For the better part of six months Giants fans have been complaining about how their team missed out on the franchise quarterback after the team selected Saquon Barkley with the second overall pick in the 2018 draft.
While Sam Darnold has both battled rookie mistakes and injuries across town with the Jets, and other rookie QBs like Josh Allen and Josh Rosen have been horribly inconsistent in Buffalo and Arizona, respectively, it has been Barkley who has been the most productive offensive rookie of the year. If the season ended today, Barkley would have 1,288 all purpose yards in his rookie year. With six games left, he has a shot at joining the likes of Eric Dickerson and Edgerin James to have 2,000 all purpose yards his rookie year.
Barkley led the way for the Giants, scoring three times, and rushing for 142 yards as the Giants outlasted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-35 for the club's second consecutive victory, the Giants first winning streak in 700 days.
Last week quarterback Eli Manning was the story with his heroics late in the fourth quarter in San Francisco. On Sunday it was Saquon all the time.
The tone of the game was set right away, when Barkley touched the football five times in New York's opening drive, sans for a 41-yard completion from Manning to Odell Beckham as Big Blue put some early points on the board on Barkley's six-yard touchdown reception.
After a Tampa Bay three-and-out, the Giants went right back to work with Manning and Barkley combining to pick apart a horrific Bucs defense. The biggest play of the drive came on a second and 14 at the Tampa Bay 46, when Manning hit Will Gallman for a 21-yard catch and run to move deep into Bucs territory. From there it was all Barkley, who carried the rock on three consecutive plays including a five-yard touchdown to give the Giants a 14-0 lead.
The Bucs had really no answer for the Giants, especially early in the game as former Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was truly awful for Tampa. Fitzpatrick was picked off three times, including a pick-six by Alec Olgetree that gave the Giants a 21-7 lead to open the third quarter.
Once Tampa Bay put in Jamies Winston things would get a little more interesting. Winston was 12-of-16 for 199 yards and two touchdowns in relief of the struggling Fitzpatrick. Winston was able to pull the Bucs to within three points at 31-28 with 5:11 to go in the game, before the Giants engineered one last scoring drive to put the game away for good.
A 54-yard completion from Manning to Evan Engram was the key to the drive, setting things up nicely for Barkely who carried the rock three times inside the 10-yard line, including the game winning score on a two-yard plunge on third and two to make it 38-28.
With the 38-35 win, the Giants are now 3-7 on the year. While it is still a disappointing season for the Giants, Big Blue isn't giving in. The Giants face the slumping Eagles in Philadelphia next Sunday before retuning home to face the Bears to open December.
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