Giants Q&A: Saquon Barkley takes one for team
Saquon Barkley #26 of the New York Giants stops short of the end zone late during the fourth quarter against Geno Stone #26 of the Baltimore Ravens to preserve a victory at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Did the Giants pre-plan having Saquon Barkley pass up a touchdown to help run out the clock?
Yes. “We prepare for it,” coach Brian Daboll said. “We communicated it after the turnover: One first down. We didn’t need any more points.”
Barkley could have scored with about a minute and a half left and the Giants leading 24-20. Instead, he intentionally went down after getting a first down at the Baltimore 2-yard line. The Ravens had only one timeout left, so that effectively ended the game.
Barkley was well aware that fantasy owners who had him on their rosters were disappointed. “I know fantasy fans are going to be a little upset about that,’’ he said, “but I’ve got a job to do, and that’s to do whatever I can to help my team win a football game.”
How are the players who went out with injuries?
That remains to be seen, but the important thing for the Giants was that when offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, center Jon Feliciano and Barkley left the game, all three came back.
Feliciano limped out of the locker room after the game.
“As a coach, you respect that,” Daboll said. “Again, you don’t ever want to put anybody out there that can’t do it. The trainers do a good job of communicating, and those guys — we have tough guys.
“It’s a tough sport. So credit to those guys for fighting through.”
How many defenders were on the field for the Giants when the Ravens scored their first touchdown?
Ten. Which is one fewer than teams are supposed to have.
Perhaps that was why the Ravens’ Kenyan Drake scored from 30 yards out basically untouched.
“We had 10,” Daboll said. “Unacceptable.” Asked what happened, he said again: “We had 10. Unacceptable.”
Asked again, he said: “I’m not going to get into it. That can’t happen. Put it on me. That’s my fault.”
Said safety Julian Love: “Stuff like that is unacceptable; that is stuff that you can control, having the right people on the field. It’s from the top down. We’re all accountable — players, coaches — and we all take ownership of that. That’s stuff that good teams don’t do, so we’ll clean that up for sure.”
Why did Love keep the ball he intercepted off a pass from Lamar Jackson?
“That’s a future Hall of Fame quarterback,” he said. “When you get a pick off of somebody like that, you have to keep the ball. I have a [Patrick] Mahomes ball [from 2021], and now I have a Lamar ball. You keep those ones. You keep those tight.”
Did Justin Tucker really miss a long field goal?
Strangely, yes. The Ravens’ star kicker doinked a 56-yarder off the left upright in the first quarter.
He had converted 10 consecutive field-goal attempts of 50 yards or longer.
Was that a salsa dance that Kayvon Thibodeaux did when he got his first NFL sack?
Yup. “I told my man Victor Cruz that if I get a sack today, I am going to hit the salsa. I had to go out there and do it. He’s a legend, so I had to pay respect.”
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.
