LANDOVER, Md. — Saquon Barkley wanted the Giants to put the biggest game of his NFL career on his shoulders.
Then he lowered those shoulders and spun them through open holes when it mattered most.
After the Giants’ defense forced a red-zone turnover to protect a five-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, there was nothing exotic about the offensive game plan: Give the ball to the best playmaker and let him go to work.
A 12-yard run off left guard. A 15-yard run up the middle. A 14-yard run up the middle. With those first three plays of the drive — video-game like runs where the user jams on the button for fancy footwork — the Giants went from backed up against the corner of their own end zone where a three-and-out would’ve allowed the Commanders a chance at redemption to cross midfield. He touched the ball three more times for 7 yards, setting up Graham Gano’s all-important field goal.
Barkley finished with 120 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown as the Giants hung on for a 20-12 victory over the Commanders.
The former No. 2 overall draft pick knew his critics were saying that he was worn down by a heavy workload and shoulder and neck injuries after a great first half of the season. And that averaging 3.3 yards per carry over the past six games as the Giants went 1-4-1 was a sign of bad things to come. In the big picture, that it was proof that a team’s best player cannot be a running back and that it would be foolish to give him a big contract extension after the season.
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Instead of getting sensitive about it, Barkley owned it. He had his self-proclaimed best day of practice this season four days before game day. He showed for the umpteenth time he is the exception to the NFL’s unwritten position rule.
“I feel like I’ve been lacking the last couple of weeks — being the guy, and making explosive plays,” Barkley said, “especially when it matters most.”
Another example of when it mattered most?
The Giants went on their best drive of the season — a 97-yard march that chewed 8:35 off the clock in the second quarter — and couldn’t come away with a deflating field goal that only upped their lead to 10-3. So, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, whose early-season creativity faded in recent weeks, called for Barkley and Daniel Jones to motion into each other’s spots before the snap, leaving Barkley as the wildcat quarterback for a 3-yard touchdown run.
Amid calls to get Barkley more involved as a receiver, he finished with five catches for 33 yards, including an 8-yard grab as Jones’ security blanket over the middle to convert a third-and-6 early in the fourth quarter. And then the defense gave him plenty to celebrate.
