Thursday Media Transcript: RB Saquon Barkley

RB Saquon Barkley -- December 26, 2019

Q: What would winning this last game, finishing strong, mean to you and mean to this team?
A: Obviously not only me, but to the team, just because we wanted to finish strong, we wanted to finish the season off strong and we’ve got one more game as a unit, as a team, and we want to go off on the right note.

Q: Does 1,000 yards mean anything to you?
A: No.

Q: Why not?
A: It’s just numbers. At the end of the day, we’re still, hopefully we’ll be 5-11, not a playoff team. So, when my production or the numbers I put up translates to us being a playoff team or in contention to be in the playoffs, then those numbers will matter.

Q: You’ve talked about a lot how you think this team is heading in the right direction. You can see it, it’s right there. Entering the final week of the season, what makes you think that? What do you see that maybe we don’t see that says, ‘Okay, yeah, I could see this happening?’
A: One, the season flew by, which is crazy to think how fast the season went by, but just the little things. I like the fact that even though we had a lot of adversity and the season’s not going our way, just how people come to work and how people handle themselves. Those are things that matter to me. It’s easy to give up, it’s easy to not care, but to still have that mindset and then to come out every single week and fight at a high level, even though some of those games didn’t turn out the way we’d like to, means a lot not only to me but to the team. So, that’s why I don’t just think, I know and I believe that we have it here and things will be better soon.

Q: Being around Daniel (Jones) this whole year, what do you think is the biggest area that he’s improved from his first start until now?
A: Leadership. He’s a little more vocal on the sideline than he was in the beginning of the year when he first started. I would say that’s probably the biggest thing. You don’t have to be that vocal guy, when I mean vocal, it’s not like screaming, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go,’ it’s sometimes just bringing an (tablet) and communicating with me or communicating with the offensive linemen.

Q: You said that you believe there is a bright future here. Do you believe that Pat Shurmur is the right guy to lead you guys to that?
A: Yeah, I do believe. I don’t only believe in Pat Shurmur, but I do believe in all the coaches, I believe in everyone here. It’s easy to point the blame at one person, and that’s what we kind of do. I know this business is a results business, but at the end of the day, it’s not only on one person why we haven’t been successful these last few years. For me, I’m not willing to just give up on somebody. I believe that if we all just continue to fight and continue to fight, have that right mindset, which I do believe and I know that we have, things are going to turn around.

Q: Is there any sense among you guys, or you personally, that you’re playing for Pat Shurmur’s job on Sunday?
A: No, that’s not the mindset that we have. That’s not, I guess you could say not only for myself but for this team, we’re just going out—Coach (Shurmur) made it a point, we all made it a point that we want to finish the season off strong. The way we do that is by winning the last game, the last three games of the season. So, we have the opportunity to do that, and that’s the goal.

Q: What about getting the chance to face the Eagles so soon after that that very disappointing loss?
A: The last two times we played them, we were up on them and then they came, but those last two games mean nothing to this game right here. There’s going to be different ways the games play out, we’ve just got to be ready to execute when we can. If we do find a way to get up on them early like we have in the recent past, find a way to finish it, and if we don’t, find a way to fight and come back and get the win.

Q: Is there something to be said for trying to ruin their playoff hopes?
A: No, no one cares about that. We just want to focus on ourselves and finish off the season strong. At the end of the day, we don’t want anyone in the NFC East to make the playoffs besides ourselves, so someone’s got to go besides us, so it doesn’t matter to us if we win and Eagles don’t get in, that means the Cowboys would go. Or if we lose, that means the Eagles go. So, at the end of the day, someone from the NFC East is going besides us, which we don’t want any of them going, to be honest.

Q: Do you feel this team is closer to being a playoff team than it was a year ago?
A: Yeah, I would say so. I think every week we’ve grown. We’re a young team, that’s just an excuse that I don’t want to use, but it’s just what it is, I guess you could say. We’re a young team and just more reps, more repetition, more plays, and more games, you’re going to evolve into better players, and I feel like we’ve been doing that this season.

Q: You may have hit on this already, but when you look back on last week’s video, what really clicked for both you and Daniel Jones and the offense to just have that kind of a day that you did against the Redskins?
A: It starts up front. The offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. When you have an offensive line do that, it makes things a lot easier. They played their tails off for us and DJ (Daniel Jones) did a really good job of stepping in the pocket, they did a really good job of giving him chances to throw the ball, and they gave me holes. I feel like, personally, when I get those opportunities to get one on one with safeties that more times than not, I’ll make that person miss and score a touchdown or get a big play for us. Not only me and DJ, I know the numbers go for me and DJ that we played awesome, but Shep (Sterling Shepard), (Golden) Tate, CC (Cody Core), all those guys, Kaden (Smith), all those guys played well to help us get a win and it’s going to take that same effort to get a win on Sunday.

Q: Finishing strong, how much does that impact you into next year? How can that carry over?
A: Just confidence. Any time, all these little things that we’re doing just help build confidence. Especially like last week, that OT period two or three weeks before against the Eagles we lost in the overtime period, this overtime period we get the ball, we go down, and Jones and Kaden get the game-winning touchdown. Stuff like that, those little strides help you as a team and just help build your confidence up. I guess going back to his question, just not only knocking the Eagles out of the playoffs but going against a team that is a playoff contender and that we know we’re going to give them their best, it’s definitely going to help us in the future when the roles are reversed.