Giants’ Saquon Barkley frustrated, angry over ankle injury
It took New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley more than a calendar year to work his way back from a torn ACL and then several more weeks to find his groove.
Entering a Week 5 battle with the Dallas Cowboys, Barkley had high expectations. Deep inside, he believed he would shine again, compiling quality back-to-back performances.
That did not occur.
Instead, Barkley left last Sunday’s game after just a few snaps, having sustained an ugly looking low ankle sprain. For the second time in as many years, he was forced to leave on a cart.
“I didn’t want to get on the cart because the last time I was on the cart I was out for the season. I didn’t want to have that mentality, but as clear as you guys saw my ankle, it was kind of hard to walk on that even though I wanted to tough it out,” Barkley told reporters on Thursday. “Yeah, that was kind of just the mentality I had behind it.
“You never know. You never know until you get the X-rays and MRIs. Going into it, obviously you want to have a positive thinking, positive thoughts. But obviously just coming from a major knee injury then an ankle sprain from taking your eyes off and stepping on someone’s foot, that is definitely frustrating. That was the mindset, just try to come in positive and thank God it wasn’t worse than what it could’ve been.”
Frustration has been the word of the week for Barkley. He admits to having a brief, “why me?” moment but then quickly returned his focus to healing getting back on the field.
“I’ll be honest, it’s frustrating. It doesn’t make sense why it’s happening, but obviously when you get hurt you have those one or two days when it’s an ankle sprain,” Barkley said. “You have those days to reflect and feel bad for yourself and have that ‘why me?’ mentality, but you can’t keep that mindset. Having that mindset, you’re not going to get anywhere with it. You’ve just got to look on the brighter side. Everything happens for a reason. This could slow me down to help me out in other ways to get myself ready and whenever I’m going to get back on the field, just get back to playing the sport that I love and to get back to contributing to help the team.”
Barkley had been a little tentative to start the season but then broke out against the New Orleans Saints in Week 4, gaining over 120 yards from scrimmage and scoring two touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime.
Without Barkley, the Giants will be forced to rely on veteran Devontae Booker and rookie Gary Brightwell.
“Like I said, I’m human and I feel, I care about this sport a lot. I care about this game a lot. I care about my teammates a lot,” Barkley said. “That’s another reason why I’m frustrated that I feel like that I’m letting them down. Yeah, I guess just to sum it up, I was frustrated. I was angry at myself. Now, I’m just ready to go back to work and continue to get better.”
The good news is that Barkley could return as early as Week 7 against the Carolina Panthers if all goes well. He avoided a serious or catastrophic injury and after overcoming a severe knee injury, a little ankle sprain won’t put him on the shelf for too long.
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