Saquon Barkley Delivers Hard Truth About Giants Failures vs. Divisional Foes
New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley didn't mince any words just minutes after the Giants dropped a 33-25 decision to the Philadelphia Eagles on Christmas Day.
“Didn’t close it,” Barkley said, referring to the talent gap between the third-place Giants and the playoff-bound Eagles. “Clearly shows."
Closing the talent gap and winning games in the division was among the top priorities of the Giants after coming off a 9-7-1 record last ear that, while landing them in the postseason as a Wild Card team, saw them finish 1-4-1 against NFC East foes.
And as most playoff-bound teams that end up going far will attest to, a solid foundation for success starts with winning games in the division, something the Giants just haven't been able to do of late in the division.
New York is currently 2-3 in the division, having swept the Commanders but continuing its struggles against the Eagles and the Cowboys, the latter of whom beat them twice. And Barkley knows that kind of performance just isn't good enough.
“The last couple of years — not just the last couple of years, I feel like everyone’s trying to make it like a recent thing — the last decade … we haven’t beaten Philly, and we struggle with Dallas,” Barkley said. “That’s just the truth.”
He's right. The Giants have now lost 11 straight against the Eagles on the road dating back to 2013 and five in a row overall, including the three-game sweep by the Eagles last year, including the Divisional playoffs.
They are 4-17 against the Cowboys (home and away) since 2013 and have not recorded back-to-back wins against Dallas since 2016, the last season they won a game on the Cowboys' home turf before being thrust into a seven-game losing streak on the road.
And in many of those games against both teams, the Giants have often lost by two or more scores, which isn't acceptable.
"Fought a really good game here, got beat," Barkley said. "Not saying anything negative--that’s the truth."
It's too late for the Giants to do anything about it this season, but if this team aspires to be annual postseason participants, Barkley said it's up to them to change the narrative.
"If this team, this franchise wants to go where we want to go, we got to start beating these teams,” he said.
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