Rushing title will come down to Elliott and Barkley

two seasons ago had an offensive line that was ready to be great.

The Giants may not have even an average offensive line this year.

The expectations are getting out of control.

Hunt was the rushing champ last year. Gurley is amazing. Why Barkley? I feel he will rack up the yards but a good chunk will be through the air. Leading the league in rushing yards is totally different. Lets see if we can have a functional OL first.

Let him contribute big time in the passing game..That would be huge

Would have something to say about that

Matt Mosley who used to cover the NFC East for ESPN, but now covers the Cowboys. He always did great work for ESPN.

In comment 13976187 MookGiants said:

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two seasons ago had an offensive line that was ready to be great. The Giants may not have even an average offensive line this year. The expectations are getting out of control.

I hate the phrase, but "this"

In comment 13976187 MookGiants said:

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two seasons ago had an offensive line that was ready to be great. The Giants may not have even an average offensive line this year. The expectations are getting out of control.

This. My God, can we let them play a single down before we anoint SB? This is like last year when everyone picked us to win the east, and we all saw how that turned out.

In comment 13976190 Big Blue '56 said:

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Let him contribute big time in the passing game..That would be huge

Agreed. I'm expecting and hoping for more Kamara than Zeke. Not that Zeke is a slouch there but I'd rather see his touches distributed in other ways than 20+ times between the tackles.

to play closer to the line and by picking up blitzers. Barkley does a lot of thing right.

In comment 13976224 Ira said:

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to play closer to the line and by picking up blitzers. Barkley does a lot of thing right.

agreed.
Barkley's an all-around solid player so I see no real holes in his game.
But, I do want to see him in some real games before I anoint him.

on offense. The ball will get spread around. The Cowboys, on the other hand, lost Witten and Dez. Elliott is THE key piece to their offense now.

Elliott will have a better year stat-wise.

In comment 13976240 JohnB said:

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on offense. The ball will get spread around. The Cowboys, on the other hand, lost Witten and Dez. Elliott is THE key piece to their offense now. Elliott will have a better year stat-wise.

This is a good point, and I do agree Barkley’s impact should be measured in yards from scrimmage. The more interesting point is the suggestion that the Giants will immediately make him the focal point of the offense. Forgetting statistics, strategically this is not the first time I have heard this mentioned, Barkley surpassing Beckham as the focal point. It may be irrelevant as the Giants may be much more balanced, which is the approach you’d want but to truly free up Beckham this may be necessary emphasis early on to establish Barkley as a force to be dealt with and the ideally the offense would evolve midseason as the Giants adjust to how teams react to Barkley. It would remind me of how the Giants established Hakeem Nicks as a focal point in his second season in 2010. Beckham has been getting the lions share of attention from the opposition for nearly his entire career so I think establishing Barkley early on will be key for the team.

question regarding Barkley’s hurdling, jumping, leaping style. He is absolutely amazing at it and it’s really part of the way he plays. Is that something that you foresee being an issue in the NFL health and safety wise? Sorry to but in on your thread.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. We still don't have what I would call a stellar run blocking offensive line.

"I mean, Saquon can't block for himself, can he?"

I'm not sure why Shady isn't in the mix if he can stay healthy, as mentioned Kamara esp w/ Ingram out a few games iirc, obviously Gurley, and also guys like Hunt or Cook. Devontae Freeman as well, tho between the heavy pass O and Coleman he might not get as many carries

And those are just off the top of my head. I'd love for Barkley to make that kind of noise but it seems crazy with all those names as well as any other surprise players / rookies

In comment 13976317 ChaChing said:

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I'm not sure why Shady isn't in the mix if he can stay healthy, as mentioned Kamara esp w/ Ingram out a few games iirc, obviously Gurley, and also guys like Hunt or Cook. Devontae Freeman as well, tho between the heavy pass O and Coleman he might not get as many carries And those are just off the top of my head. I'd love for Barkley to make that kind of noise but it seems crazy with all those names as well as any other surprise players / rookies

Fournette could easily be the best next year. To focus on on Elliot and an unproven rookie like Barkley is just lazy writing. It’s obviously a click bait article.

