Saquon Barkley's 102-yard game vindicates decision to play season out
Giants running back Saquon Barkley caries the ball during the first half of an NFL game against the Bears on Sunday in Chicago. Credit: AP/David Banks
CHICAGO — Saquon Barkley took no satisfaction from the team result, naturally, not after the Bears routed the Giants, 29-3, on Sunday at Soldier Field.
But he acknowledged that his first 100-yard rushing day in 24 ½ months was a satisfying milestone, even more so because of where it happened.
It was in Chicago on Sept. 20, 2020, that the running back suffered a torn right anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that cost him the rest of last season and still seemed to haunt him in this one.
Before Sunday, his highest rushing total this season was 64 yards. Against the Bears, he rushed 21 times for 102 yards.
What made that total more impressive was the fact that the Giants all but abandoned any pretense of a passing attack, allowing the Bears to load up against the run.
Hence it was a grind-it-out day on which Barkley had no rushes for more than 10 yards but frequently spun out of tackles and salvaged positive yards when there appeared to be none to be had.
Some fans and journalists had suggested Barkley sit out the season’s final two games in an effort to return to full health next season, when he is due to earn $7.2 million in the final year of his contract.
But he made it clear during the practice week that he had no intention of doing so.
"On the question of me not playing the last two games, I feel like I just sat out the whole year the year before with a torn ACL and missed some games this year with an ankle injury," he said.
"I don’t want to say that was a dumb question, but for me, personally, it’s kind of insulting me when people say that or you ask me that question . . . I still love this game, so me sitting out and not going out there and trying to compete for my brothers is nonsense to me.
"Coming here and to be able to have a 100-yard game and come to the place where the injury happened and kind of made my career go backward a little bit, it does feel good. It’s like a monkey came off my back to come to the spot where everything felt like it went downhill."
Barkley thanked his linemen for their work and their ongoing faith in him.
Coach Joe Judge said the Bears caught on early that the Giants had no intention of passing much. Quarterback Mike Glennon finished the game with four turnovers and the Giants had minus-10 net passing yards.
So Chicago wisely focused on Barkley and fellow back Devontae Booker. The Giants even used direct snaps to Barkley on four occasions.
"They obviously loaded the box, put their bigger personnel in," Judge said. "We were still going to be productive in the run game. That was it. I thought Saquon did good things.
"A couple times they had him in the backfield with some blitzes or pressures, and he was able to slip out and make something out of nothing at certain times. I thought he ran hard. I thought he ran with good ball security.
"I thought he went out there and really played as a good team player today and fought to the end."
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.
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