, provided Jones is the quarterback.

They are, in that sense, a package deal.

“I know there’s a connection there,” said Sterling Shepard, the longest-tenured current Giant, who is close to both players. “They’re always going to have each other’s back. They’re like brothers.

“It’s based on a friendship first before teammates, and that’s the way you want it. That will ultimately show on the field because you’ll do anything for them off the field so, of course, you’ll do anything for them on the field.”

If the Giants are to defeat the Vikings in Minnesota on Sunday, if they are to secure the franchise’s first playoff win since 2011, it seems likely that Jones and Barkley will lead the way offensively.

That Jones is earning — and finally receiving — love from Giants fans is important to Barkley, who considers the curtain call in the playoff-securing win over the Colts a seminal moment for his quarterback.

“DJ is not big on showing emotions,” Barkley said. “Just having personal conversations with him, I can tell it meant a lot. Anyone would love that.

“He doesn’t pay attention to all of the negative stuff that’s said about him, but you’re human. We’re active on social media. We have to deal with media. We’re in a big market. You see all the things people say, trying to count him out. To finally get the love and appreciation from the fans, it goes a long way.”

As does leading the Giants into the playoffs.

“We’re a team, it’s 11 guys, not just me and Saquon,” Jones said. “At the same time, I have a lot of the same feelings he does. I think he’s an exceptional player but also an exceptional teammate and leader. I think that’s why everyone gravitates to him.”

This much we know: When coach Brian Daboll was building these Giants, before a regular-season game had been played and long before a playoff berth had been clinched, two of the players he sought out were Jones and Barkley.

He gained their confidence. The entire locker room, it seems, has followed.

How important was it for a new coach to gain the trust of his players?

“I think it’s everything,” Daboll told Newsday on Thursday.

To that end, during training camp, Daboll invited Jones to his home. They sat by the pool and talked shop.

“He brought out a bunch of his old notes, from teams he had in the past, plays he had run, offenses he had run, and how it kind of evolved,” Jones said. “We talked about stuff I liked that I had run in the past. Concepts, plays. It was a productive discussion.”

As they compared notes, Daboll smoked a cigar. Jones did not.

“I think a lot came out of it that’s helped us this year,” Jones said. “I think it says a lot about him, how he works. He’s always thinking, always working.”

Said Feliciano: “From what I’ve heard and what I’ve seen, Dabs also preached to Daniel to be himself.”

That seems to be a mantra of this coaching staff. Offensive line coach Bobby Johnson told Barkley before the season, “Be you.”

The friendship between Jones and Barkley includes competitive moments, particularly in the weight room, where both do some of their best off-field work, apparently. They talk smack about who is squatting more, though that seems to be a battle the taller and lankier Jones is destined to lose.

“Saquon is outrageously strong,” Feliciano said. “He’s squatting more than me.”

Barkley has pleaded for his franchise quarterback to take better care of himself on the field by sliding rather than taking hits from defenders.

Jones hears that. That’s doesn’t mean he’s completely buying in.

“There are certainly some instances where I can do that better and protect myself,” he said. “The later in the season you get and the more these games mean, the harder it is at times to do that. A couple of those were scoring situations. I’m never going to go down in a scoring situation. But I’ll continue to see where I can get better in some of those.”

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