In comment 13976326 bradshaw44 said:

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In comment 13976317 ChaChing said: Quote: I'm not sure why Shady isn't in the mix if he can stay healthy, as mentioned Kamara esp w/ Ingram out a few games iirc, obviously Gurley, and also guys like Hunt or Cook. Devontae Freeman as well, tho between the heavy pass O and Coleman he might not get as many carries And those are just off the top of my head. I'd love for Barkley to make that kind of noise but it seems crazy with all those names as well as any other surprise players / rookies Fournette could easily be the best next year. To focus on on Elliot and an unproven rookie like Barkley is just lazy writing. It’s obviously a click bait article.

Exactly my point - I forgot a pretty obvious one in LF who's among the most likely of the field. Even if SB does it, atm you couldn't put him much higher than 3-4-5 and even that's a hugely optimistic view given NYG's O the last few yrs

very happy. The only title I care about is Super Bowl Champs. The one exception to that was LT winning the MVP. For a defensive player to win that title is so rare it was special.

Hasn't started. Barkley has never played professional football. A little premature?

on this investment. It’s the #2 pick called a generational talent, compared to the greats, and deified by his selector.

So this is a short honeymoon period for me.

I’m not concerned by winning individual awards like rushing titles, but Barkley had better be very good from the get-go. The RB position is one of the easiest positions to adjust to making the jump from college to pro.

He needs to touch the ball 20-25 times per game, average about 1,700 total scrimmage yards, score double digit TDs, and be a dependable blocker.

Barkley is on the clock, being compared to QBs we passed on and his drafted day peers at RB.

No excuses - assuming health...

In comment 13976326 bradshaw44 said:

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In comment 13976317 ChaChing said: Quote: I'm not sure why Shady isn't in the mix if he can stay healthy, as mentioned Kamara esp w/ Ingram out a few games iirc, obviously Gurley, and also guys like Hunt or Cook. Devontae Freeman as well, tho between the heavy pass O and Coleman he might not get as many carries And those are just off the top of my head. I'd love for Barkley to make that kind of noise but it seems crazy with all those names as well as any other surprise players / rookies Fournette could easily be the best next year. To focus on on Elliot and an unproven rookie like Barkley is just lazy writing. It’s obviously a click bait article.

Ding ding

Its no accident that the only 2 RBs mentioned are from the Giants and Cowboys. It gets people clicking and talking.

If he said Elliot and Gurley it wouldn't be such an intriguing click.

In comment 13976240 JohnB said:

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on offense. The ball will get spread around. The Cowboys, on the other hand, lost Witten and Dez. Elliott is THE key piece to their offense now. Elliott will have a better year stat-wise.

While it is logical to assume that Zeke will have a better year stat-wise, it is a bit premature to come to that conclusion. With Zeke being the focus, he'll also be the focus of opposing defenses. He will face a stacked box and be forced to settle for the dirty yards. Then there is the assumption that he'll be available for all 16 games. The guy has demonstrated in the past no regard for women. There is still 3 months before the regular season games begin. Plenty of time for Zeke to be Zeke and beat/harass/assault women.

I am not about to temper my enthusiasm for Saquon's impact on our offense. I tried doing that. But finally, I succumbed to the rhetoric. For everyone that points out his less than great games, I have to listen to PSU Head Coach, Franklin, saying it's hard to be productive statistically when the entire Defensive 11 is keying on you. A virtual unanimous projection as the #1 player in the draft. Gil Brandt calling him the highest evaluated player since 1960. Bill Polian callied him this week, the "biggest get off season" of all teams, free agents & the draft.

Even negative Dan Grazianao, who we were all happy was replaced a few years ago by ESPN as our beat reporter, is predicting a major impact from Barkley.

I don't feel like a Homer. Barkley is not a product of a NY hype machine. He will be on the field for 3 downs. He will be as projected. However I believe his touches will include more receptions then the obvious rushing crown candidates: Zeke, Gurley, Fournette. Barkley will more likely be competing for most yards from scrimmage with the group of LeVeon, David Johnson, Kamara, & Hunt.

even with a mediocre OL, is the ability to take it to the house.....and that threat, will make the play action pass, so much more effective.....

