RB Saquon Barkley -- November 6, 2018
Q: What do you want to get out of the second half of your rookie year?
A: Just continue to get better every single day. Second half, so eight games to continue to improve. Like I said, you never know what’s going to happen, so come out here and continue to compete, work my butt off and like I said, continue to get better overall.
Q: Do you look at your stats? After eight games, it’s easy to look at people’s stats and just multiply them by two and try to project what you can do for the season. Did you look at that during this break and see what you like and what you don’t like?
A: No, I don’t really look at that. I’m very active on social media, so I see predictions or if I’m on pace for this and that, which means nothing because nothing is guaranteed. I’m not one of those guys that says, let me see my stats, let me see how much I ran for this or that, I just play. Like I said, I’m not going to stand here and lie, I am very active on social media, so there’s fan pages of me and I can go on Instagram or even on my explore page and they just happen to pop up. I’ve seen predictions of what I’m capable of doing, but it means nothing to me.
Q: There’s been a lot of guys who are veterans on this team who have said that you’re already becoming a leader and look at you as a leader even though you’re a rookie. What have you done through the first half that might give them that vibe? How important do you think it is to carry that mantle even as a rookie?
A: Yeah, that means a lot hearing that from guys on this team because at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that matters is the opinions of your teammates. Just being myself, that is the best advice that I got coming into my rookie year and that’s something that I’m going to continue to try to do is be myself and be vocal, play hard and compete. The rest will take care of itself.
Q: Do you think you can do better in the second half than you did in the first half?
A: Of course. There’s always room for improvement. I think everyone on this team can get better, we know that. Especially for myself, just self-scouting myself, there’s so many places where I can improve in every part of my game, every phase of my game. I’m always going to have room to improve and that’s what drives you, and that’s what makes you compete to try and continue to get better.
Q: Did you take a look during this break at a couple of things that you did in the first half? What would be one or two things you said, ‘I could really do this better’?
A: Trusting myself. That’s one thing I need to get back to. I’m big on watching film, and sometimes it hurts myself because I over-calculate things or I overthink sometimes, so try not to do that and trust myself, play the game, and play the position I’ve been playing since I was a little kid. There’s multiple areas, pass (protection), catching the ball, running in between tackles – everything. Every part of my game has room to improve, and that’s a challenge that I’m willing to accept. That’s a challenge I will continue to get better at.
Q: Are you eyeing the offensive rookie of the year award?
A: No. That’s not how I operate. I’m a competitor and I would love to win that award, but the way I operate is set my goals that I set, to take care of the little things in here, take care of the little things on the field and in the weight room, whether it was in the offseason or wherever, every other thing comes along with that. (I don’t) have those goals of MVP, rookie of the year, this many yards or that many yards, I take care of this stuff first and everything else will take care of itself
Q: You mentioned you want to catch the ball better. You don’t have drops.
A: I have two or three that I know that I dropped. You want to be perfect, you’re probably never going to be perfect, but those two or three balls I’ve got to catch.
Q: Are those drops that everyone says were drops, or are they drops in your mind?
A: In my mind, for sure. Like I said, talking about stats, I don’t know what I technically have. Maybe some people say I have more, I might be missing some, but there’s two or three that really pop into my head that were drops.
Q: You have a new guard here, Jamon Brown from the Rams. He blocked for Todd (Gurley) for a number of years. Is there anything you can ask him about Todd’s game that you can glean from him?
A: Oh yeah, definitely. I definitely can learn a lot from the guy who blocked for probably, today, the MVP of the league, in my opinion. I watch film on Todd Gurley, I love the way he plays. He’s an all-purpose back and a threat any time he touches the ball, he runs physical and runs right in between tackles. Definitely, I would be wrong if I don’t go and pick his brain and go ask that guy, what do you see that Todd did or what made Todd exceptional, and the reason he is the player he is today. That’s something that I want to learn from him because I want to compete, and I want to be better than Todd one day. I know he has the same mindset, all running backs have the same mindset in the league, that’s just the way it operates in this league, and how it operates as competitors.
