Giants news, 9/28: Saquon Barkley trade talk, Daniel Jones, more

New York Giants headlines for Thursday

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

Giants: Daniel Jones can’t keep running so much | The Athletic

Jones is averaging 8.3 carries per game this season compared to 4.5 carries per game in his first three seasons. If Jones maintains this pace for 17 games, he’ll finish the season with 149 carries. Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts led all quarterbacks with 139 carries last season.

Jones’ legs are a weapon, but history has shown he doesn’t have the durability to run this much. Everyone involved needs to figure out a way to make Jones, who ranks 28th in the league with 186.7 passing yards per game, more effective throwing the ball.

Boomer Esiason thinks Saquon Barkley’s success may lead to him being dealt

Giants-Bears, Week 4: 5 storylines to follow this week | Big Blue View

Sunday’s game features two of the most anemic passing attacks in the NFL. So, don’t expect a high-scoring offensive shootout. The Bears are last in the NFL averaging an unbelievable 78.3 yards passing per game. Justin Fields’ season-high in passing yards is 105, and that is the only time this season he has reached 100 yards. Through three games, Fields has attempted just 45 passes and completed only 23. Two teams, the New York Jets (52.7) and Arizona Cardinals (48.3) are averaging more than 45 pass attempts per game.

NFL Rumor Roundup: Possibility of Kenny Golladay trade | PFF

We reached out to a personnel VP to see if he believed the Giants could actually trade Golladay. He gave credence to the possibility that Golladay could be traded but didn’t believe a deal would happen soon.

NFL Rewind: Saquon Barkley rediscovers his game, Jalen Ramsey stays remarkable | The Athletic

Barkley looks explosive. He’s running strong and is consistently picking up yards on the ground. With a yards-after-contact average of 2.9, Barkley currently ranks fifth in the NFL. He’s also right in line with his “healthy” years of 2018 and 2019, when he averaged 2.8 yards after contact in each season.

The notable schematic element of this play is that it came on an under-center run. Barkley is wildly more effective from that alignment than he is from the shotgun. His success rate jumps from 15.8 percent out of the ‘gun (fourth worst amongst the 30 running backs with 30 or more rushing attempts) to 44.1 percent on under-center runs.

Rest of Giants’ offense must step up in support of Barkley, Jones | SNY

SNY’s Connor Hughes states one thing is abundantly clear after the Giants’ disappointing 23-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, which dropped their record to 2-1: QB Daniel Jones is not this struggling offense’s problem. Not even close. He has, aside from Saquon Barkley, absolutely no help. And that needs to change if the Giants want to make sure this loss to Dallas is nothing more than a blip.

Giants rookie Evan Neal says he has “never” played as badly as he did Monday night | ProFootballTalk

Starting at right tackle on Monday night, Neal was badly outplayed by Cowboys edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, and Neal said afterward that his performance wasn’t good enough.

“I’ve just got to play better,” Neal said, via Newsday. “There’s no other way to call it. I can get technical with you guys [in the media] all day long, but I just gotta play better. There’s no other way to slice it or sugarcoat it. I gotta play a better brand of football.”

Giants top rookies can only learn from Cowboys schooling | New York Post

The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro writes that it’s way, way, way too early to make an assumption that those two players are not going to grow into productive, potential stars for the Giants, players who justify their respective draft spots. But Monday night was not a good look.

What was a good look was Neal, showered and dressed in street clothes after the game, dutifully waiting at his locker to speak to reporters when they were let into the locker room.

2022 Still Only A Reset Year For New York Giants | The Draft Network

While the Giants are undoubtedly better positioned for the future now than they were a year ago, the team is not positioned to reap the rewards of Schoen’s maneuvering until 2023 at the earliest.

This is a team in transition. The quarterback of the future is probably not on this roster, and a lot of the pieces that will lead this team into whatever the next era of Giants football looks like are not on this roster. And that’s okay.

Mike Francesa: Giants ‘look like a football team’ again | Elite Sports New York

The Giants have been arguably one of the NFL’s biggest surprise through two weeks and Mike Francesa believes it is a testament to head coach Brian Daboll and his assistants.

“The culture so far under their new head coach has been a winning one in every way,” Francesa said on his latest BetRivers podcast. “It’s a good coaching staff. It’s a coaching staff that has leadership in all three units. The Giants have been crisp. They’ve looked like a football team, they’ve acted like a football team and they have won like a football team….this coaching staff has been cohesive, has been very, very aggressive and has been crisp in everything they’ve done.”

Sterling Shepard posted on Instagram thanking those for the support he has received since Monday night

Love gives his take on MetLife turf after Shepard’s injury | WFAN.com

Giants safety Julian Love during his weekly appearance on “Tiki & Tierney” said he thinks the Shepard injury was just freak a incident.