There were times where the OL actually blocked and our runners got 4-5 yards, when with a little wiggle and speed, they should have had much more.....and sometimes when you have a runner like that, it elevates the play of the OL, knowing they only have to create a crease, not a hole, for a runner like Barkley.....

Barkley, gives this offense more options, making it more dangerous, even with the OL we have...

Now, if only Shurm is the offensive wunderkind, that everyone is spouting about...

has the edge...

In comment 13976201 bradshaw44 said:

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This is like last year when everyone picked us to win the east, and we all saw how that turned out.

Yeah.. idiots who overlooked the fact that our OL still sucked, and then thought Brandon Marshall was going to catapult the team into the Superbowl.

In comment 13976403 EricJ said:

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In comment 13976201 bradshaw44 said: Quote: This is like last year when everyone picked us to win the east, and we all saw how that turned out. Yeah.. idiots who overlooked the fact that our OL still sucked, and then thought Brandon Marshall was going to catapult the team into the Superbowl.

Or the fact we were exposed by a mediocre Fudge Packers team, and our offense was the fabled Slick WCO-Pray OBJ Breaks a Slant for a 80 TD to Have a Chance of Winning offense.

out rush Elliot, and add on 750 receiving yards for good measure.

In comment 13976187 MookGiants said:

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two seasons ago had an offensive line that was ready to be great. The Giants may not have even an average offensive line this year. The expectations are getting out of control.

agree..finally some sense here

has been predicted to have between 300 to 350 carries this year. If Elliott has 350 carries this year he will lead the NFL in rushing.

Last year Bell had the most carries at 321, no other running back had over 300.

Elliott is in the best position to have the most carries, thus making him the favorite to lead the league.

Win games.

Barring injury, there's no way he's getting as many yards as Elliott who is running behind a vastly superior line - the Giants line has upgraded from league's worst to mediocre at best.

Yards aren't as important for Barkley year one as impact to the offense.

In comment 13976255 BSIMatt said:

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In comment 13976240 JohnB said: Quote: on offense. The ball will get spread around. The Cowboys, on the other hand, lost Witten and Dez. Elliott is THE key piece to their offense now. Elliott will have a better year stat-wise. This is a good point, and I do agree Barkley’s impact should be measured in yards from scrimmage. The more interesting point is the suggestion that the Giants will immediately make him the focal point of the offense. Forgetting statistics, strategically this is not the first time I have heard this mentioned, Barkley surpassing Beckham as the focal point. It may be irrelevant as the Giants may be much more balanced, which is the approach you’d want but to truly free up Beckham this may be necessary emphasis early on to establish Barkley as a force to be dealt with and the ideally the offense would evolve midseason as the Giants adjust to how teams react to Barkley. It would remind me of how the Giants established Hakeem Nicks as a focal point in his second season in 2010. Beckham has been getting the lions share of attention from the opposition for nearly his entire career so I think establishing Barkley early on will be key for the team.

Excellent post, Matt.

that if his value in the passing game isn't even more important. I think many forget the importance of even Shane Vereen on our 11-5 team. Obviously different Os, but also a huge talent difference

And tho we will likely run pass plays to him, I think the best part is he doesn't have to be the #1 option - just a solid safety net. Tho we haven't seen him do it in the NFL, that's what he's known for - hands & route running...

Can’t wait to see him in action.

Saquon scored 53 TD's in his 3-year collegiate career without adequate OLine. He rushed for over 5,000 yards and had over 1,000 yards receiving primarily out of the shotgun formation.

This season will be the first for him to experience a lead blocker or above average OLine blocking. Given what he has accomplished with limited complimentary offensive support, what may transpire is beyond our imagination in Coach Shurmur and OC Shula's game planning.

Adding the elite supporting receiving options the New York Giants Offense may surpass all our expectations.

IMO, it won't be rushing yards but, total yards from the LOS. Put me in that group please.

I think he surprises in the passing game.