New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley returned to form in Week 1, gaining 194 yards from scrimmage and scoring both a touchdown and the game-winning two-point conversion.
He currently leads the league in rushing (164 yards) and appears poised to reestablish himself as one of the game’s best. But not everyone is a believer in Barkley.
Still reeling from the Dallas Cowboys’ opening week loss and the injury to quarterback Dak Prescott, Skip Bayless poured cold water all over the notion that Barkley is among the league’s elite backs.
“I don’t love him as a running because, in the end, if I can be painfully objective an honest about this, he’s more of a cherry on top kind of a back. He’s more whipped cream than he is the cake. He’s more of a luxury back,” Bayless said on Undisputed.
“He’s not that guy. He’ll get loose once or twice a game, but that’s all — it’s once or twice. . . He’s going to get the ball a whole lot of other times and then go nowhere fast.”
That has been a criticism of Barkley in the past but it’s certainly not how he ran in Week 1.
“In the end, he can’t be a Derrick Henry or a Jonathan Taylor or an (Ezekiel Elliott) in his prime because he’s not a bell cow type,” Bayless added. “He’s built like a power back who doesn’t function like a power back.”
Bayless gave little thought to the Giants’ underperforming offensive line of the previous few years. He didn’t even consider that Barkley’s side-to-side movement behind the line of scrimmage was the direct result of defenders nearly taking the handoff themselves.
On Sunday against the Titans, Barkley didn’t have to make those adjustments at the point of the handoff. He was able to follow blockers and hit holes hard. He repeatedly ran defenders over. That wasn’t a coincidence.
Barkley does have explosive tendencies and he will break one or two a game. But with functional blocking ahead of him, he’s now able to round out his game and become more of a complete back capable of grinding out tough yards over the course of 20 carries.
Bayless can dismiss Barkley all he wants — that’s something the Giants running back will welcome. He wants his haters to continue hating because it fuels him.
Barkley and the Giants will meet Skip’s Cowboys on Monday night of Week 3.
