The primary time Brian Daboll coached the Giants without Saquon Barkley, the offense ran the ball fewer times than in some other game during Taylor Swift’s lifetime.
Yes, 1989 is each the birth 12 months of Swift — the pop icon whose relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce is the most important story in sports — and the last time the Giants abandoned the run as much as they did last week.
The Giants likely will get one other take a look at what their offense looks like without their top playmaker Monday because Barkley (high ankle sprain) is listed as doubtful to play against the Seahawks.
But he’s attempting to fight his way into the lineup despite the business risks that include exposing himself to further injury in the ultimate 12 months of his contract.
“The fact of it’s that if I can go — if my body is telling me to go on the market and play — then, yeah, that’s what I’d prefer to do,” Barkley said. “But … say if some people were in this example where they don’t have a contract behind them and so they are doing it for business reasons, I respect that, too. Probably is a brilliant thing to do, to be honest.
“But that is just not really in my makeup and the way I view it. I don’t judge anybody in the event that they do this, but for me if my body is capable of go, that’s once I’ll go.”
Barkley injured his ankle playing his 66th of the primary 67 offensive snaps when he scored two touchdowns and sparked a 21-point comeback win on Sept. 17 against the Cardinals.
4 days later, the one-dimensional Giants ran 11 times for 29 yards in a loss to the 49ers.
No Barkley, no coincidence?
“He never wants to return out of the sport,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “He’s a competitor — that’s what we love about him. Guys like that …. need to be involved and wish the ball. You wish players like that, and Saquon is certainly considered one of those.”
The Giants’ ineffectiveness with Matt Breida, Eric Gray and Gary Brightwell suggests it may not be so simple as treating all running backs as disposable parts.
Barkley, who Daboll hopes shall be a game-time decision after warmups, may very well be the important thing to avoiding a dreaded 1-3 start.
“We all know Saquon is priceless to our offense,” Daboll said. “Any time you’re missing an excellent player, you miss an excellent player.”
Barkley’s participation in individual drills during practice this week was a step forward, but players don’t often play without practicing 11-on-11 periods.
“I feel I’m doing way higher than what a number of people would expect,” Barkley said. “Especially talking to doctors, I’m further along. But it surely’s frustrating because I’m healing fast, but you wish it to be faster. Day-after-day it’s convalescing and higher and trending up.”
The past two games combined looked as if it would reinforce an argument made during offseason contract negotiations that Barkley is more priceless due to the way in which the Giants are constructed than most top running backs are to their offenses.
Barkley and the Giants couldn’t find middle ground in offseason extension talks, and he’s playing on a one-year, $10.1 million deal.
“It’s much easier game-planning against the Giants if Saquon doesn’t play,” one opposing player told The Post. “He impacts them so some ways — even without the ball in his hands.”
Barkley missed three games with an ankle sprain in 2019 and 4 with a high ankle sprain in 2021, sandwiched across the 14 missed as a result of a torn ACL in 2020.
In all cases, it took him a couple of games before rounding back into top form.
“That doesn’t undergo my mind, like ‘Oh, I got here back too soon,’ ” Barkley said.
Injury history is a reason that Barkley didn’t receive the extension he was in search of.
But he opted against leveraging a training-camp holdout and showing the Giants what they were missing into a much bigger contract than the $900,000 in incentives — all of which essentially shall be out of reach if he misses one other game — that he received to report on time.
The Chargers’ Austin Ekeler (two games missed) and Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (will miss a minimum of 4) don’t appear to be rushing back from ankle injuries after offseason contract disputes within the tanking running back market.
“At the tip of the day, it’s my life,” Barkley said. “I make the choices. I really like this game. So I’m trying my best.”
The primary time Brian Daboll coached the Giants without Saquon Barkley, the offense ran the ball fewer times than in some other game during Taylor Swift’s lifetime.
Yes, 1989 is each the birth 12 months of Swift — the pop icon whose relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce is the most important story in sports — and the last time the Giants abandoned the run as much as they did last week.
The Giants likely will get one other take a look at what their offense looks like without their top playmaker Monday because Barkley (high ankle sprain) is listed as doubtful to play against the Seahawks.
But he’s attempting to fight his way into the lineup despite the business risks that include exposing himself to further injury in the ultimate 12 months of his contract.
“The fact of it’s that if I can go — if my body is telling me to go on the market and play — then, yeah, that’s what I’d prefer to do,” Barkley said. “But … say if some people were in this example where they don’t have a contract behind them and so they are doing it for business reasons, I respect that, too. Probably is a brilliant thing to do, to be honest.
“But that is just not really in my makeup and the way I view it. I don’t judge anybody in the event that they do this, but for me if my body is capable of go, that’s once I’ll go.”
Barkley injured his ankle playing his 66th of the primary 67 offensive snaps when he scored two touchdowns and sparked a 21-point comeback win on Sept. 17 against the Cardinals.
4 days later, the one-dimensional Giants ran 11 times for 29 yards in a loss to the 49ers.
No Barkley, no coincidence?
“He never wants to return out of the sport,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “He’s a competitor — that’s what we love about him. Guys like that …. need to be involved and wish the ball. You wish players like that, and Saquon is certainly considered one of those.”
The Giants’ ineffectiveness with Matt Breida, Eric Gray and Gary Brightwell suggests it may not be so simple as treating all running backs as disposable parts.
Barkley, who Daboll hopes shall be a game-time decision after warmups, may very well be the important thing to avoiding a dreaded 1-3 start.
“We all know Saquon is priceless to our offense,” Daboll said. “Any time you’re missing an excellent player, you miss an excellent player.”
Barkley’s participation in individual drills during practice this week was a step forward, but players don’t often play without practicing 11-on-11 periods.
“I feel I’m doing way higher than what a number of people would expect,” Barkley said. “Especially talking to doctors, I’m further along. But it surely’s frustrating because I’m healing fast, but you wish it to be faster. Day-after-day it’s convalescing and higher and trending up.”
The past two games combined looked as if it would reinforce an argument made during offseason contract negotiations that Barkley is more priceless due to the way in which the Giants are constructed than most top running backs are to their offenses.
Barkley and the Giants couldn’t find middle ground in offseason extension talks, and he’s playing on a one-year, $10.1 million deal.
“It’s much easier game-planning against the Giants if Saquon doesn’t play,” one opposing player told The Post. “He impacts them so some ways — even without the ball in his hands.”
Barkley missed three games with an ankle sprain in 2019 and 4 with a high ankle sprain in 2021, sandwiched across the 14 missed as a result of a torn ACL in 2020.
In all cases, it took him a couple of games before rounding back into top form.
“That doesn’t undergo my mind, like ‘Oh, I got here back too soon,’ ” Barkley said.
Injury history is a reason that Barkley didn’t receive the extension he was in search of.
But he opted against leveraging a training-camp holdout and showing the Giants what they were missing into a much bigger contract than the $900,000 in incentives — all of which essentially shall be out of reach if he misses one other game — that he received to report on time.
The Chargers’ Austin Ekeler (two games missed) and Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (will miss a minimum of 4) don’t appear to be rushing back from ankle injuries after offseason contract disputes within the tanking running back market.
“At the tip of the day, it’s my life,” Barkley said. “I make the choices. I really like this game. So I’m trying my best.”
