Saquon Barkley: I’m just going to go out there and ball

Like everyone else associated with the Giants, the losing has been tough on running back Saquon Barkley. So in having had a chance to get away from the game last week for a little bit, Barkley is back with a refreshed body and mind and a new perspective he hopes will help him finish this lost season on a positive note.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Giants running back Saquon Barkley hates to lose. So combine the fact that the Giants have only won five games since Baklrey entered the NFL with a nagging ankle injury suffered in Week 3, and it’s hard not to understand why Barkley hasn’t quite been himself.

“I allowed--I don’t know what it was--for me not to be me,” he said Thursday. 

But Barkley is hoping that changes starting this week.

“I’m just going to go out there and ball and have fun and go out there with my brothers, and whatever happens, happens,” Barkley said. 

What hasn’t been happening, besides the losses, has been Barkley being Barkley.  

His per-game rushing yardage average of 57.4 yards is way down from a year ago when he averaged 81.6 yards per game. That is also partly due to the injury, and the play selection in which the Giants have run 71 running plays up the middle only to average 3.4 yards per carry (19th in the NFL).

Barkley’s lack of use out as a receiver out of the backfield is even more perplexing. A year ago, he caught 91 pass targets; currently, he has 33. And his run-blocking has regressed at an alarming rate--per Pro Football Focus, Barkley has allowed seven pressures this year--one fewer than his rookie-season total.

“You see where I can do better at, and I guess it’s a cliché answer, but it’s how I truly feel, no matter if my numbers were higher than last year or higher than they are now, I can improve on every single thing,” Barkley said when asked where he has rook to grow. 

“I want to be a better pass blocker. I want to be better at catching the ball out of the backfield, in-between, outside the tackles--literally all in all. I want to be one of the best players in the league one day, if not the best player in the league one day, I want to have that status, and I know that comes with the mindset of getting better every single day and putting your team first. So, I know I have to work on my little things for that to happen.”

That might be easier said than done given the usage of Barkley by the coaches, particularly in the passing game.

“We call the plays to go to me,” he said. “I don’t think it’s so much of just not being designed, or I’m not being active in design or put into the game plan to getting the ball in the air, it’s just sometimes how they play it and how they scheme it, it’s not there.

“I’m not worried about pressing it, I’m not worried about not doing too much or doing too much, I’m worried about going back and playing how I know how to play, how I’ve been playing my whole life since I was a little kid.

“But as I said, I’m going to continue to work and continue to get better at it and still try to get better at my routes, so when an opportunity does come, and we catch them at the right moment, we capitalize on it.”