Saquon Barkley made play after play and took hit after hit to carry the Giants to the verge of victory.
But after the team’s crushing, hard-to-believe 13-10 overtime loss to the Jets on Sunday afternoon, all he could think of was one play on which he believes he should’ve done better.
On third-and-3 from the Jets’ 19-yard-line with 1:14 left in the game, Barkley rushed for 2 yards and was stopped short of the first-down marker.
A first down would have allowed the Giants to kneel out the clock.
Head coach Brian Daboll then opted to send Graham Gano out for a 35-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth-and-1.
Gano missed, and the Giants’ nightmare turned into reality.
“To be honest, I could have gotten the first down on the play before,” Barkley said. “I’ve got to drive my feet a little more, or some other [running] back could find a way to get a first down.”
Barkley finished with a career-high 36 carries for 128 yards in a heroic effort, putting the Giants’ offense on his back after third-stringer Tommy DeVito was forced to enter at quarterback for the injured Tyrod Taylor in the second quarter.
DeVito completed just two passes, and only threw the ball seven times.
It was clear that, playing with a lead at the time, the Giants were determined to keep the ball out of DeVito’s hands as much as possible to avoid a debilitating turnover.
That meant Barkley carried the ball 25 times for 94 yards in the second half and overtime alone, nearly willing the team to victory.
“As a back when you start getting downhill, you start making guys miss, you start falling forward, falling forward,” Barkley said. “You definitely can get a rhythm and you can get that juice inside, just kind of like anything in life. … Everyone in this stadium knew that we were going to run the ball. That’s tough to do, especially in this level and this league and they did a great job of making me look good.”
Barkley deserved to win against the team he grew up rooting for.
Instead, his bodily sacrifice was all for naught.
“This one stings a little bit more, obviously, because of how close it was and almost coming away with it,” Barkley said. “And against the Jets, to be honest.”
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