“Obviously, you hear that,” Love said about the MetLife turf discourse. “I know the NFLPA looks into that sort of stuff with the playing surfaces. It meets all standards, I think just there’s been some bad luck on it unfortunately. I know a lot of teams play on grass, I personally prefer grass, I know Tiki probably preferred grass as well, it’s easier on your body. And so yeah, it’s tough, but I wouldn’t attribute this to the turf at all. It’s just one of those freak things that you absolutely hate to see.”

This week’s opponent

Justin Fields focused on positives, correcting mistakes | ChicagoBears.com

Fields conceded that it was frustrating for him to watch tape of the Texans game. But as he looks to rebound Sunday when the Bears visit the Giants, he’s determined to learn from his mistakes.

“When you don’t have a game that you want to play as well in,” he said, “all I really know, my response to that is get back to work and keep working. I’ve had bad games before. This isn’t my first bad game I’ve ever had. Just looking at the past, [I ask]: ‘What can you do to get better? What can you do to improve?'”

Roquan Smith the ‘Heart and Soul’ of Bears Defense | The 33rd Team

The Chicago Bears are 2-1 thanks to the strength of their defense. Chris Long is pumped to see safety Eddie Jackson back to making big plays and has been impressed with linebacker Roquan Smith’s effort every week.

Bears Over Beers: Focus on Khalil Herbert & Braxton Jones | Windy City Gridiron

The Chicago Bears won another game and two important pieces of that Bears win are the subjects of this week’s podcast. Khalil Herbert stepped in for David Montgomery to have a big game and Braxton Jones continued his rookie campaign at left tackle. JB and EJ went through their film with a fine tooth comb and break down what they saw on this week’s show.

Dick Butkus goes viral with Bears Twitter takeover | ChicagoBears.com

The Bears social media team handed the keys of the team’s official Twitter account to the legendary Dick Butkus Tuesday night. The Hall of Fame linebacker went viral as he unleashed a series of tweets, admittedly struggling to figure the app out during his night at Halas Hall.

Around the league

Jets’ Zach Wilson cleared to play Week 4 at Steelers | CBSSports.com

Zach Wilson has been cleared to make his season-debut after missing the season’s first three games. Jets coach Robert Saleh said on Wednesday that the second-year quarterback will start Sunday’s road game against the Steelers if all goes well during this week’s practices. Wilson has been recovering since suffering a bone bruise and a meniscus tear during New York’s first preseason game against the Eagles.

Minneapolis chosen as contingency site if Kansas City Chiefs-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game | ESPN.com

The NFL has selected U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis as the contingency site for Sunday night’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, league executive vice president Jeff Miller confirmed Wednesday. U.S Bank Stadium is available because the Vikings will be in London to play the New Orleans Saints.

The Buccaneers relocated their players, coaches and some of their families to the South Florida area and are practicing at the Miami Dolphins’ facility. Playing in Tampa remains the team’s choice.

NFL: “Every indication” concussion protocol was followed with Tua Tagovailoa | ProFootballTalk

NFL senior vice president Jeff Miller said that the review will take one or two weeks to be completed, but that there have been no signs thus far that the concussion protocol was not followed by the team before Tagovailoa returned to the game.

“Every indication from our perspective is that it was,” Miller said. “I know the player, the coach and others have spoken to this. And we are engaged in that review now. So we’ll come back with a formal answer to that question, something that we want to engage in.”

Mannings look to cash in on Chad Powers-Penn State schtick – NJ.com

Penn State hopped on the virality of the situation and made Chad Powers T-shirts to raise money for real walk-ons. According to Sports Illustrated, in 24 hours, they sold more than 1,800 shirts and raised over $27,000.

Additionally, The Mannings’ Omaha Productions has filed trademark applications for CHAD POWERS and THINK FAST. RUN FAST. The filings indicate an intent to sell clothing, mugs and stickers.

NFL to celebrate league’s international diversity with helmet initiative in Weeks 4, 5 | NFL.com

The National Football League (NFL), in partnership with over 200 players, coaches and executives, will celebrate the growing number of nationalities and cultures that make up the fabric of the League with an initiative that will see players take the field with international flags on their helmets. Players across the league will wear a helmet decal of the country or territory’s flag that represents their nationality or cultural heritage across Weeks 4 and 5.

In case you missed it

• Film breakdown: What happened to Wink Martindale’s defense?
• Giants roster moves: CB Fabian Moreau added to roster; Sterling Shepard officially to IR
• Giants-Bears Wednesday injury report: Cornerback, wide receiver areas of concern

BBV mailbag

Have a Giants-related question? E-mail it to bigblueview@gmail.com and it might be featured in our weekly mailbag.

BBV podcast

You can find and subscribe to Big Blue View radio from the show’s home page

BBV social platforms

BBV on Twitter | BBV on Facebook | BBV on Instagram | BBV Radio (available on all of your favorite podcast platforms) | BBV on YouTube