New York Giants: Feed Saquon Barkley more

The New York Giants failed to feed Saquon Barkley enough in Week 1. If they want to have a successful season, that needs to change.

The New York Giants started off their 2019 season with a dismal performance (specifically on the defensive side) against the Dallas Cowboys. Dak Prescott put on a perfect performance (literally) against the Giants defense, throwing for over 400 yards and four touchdowns. He shredded the secondary of the G-Men, which showed just how vulnerable they are on the defensive side.

However, that wasn’t even the biggest storyline coming from the Giants’ Week 1 loss.

Saquon Barkley is supposed to be the center of not only Giants the offense but the entire franchise for the foreseeable future. It didn’t look that way in Week 1, however, when he only received 15 total touches. Yes, 15 touches.

When there is a generational talent like Barkley on the team, 15 touches in a 60-minute football game is not enough. The Giants seemed to suffer from the lack of involvement Barkley had in the offense, failing to score another touchdown after their opening drive until it was garbage time in the fourth quarter.

For the G-Men, if the have any aspirations of being not only a competitive team but a team their opponents should fear, they must feed their star running back the ball more. Head coach Pat Shurmur needs to review his gameplan and make sure No. 26 in blue is at the center of it.

No matter which way one looks at this situation, it is inexcusable for Barkley to have 15 touches in a game. It isn’t like he was bottled up by the Dallas defense either. He exploded for a 59-yard run on his first carry of the season, which put the Giants in scoring position early.

He ended up finishing the game with 120 yards on the ground on 11 carries (10.9 yards per carry). He also added four catches for 19 yards. During the game, he was showing off his sensational vision and elusiveness, so it is natural to wonder why he wasn’t featured more often.

After the first drive, he only touched the ball 12 times the rest of the game. One could argue that the Giants were playing from behind, but that argument doesn’t work. Barkley has shown that he is one of the best receiving backs in the NFL. Even if the Giants had to throw their way back into the game, Barkley still should’ve had the ball in his hands.

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Simply excluding him from the offense wasn’t going to give them any better of a chance to win, especially when that involves 38-year old Eli Manning throwing the ball 44 times.

To put his of lack touches into perspective, Barkley touched the ball on 28.3 percent of his offensive snaps (per Next Gen Stats). That is well below his percentage of 42.8 in 2018. Christian McCaffrey and Ezekiel Elliot had a higher-touch percentage than him in Week 1 and one of them returned from a holdout in Cabo a couple of days before the season started.

It wasn’t like the Giants were effectively moving the ball either.

Outside of the first drive, they failed to move the ball efficiently. The ended the game 2-of-11 on third-down conversions and having to punt the ball on four out of their 10 drives. Two more of those drives ended up resulting in a turnover on downs. Maybe if Barkley was involved more, some of those drives would’ve ended up in points on the board rather than giving the ball back to a red-hot Cowboys offense.

Moving beyond Week 1, the Giants must feed Barkley for a multitude of reasons. A simple reason is that he is by far the best player on the team. The team is without Odell Beckham Jr., Golden Tate is serving a four-game suspension, Sterling Shepard is out in Week 2 and the rest of the skill players on New York are unproven at this point.

If the Giants want the best chance to win, they need to give the ball to their best player and allow him to make plays for the team. He is the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year, having 2,028 scrimmage yards the prior season and 15 total touchdowns. It’s not rocket science — the more touches the G-Men give Barkley, the higher their chances are to win.

If the Giants allow Barkley to become more involved in the offense, it will only help the rest of the unit. Having the skill and ability to draw the attention of multiple defenders, that will open up more opportunities for the rest of the team.

Manning showed clearly he can’t carry the team, so if the Giants give the ball to Barkley more often, it will also relieve some of the pressure off the quarterback. The play-action will be able to be used more effectively, which allows Evan Engram the rest of the receiving corps to find open areas in the secondary.

Not to mention, the offensive line looked rather solid in Week 1. The Giants made some positive changes to the O-line in the offseason and it seemed to pay dividends. They were opening holes for Barkley in the run game, and that hole on his 59-yard run was a huge one.

With an improved offensive line, the Giants should be jumping at the chance to feed Barkley the ball. If he ran for 120 yards on 11 carries behind that O-line, imagine how many yards he can get if he received 20-25 carries.

Pat Shurmur and the New York Giants coaching staff didn’t seem interested in winning against their division rival in Week 1. If they were, Saquon Barkley would’ve received more than 15 total touches in the game. That can’t happen again, as Barkley is too talented and impactful as a player to have a measly 15 touches.

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It’s simple for the G-Men: find a way to give Saquon Barkley the ball and reap the benefits. Giving more touches to No. 26 will not only give them the best chance to win, but it will open up the offense for their other skill players. Feed Barkley the beast the ball and watch the impact he will leave on the Giant’s offense. More importantly, watch how he will tear apart opposing defenses.

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