With career day, Giants’ running back Saquon Barkley reminds everyone who he is

New York Giants star running back Saquon Barkley had himself a day Sunday against the Washington Redskins. In the Giants overtime victory, Barkley broke the Giants franchise record for scrimmage yards in a game with 279. He also scored two touchdowns, a dazzling 67-yard run and a 33-yard reception.

Barkley had a career-high 189 yards rushing on 22 carries for an 8.6 yard average. He also hauled in four catches for 90 yards, 22.5 yards per catch.

Barkley had two huge receptions for big gains.

“I like it when he catches and when he runs and makes my time easier,” said quarterback Daniel Jones. “I think you see how good he is and how much of a special player he is—the different things he can do to affect the game.”

Barkley’s performance today was a follow up to a 112-yard rushing day last week against the Miami Dolphins. The second-year running back has clearly recovered from the nagging ankle injury that he suffered in Week 3. That was truly on display with a handful of explosive plays, starting with a 67-yard scamper in the first quarter.

The early score from Barkley put him past 100 yards rushing in just the first quarter. He showed he’s back to his old ways of making opposing players miss, and picking up huge gains. Barkley credited the offensive line.

“It starts up front. They did a real good job with stopping penetration, reestablishing the line of scrimmage,” said Barkley, “My job is to make that one guy miss and sometimes they are going to make a play but with the will I have more times than not I’m going to make that person miss.”

In the next quarter, Barkley showed his ability as a receiver with a 33-yard reception off a wide open seam route out of the backfield.

“I’m reading the safeties and if there’s two-high, bend it, if there’s one high, stay flat,” said Barkley, “I guess it was some kind of cover four. One safety kind of took the crossing, so it kind of made it, not a cover one, but a one-high safety. DJ did a really good job keeping his feet in the pocket and found the right seam.”

Barkley wasn’t done. Later in the third quarter, Barkley snagged a screen pass from Daniel Jones for a 51-yard gain. He turned what should have been only a 7-yard pick up, into a huge play that set up a Kaden Smith touchdown catch.

The whole day Barkley was a handful to tackle for the Redskins. He had multiple big runs, but it’s summed up by watching him barrel through arm tackles.

Despite an extended rough period for Barkley, he now has an opportunity to surpass 1,000 yards rushing in 2019. After his career day, he has 911 rushing yards this season.