The New York Giants have hit the skids in recent weeks, as they have only one win in their last five games. Their last win came on November 13th in Week 10 against the Houston Texans. Before that, they lost to the Seattle Seahawks heading into their bye in Week 9 and have since lost to the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys while also tying with the Washington Commanders.
The common theme in all of those losses has been the inability to get running back Saquon Barkley and the ground game going. Barkley has been magnificent for the Giants this season as their only consistent source of production on offense but all of the touches earlier in the season seem to be catching up to him now.
Barkley has fallen short of averaging at least 4.0 yards per rush in four out of the last five games. Not surprisingly, those are the four games that New York has failed to win. In games that the Giants didn’t win this season, Barkley is averaging 3.3 yards per carry and only 51.6 yards per game. In victories, he is averaging 4.9 yards per carry and 112.3 yards per game.
The Giants go as Barkley does on offense. If he were to not be on the field, things could get especially ugly for Big Blue. That is the concern for this week’s huge upcoming game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Barkley popped up on the injury report Thursday with some neck soreness. The hope is that he will be able to suit up on Sunday, but head coach Brian Daboll said that it is certainly possible that Barkley’s status is in doubt.
Could this be some posturing from the Giants, trying to get any edge that they can over the 11-1 Eagles heading into their matchup? That could be part of it, but whenever a player is a late addition to the injury report there is always some concern about his availability.
If Barkley were unable to go, the Giants would turn to veteran Matt Breida and Gary Brightwell to handle the backfield. The pressure on quarterback Daniel Jones would be immense as he has struggled throughout his career without Barkley as a safety blanket to rely on.
