Mistakes were the name of the game for the New York Giants on Sunday, who had four official turnovers, two more on downs, and one punt that looked like it was going to be somewhere in between.
Mike Glennon threw three interceptions, including a backbreaker in the end zone after the Giants got a short field, but the fourth turnover was a Saquon Barkley fumble just inside midfield with less than two minutes left in the first half, a fumble that swung the game from 12-6 Dallas with the Giants driving to take the lead to a 15-6 Cowboys halftime edge.
“From what I remember, I was cutting up and the guy punched it out. I've got to go back and watch my ball security,” Barkley said of the play. “Hats off to whoever made the play, but I've got to be better. That goes to practice, working on my ball security in practice, doing extra stuff with ball security, to going back to the little things.”
The Giants were actually quite conservative on the drive, as Barkley’s fumble was the third play of the drive – and the first two were short passes to the back, one which went for 15 and one which was stopped for no gain.
“Dallas had timeouts, so you want to get the ball rolling at that point. You've got to get the clock moving and not turn around and put yourself in position where the other team can go ahead and just get the ball back and finish the drive, finish the half with the ball in their hands,” head coach Joe Judge said of the strategy. “Getting the ball moving, just starting a drive and getting into it. We had timeouts to use, as well. I thought getting the ball to Saquon, start pushing them on down gave us a good start of the drive, good field position.”
A strategy, Judge thought, would open up something further down the field.
“Mixing in sub runs and taking shots down the field – you can call end of the half deals, you can call your offense to a good degree and the plays you like right there,” Judge said. “I thought the play selection and the call was good right there, gave us an opportunity. We were going to have plenty of time as far as pushing it and getting field position and ending the half with the ball in our hands and a chance to score. We've got to make sure that we go ahead and we capitalize better as a team.”
As for the “other” turnover? The Giants went for it on fourth down, or planned to, four times during the game; back-to-back drives saw them go 1-for-2 – a huge Devontae Booker run set up a field goal on the first, a failed sneak set up a Dallas touchdown on the second – and they turned it over on downs on the final drive of the game where a field goal was meaningless.
The fourth, though, saw the giants miss out on fourth and one at their own 28, as they lined up to go for it with less than nine minutes remaining and facing a 21-6 deficit…and blew it with a false start on right tackle Matt Peart, a penalty that saw Barkley get visibly frustrated in the backfield.
“Everyone's upset that we lost. That's a pivotal play in the game that we've got to convert to get a chance to win the game. There were a lot of plays that we had to convert to give us a chance to win the game. We've just got to execute, and we didn't do that on that play and other plays,” Barkley said. “We’ve got to be better. I've got to be better myself – fumbling in the two minute is unacceptable, that can’t happen at all. There's just multiple plays that you can always go back and pick that can change the course of a game. We've just got to be better as a team, as a staff on those plays.”
“We can't shoot ourselves in the foot, the entire team knows that. That's something that we talk about and work on ad nauseam in practice,” Judge added. “When there's an opportunity to go out there and be aggressive and it's fourth-and-short, and we feel we have the right play dialed up, guys get a little frustrated when all of a sudden we do something that removes our opportunity to have that.”
Unfortunately, it’s been a trend the Giants can’t seem to correct.
"The turnovers, obviously we made mistakes in how we were pushing the ball down the field a little bit, and the false starts, we have to have better poise – but in terms of execution, we've got to make some plays and use good judgement and make good decisions,” Judge said. “It's not something we accept at any point in time. Again, I don't think there's any one reason for it. We've got to make sure we clean that up right there and make sure the guys that are committing these issues that we put them through exactly what they need to do to correct them, and make sure that never repeats again.”
In the end, Glennon was benched in favor of Jake Fromm, and Barkley was diplomatic about who should be the Big Blue signal-caller going forward if Daniel Jones misses further time, and why the team had such trouble getting the ball to receivers (who had a total of one catch through three quarters).
"Obviously, there were a lot of plays that were called with the receivers in mind as main targets and focuses, so we'll look at the tape and see why we couldn't get it to them today," was all even Judge would say on the former, and this was Barkley on the latter:
"Both of those guys, I think, are very talented, I think they're great quarterbacks. They come to work every single day. Obviously, Jake is a newer addition to the team, but from day one Mike has been coming in, attacking and doing everything we ask him to do. Ever since Jake has been here, he's been doing the same thing," Barkley said. "Obviously, I don't make those calls, but I think we're confident of whatever happens in the future and knowing that those two guys are talented and knowing that those two guys are going to work and go out there and give the best they can to help us win the game."
Instead, he wanted to focus on what he can do himself to turn around a season where, despite being now second on the Giants in receptions, he has just 677 yards from scrimmage and was once again out-gained by Devontae Booker despite fewer touches.
“If I had the answer, I think I would be playing a lot better, to be completely honest. But at the end of the day, it's going back to trusting myself, trusting the team and the line, leading, coming to work every single day and pushing myself and the guys around me,” Barkley said. “I'm a big believer that the things you want to accomplish only happen if you work for it. Everything that I want to happen in my career is still out there. I'm still young in my career. The season is still not over, so just every single day just go out there and attack it and try to get better.”
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