Saquon Barkley Looking Forward to First NFL Playoff Game

Saquon Barkley is about to play in the biggest game of his career, but he’s not nervous heading into Minnesota.

Since being drafted in 2018, New York Giants running back, Saquon Barkley has had about as many doubters throughout his career as the Giants have had this season in their surprising playoff run. 

Yet here they are, about to embark on what they hope will be the first of many annual postseason trips under head coach Brian Daboll, as the sixth-seeded Giants head to Minnesota this weekend to face the third-seeded Vikings in a rematch of sorts of their Week 16 game.

"I’m excited. Obviously, I know it’s a playoff game. More attention, more eyes, but to me, I won’t be nervous," Barkley said this week. "Will I be hype? Yeah, I get hyped for every single game. Nerves, I wouldn’t say that. For me, it’s just another football game."

Barkley is one of the core players of this Giants team. They wouldn’t be in this position without him. He rushed for 1,312 yards and ten touchdowns this season, a remarkable rebound after last season. 

As a team leader, Barkley has also been trying to stay grounded so that he's not too overhyped ahead of the game. To keep himself grounded, Barkley said he picked the brain of Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan, who played in 10 career playoff games and accumulated 9.5 sacks while also winning Super Bowl XLII, to gain some perspective on what lies ahead.

"I asked him, ‘What’s really the difference between playoff football?” He said the intensity rises and all that, but the best advice he gave me was don’t make the game bigger than it needs to be. I’m keeping that advice and sticking with that advice.”

Barkley has always cherished the opportunity to play football, especially after three straight seasons before this one in which injuries cut into his playing time. But he never lost sight of who he was or what he could be as a player and has gone on to have one of the best seasons of his career since his rookie campaign.

“It feels good. All the rest of the injuries I had in years prior is stuff that I couldn’t control. I stepped on someone’s foot. Making a routine play, I tore my knee," he said. 

"That’s when I kind of came to the realization after those two years is that no matter how hard you work, no matter how much time you put into your body, there’s just some things you can’t control. Thank the man upstairs for keeping me healthy and ready for the next game.”

Barkley, who only carried the ball 14 times in the Giants' first meeting with the Vikings, obviously wasn't at liberty to discuss the game plan for the weekend and whether he'd be getting more touches. But he did say that whatever he does get, he plans to make the most of it.

“I want the ball as many times as needed to win this game," he said. "Whatever I got to do. That’s been my motto throughout the season, and I’m sticking with it."

 As much as Barkley doesn't like to miss a game, he saw the benefit of sitting out the regular-season finale last week against the Eagles and feels it will help him move forward.

“I would say when you get that week off, you’re fresh in the beginning – the first day you come out in practice. You’re like, oh man, you can tell you’ve been off for a week. Once you practice, especially the way I try to practice, putting myself in condition and get myself ready for a game – at the same time, Sunday is Sunday whether you have a week off or not.”

And to the critics who continue to doubt Barkley and his teammates? The fifth-year running back has a message for you.

"We really can’t control what anybody else says or thinks. The only thing we can control is how we go out there, how we perform, and the only thing we need to focus on is the men and women in that building no matter what happens throughout this playoff," he said. 

"That’s the beauty. That’s the world we live in. You guys can say what you want, but we can’t take it to heart. We just got to focus on us, and I think we’ve been doing that throughout the whole season, and that’s why we’re in the position we are in.”

---

Join the Giants Country Community

• Sign up for our FREE digest newsletter
• Follow and like us on Facebook
• Submit your questions for our mailbag
• Check out the new Giants Country YouTube Channel.
• Listen and subscribe to the daily LockedOn Giants podcast.
• Subscribe and like the LockedOn Giants YouTube Channel
• Sign up for our FREE message board forums
• Get your Giants tickets today from SI Tickets!