'My team needs me to be better': Saquon Barkley not satisfied with performance

Rather than giving him bell-cow duties from day one, the New York Giants have been trying to ease Saquon Barkley back to full speed. Their hope is that it helps Barkley, the 2018 Pro Bowl and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, return to his pre-ACL tear form.

Barkley started the season with just 10 carries in the Giants’ Week 1 loss, then head coach Joe Judge gave offensive coordinator Jason Garrett the green light to increase his workload — albeit, slowly. Barkley received 13 carries in the Giants’ Week 2 loss, the received a season-high 16 carries in their loss to the Falcons last week.

He’s had a rather tough start to the season rushing behind a subpar offensive line, taking the 39 carries into just 134 yards and one touchdown. But Barkley still had a productive day last week — he may have turned 16 carries into just 51 yards, but he was able to punch in a goal-line carry for a touchdown, while also taking six carries for 43 receiving yards.

Yet Barkley, the Penn State Nittany Lions product, is far from pleased.

“People probably do expect me to come out here and jump over people and do crazy things — and obviously I would love to do that, too — but at the end of the day I am human,” Barkley said.

The Giants play the 2-1 New Orleans Saints in Week 4, a game that will certainly put Barkley to the test. Not only will the 2018 second overall draft pick receive the opportunity to increase his workload once more, he’ll be tasked with doing it against a very stout rush defense.

The Saints have allowed just 181 rushing yards through three NFL regular season games, so perhaps Barkley will have to wait another week for a signature breakthrough performance.

“But I don’t want to make any excuses,” Barkley said. “I’m not going to do that throughout this whole season. I’m never going to make any excuses. The expectation that people have for me is not even close to the expectations that I have for myself and it never will be for as long as I play football, or whatever I do after football. That’s just my mindset.

“I’ve got to keep going, I’ve got to keep getting better. My team needs me to be better. I’ve just got to keep trusting my knee and trusting the process, and I know that’s going to work and I know that’s going to happen. Just take it one day at a time.”