There was one play in the second quarter of the Giants’ 29-3 loss to the Bears Sunday that summed up everything good and bad about the offensive performance in one shot.
Down 14-0, facing a third-and-10 from the Bears’ 24, the Giants…handed off to Saquon Barkley, who got four yards to make Graham Gano’s field goal attempt a little shorter. It was the ninth play of their only scoring drive, all of which were rushes, and given that Gano’s attempt would’ve been 41 instead of 37 had they not gained a yard, seemed like the time to mix it up and take a shot at the end zone perhaps.
No dice, but apparently, it was part of the game plan.
“It definitely was not a give-up play, but the thought process was maybe a bust of a sub-run right there,” head coach Joe Judge said. “But also at the same time, it puts is into more of an aggressive fourth-down mentality, which was a part of the game plan today. We got ourselves into those type of zones and those ranges on fourth down. There were things we were going to consider to be aggressive and go for it right there.”
“You know, maybe we'd go for it on fourth down, treat it kind of more like a second down,” added Mike Glennon, who handed off three times as much as he dropped back on Sunday. “Play calls come in and we go out and try to execute.”
Gano kicked the field goal to make it 14-3, and that was as close as Big Blue got – which is a shame, because despite 40 of the Giants’ 55 offensive plays being runs, Saquon Barkley had his first 100-yard game since Dec. 22, 2019 – a span of more than two calendar years and a season’s worth of 16 games.
Especially big for Barkley, whose 2020 season ended after one-and-change games due to a torn ACL suffered on a tackle.
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“They're a great defense, but I think the o-line did a tremendous job of opening holes for me and Book (Devontae Booker),” Barkley said. “Coming here and to be able to have a 100-yard game and kind of come to the place where the injury happened and kind of made my career go backwards a little bit, it does feel good. It feels like a monkey came off my back to come to the spot where everything felt like it went downhill.”
Indeed, things were so bad for Barkley that many were wondering if his ACL injury, as well as an ankle injury this year, had sapped him of his burst and explosiveness. Booker, a former fourth-round pick on his third team in three years, had a rather similar stat line to Barkley entering Sunday, but garnered just 46 yards on his two carries and had two catches for no total gain.
Advantage Saquon, a big back coming up big in a spot that could’ve been disastrous.
“He did a good job today with a lot of times with loaded boxes,” Judge said. “We said hey, we're running you either way, and we knew going into the game at some point they were going to recognize the game plan was to run, run, run. They loaded the box, but we were playing seven offensive linemen at a time, so we were still going to be productive in the run game.
That was it.”
The Giants’ running game was incredibly effective, Barkley’s 102 yards the lion’s share of the 161 they racked up on the ground, but the passing game being non-existent made it all moot.
“I thought Saquon did good things. A couple times they had him in the backfield with some blitzes or pressures, he was able to slip out and make something out of nothing at certain times,” Judge said. “I thought he ran hard, I thought he ran with good ball security, I thought he went out there and really played as a good team player today and fought to the end. But again, as an offense, it just wasn’t good enough today.”
Now, however, a week after there was wonder whether Barkley should be shut down for the season in a negative light, he comes off his best game of the season with the wonder whether or not he should sit out next week’s meaningless season finale to ensure his health going into 2022.
“I feel like I just sat out the whole year the year before with a torn ACL, missing games this year with an ankle injury, like why would I ever imagine it?” Barkley said of the notion of sitting out. “I won’t say it was a dumb question, but for me personally, it's kind of insulting me when people say that or ask me that question. It's like, at the end of the day I know it's the league, but I still love this game, so me sitting out and not going out there and trying to compete for my brothers, it's nonsense to me.”
Given the schedule situation, the injuries in the receiving corps, and the ineffectiveness of Glennon/inexperience of Jake Fromm, it’s possible that the run-heavy offensive game plan will continue next week in the finale, with a WFT defense that is not as stout as Chicago’s but did just hold the Eagles well below their usual rushing total on Sunday.
Or maybe not, given that Judge is hoping next Sunday in East Rutherford is kinder than this Sunday in Chicago in many ways.
“We knew some of the personnel issues we were going to have about midweek, so about the time we got to the game plan and practice on the field, we were worrying about some of the things we were going to have to deal with,” Judge said. “But in terms of the game plan itself, there's a lot of things factor in what today could have been. You know, at one point this week, they were calling for over 40 mile an hour winds. That's something you got to think about in how you manage pass game, run game, what you do. We felt the best plan for the team to have success today was run the ball, and I like the way we did that.”
Come next Sunday against Washington, the ultimate game plan is just get through it, and look ahead to next season.
No matter what, though, Barkley will always have his Chicago redemption.
“Personally, to be able to get a run game going and especially with the help of the offensive line, who did a great job today, I'm appreciative of those guys up front for continuing to believe in me,” Barkley said, before adding in the understatement of the season: “Things haven't been that great this year.”
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