When Tyrod Taylor suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter against the Bears on Sunday, it raised a serious question for the Giants: who was going to play quarterback for the rest of the game?
Starter Daniel Jones had suffered an ankle injury just minutes before, and Taylor is the only other QB listed on the team’s depth chart. Practice squad member Davis Webb didn’t dress for the game, and therefore wasn’t available.
The answer? None other than Saquon Barkley.
The Giants’ star running back was thrust into action after a quick conference on the sideline, with his team clinging to a 17-12 lead.
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“When I saw Tyrod go down, I kind of realized, ‘Oh, I’m up next, I’m the quarterback,” Barkley told reporters after the game.
“When I saw Tyrod go down, I kind of realized, ‘oh I’m up next. I’m the quarterback.'”
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“It’s something that we practice,” he said. “You don’t want to be in that situation, but the way that the coaches reacted — brought us all in, started drawing it up — it felt like you’re back as a little kid in the backyard playing football.”
Barkley came through with a couple of vital plays to keep New York’s drive alive.
Jones re-entered the game solely to relay play calls inside the huddle, with the injured QB lining up as a receiver away from the play. Barkley began taking snaps out of the shotgun, handing off to Matt Breida for 13 big yards before burrowing ahead himself for a gain of 4.
Saquon in the Wildcat?
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A few plays later, Graham Gano connected on a 43-yard field goal to stretch the Giants’ lead to 20-12, where it would stay until the final whistle.
“I just tried my best to read [the defense], it’s really not that hard,” Barkley said. “I think I made the right reads on them, but we were able to keep the ball moving, get the ball downfield, get some points and the defense did a great job from there.”
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The win moved the Giants to 3-1 on the season, their best start to a campaign since 2009. However, they’re now facing the possibility of a trip to London this Sunday to play the Packers without their top two quarterbacks.
Jones did return at QB for the last couple of drives, but only to hand the ball off. He’s considered day-to-day, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, but there is some optimism he’ll be able to play.
If not, at least coach Brian Daboll knows he can rely on Barkley at quarterback in a pinch if required.
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