Giants can use Saquon Barkley’s ‘fire’ after fumble to rally to fourth straight win in New Orleans
Saquon Barkley has become the vocal and emotional leader of this Giants team, a captain they look to for the right words or a big play when they need it most.
So letting his teammates down crushed him.
Barkley’s eyes were glazed over at his locker in the immediate aftermath of a fourth quarter fumble that almost cost the Giants last Monday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
“I was running, I knew where the sideline was and was trying to make sure I didn’t go out of bounds in that situation and tried to fall down,” he said. “And the ball just popped out on me, which is inexcusable. Got to be better. I can’t put my team in that situation.”
He vowed that he would get over it by Tuesday, though, in time to make up for it this Sunday when the Giants (5-8) visit the New Orleans Saints (6-7).
“The player that I know I am, and I want to be, I can’t let that happen,” Barkley said. “But also, that happens to great players in the league, and I want to be a great player in this league. So it’s about how you respond. And I’ve got to respond, get back to the drawing board, get better, come out like fire — and that’s it.”
So the stage is set for the Caesars Superdome on Sunday: against a Saints defense that allowed 204 rushing yards to the lowly Carolina Panthers last week.
With Saints quarterback Derek Carr, who struggles when under pressure, facing Wink Martindale’s blitz-heavy, turnover-happy defense.
Barkley has been outspoken about insisting the Giants are not out of this NFC hunt, and he continued pounding the table for his Tommy DeVito-led team late this week.
“We’ve always had the mindset that we are a competitive team and we’ve just got to find ways to win games,” he said. “We weren’t doing that in the beginning of the season. We [could have made] every excuse in the book, but we didn’t make any excuses. We just kept our heads down and grinded.
“It does help,” he added, “that our special teams and defense are creating I think like 13, 12 turnovers in the last three games.”
It certainly does.
The Giants’ 14 takeaways in the last three games, including 12 by Wink Martindale’s defense, have led this surge. And there should be more opportunities Sunday against the Saints, who have committed seven turnovers in their last four games and gone 1-3 in that stretch.
The secret to Martindale’s unit turning the ball over?
“They’re becoming better finishers at the football,” Martindale said Thursday, citing safety Xavier McKinney, linebacker Bobby Okereke and corner Cor’Dale Flott as players who have attacked the football. “‘X’ has punched the ball out. We’ve talked about Bobby punching the ball out. Now you have Flott in the Washington game punching the ball out.
“The interceptions,” Martindale added, “they’ve just been good plays and the guys are studying, communicating so much better the last month. It’s been fun to watch.”
Carr, 32, has thrown an interception in three straight games. And he has completed only 48.5% of his passes this season when under pressure, according to NFL NextGen Stats.
The question is whether Martindale’s blitzes and pressures will get home.
The Giants’ 44.9% blitz rate is second-highest in the league behind only Brian Flores’ Minnesota Vikings defense (46.8%). But the Giants defense also has the second-lowest QB pressure % in the league (30.8%) ahead of only the Panthers (30.2%).
They’ll need edge rusher Kavyon Thibodeaux (11.5 sacks) to continue to make splash plays. Thibodeaux had another half-sack and a forced fumble in the win over the Packers.
He has had three games this season (Weeks 1, 9 and 10) where he has failed to generate a single pressure, per NFL NextGen Stats. But the plays he is making have been big ones. And he has at least a half-sack in five of the last seven games.
“Things are just working,” Thibodeaux said this week. “We’re playing great team ball, and I’m just doing my job.”
It can’t all be the defense, though. DeVito’s offense has to step up, like it did in the second half against the Packers, if the Giants want to win in a hostile environment and continue to try and salvage something from this disappointing year.
That starts with Barkley, who Daboll said is more than ever that costly fumble.
“He’s over it,” Daboll said. “He’s a good teammate. Obviously, he was down because of that play, but he made some good plays, too. You know, he’s a competitor and he’s a good leader for us. Once that game is over and that night is over, you get on to the next week and move on.”
