Giants running back Saquon Barkley said late last week that he feels like he’s back to being the player he was during his first couple of years in the NFL, but Sunday’s game against the Bears offered Barkley a chance to do something new.
Daniel Jones left the game with an ankle injury and backup Tyrod Taylor had to come out for a concussion evaluation, which left Barkley in position to take snaps as a Wildcat quarterback. Jones eventually came back in to hand the ball off, but the Wildcat helped set up a field goal as the Giants finished out a 20-12 victory at home.
Barkley ended the day with 31 carries for 146 yards and a good feeling about his cameo as the quarterback.
“When I saw Tyrod go down, I kind of realized I’m up next,” Barkley said. “I’m the quarterback. First of all, you have to give credit to DJ coming back in the game. I can’t curse, he’s a tough you know what. Nothing but respect for him to go in and continue to fight through that for his team just shows you the type of person and type of player he is. I think I just tried my best to read it. It’s really not that hard, I guess, but I think I made the right reads on them. But we were able to keep the ball moving, get down field, get some points and the defense did a great job for us.”
The Giants will be hoping that Jones is well enough to play against the Packers in London this week, but the first four weeks have shown that the offensive focus should be on Barkley regardless of who is taking the snaps.