NYG Transcriptions: RB Saquon Barkley -- October 25, 2018
Q: What affect do the recent trades have on this locker room?
A: Our main focus is trying to get ready as best as we can to compete against the Washington Redskins, and come out with a win. That’s the main focus of the locker room right now – focus on this week, one day at a time, and try our best to win this week.
Q: Do you believe in the “next man up” philosophy?
A: I do believe in that. That’s the nature of the game. It’s the nature of our sport. Those guys that we traded were great dudes, great players. [They] definitely helped me throughout this process, but the guys who got to step up got to come up and make some plays now.
Q: What is the morale of the team right now?
A: The morale is just focusing on this week. That’s the only thing we can control. Only thing you can control is what you can control, and the only thing is the Washington Redskins this week, coming in today and practice, the first day of practice this week, coming out and execute, and try to prepare ourselves as much as we can for this week.
Q: What does it mean to be playing with (Redskins RB) Adrian Peterson on the same field?
A: That’s a crazy, crazy statement to even think about. Growing up, watching Adrian Peterson, big fan of his game. Even now, he’s still a special talent. He’s been doing it for so long. To be able to watch him play live is definitely going to be something that I’m excited to see.
Q: Is your goal to come out of this game with a #28 jersey?
A: Yeah, I’m not going to lie. That’ll be pretty cool if I was able to trade jerseys with Adrian, but you never know.
Q: He said he enjoys watching your God-given ability. When you hear a future Hall of Famer say something like that about you, what’s the reaction?
A: That means a lot when you can catch the eye of a guy like that, like Adrian Peterson. He’s one of the best running backs to ever play in this game – a future Hall of Famer. I admire his game and how he plays. For him to say that about me, especially being a young guy in the league, definitely means a lot to me.
Q: If there was one element of his game that you really admire and replicate, what would that piece of his game be?
A: He just runs through anybody in his way. Hopefully, he doesn’t do that this week against our team. I guess you can say that I just love how aggressive he plays, or his aggressive nature that no matter if there’s 12 guys in front of him, he’s going to just try to plow them over. That’s something that I can continue to add to my game, I guess you can say.
Q: What are some of the things you can do to bring a sense of focus back to the team?
A: I just got to be better all around. We all got to be better all around. I got to be a better leader, got to be a better player. I got to be better with pass pickups, got to be better at efficient runs. There’s so many things that I can improve in my game, but that’s not an excuse. I got to figure that out right now to help myself the best I can, so I can go out there and perform for my team.
Q: Coming out of a winning program, how disheartening has it been to not see the success team-wise?
A: It sucks, I’m not going to lie to you. It sucks being 1-6 right now. I think everybody in this locker room would tell you that, because we’re all competitors and we all want to win. We’re not happy with being 1-6, but it sounds crazy, everything happens for a reason. Got to just continue to stick with it, continue to believe in the process, believe in this amazing organization, believe in the coaches. We still have (nine) games left, I guess you can say. You never know what can happen. So, we just got to continue to come out there every single day, and push each other and believe in each other.
Q: What’s it going to take for this team to win a game?
A: Execution – we all know that. When we go back and we watch film, we see on the film all the plays we left out there. Execution, scoring points, especially on the offensive side of the ball. That’s the simplest way to put it. That’s where we’re at right now. We’re playing with effort, we’re playing with heart, we’re playing our butts off. We’re believing in each other, but at the end of the day, we’re not executing. If we can figure that out, our record would be a lot different right now. You can’t control that, you can only control this week, and this week we got to come out against a very, very good defensive team, especially in the run game, and execute against them.
Q: Do you have concerns about the direction of the franchise after this week?
A: No, I don’t really have any concerns with the direction of the franchise. I don’t know what you’re really trying to ask with the question.
Q: With all the trades happening, it just seems like they’re trying to build towards the future.
A: I wouldn’t necessarily say we’re building towards the future. Obviously, I guess you can say that with the draft picks, but at the end of the day, we still have (nine) games left in the season, and we got to find a way to win. No matter what, whether if there’s trades that they believe in to help us win now, and we got to find a way to execute in games and win some games.
