Running Back Saquon Barkley
Q: How big of a message does it send to the offense when your coordinator gets fired?
A: Obviously with JG (Former Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett) getting fired, as an offensive player, you feel like you take some responsibility. Obviously, we know that he's the one that got fired, but we've still got seven games left and we've got to take responsibility about knowing that it wasn't just only him. As a whole, we didn't do enough as an offense and we've got to continue to get better and continue to work on that.
Q: Do you think the offense will look a whole lot different with a different play caller in there? Do you anticipate it looking differently when we see you guys on Sunday?
A: I mean, when you're in Week 12 or Week 13 in the NFL, there isn't really much more you can have. Obviously, you could have new wrinkles here and there, but you're not really going to have much, the terminology is not going to change. I think (Head) Coach (Joe) Judge came and said collectively as a group they're going to come and make decisions and put together a game plan. That's the thing where we've got to get better at, executing the game plan. You can say what you want about coaches, but at the end of the day, like I said after the game against the Bucs, as players we've got to take some responsibility about it too and go out there and make plays.
Q: What do you see on the other side with the Eagles defense? What do you expect to see from them?
A: It's always a tough game going against the Eagles. They're a great team. They have good players over there, especially (Eagles Defensive Tackle) Fletcher (Cox). I always say Fletcher's one of my favorite people to go against. He's one of the best players in the league every single year, year in and year out. You know they're playing at a high level right now just as a whole. (Eagles Cornerback Darius) Slay's making a lot of plays over there – he's a heck of a playmaker. It should be a really good game. It's always a good game when we get to go against each other. Just got to do what we do and hopefully come out with a win.
Q: How are you feeling physically?
A: The ankle's something that – anytime you roll your ankle, it's something that's going to nag throughout the season. That's something you've just got to stay on and you've got to keep up and it gets better week by week. Just got to keep trusting it and keep trusting my body and keep putting the hard work that I'm putting in and just keep going with it.
Q: How much did you do today?
A: I guess did the practice report come out yet? I guess we'll find out when the practice report comes out.
Q: Why didn't you do anything?
A: Did the practice report come out and say I didn't do anything?
Q: You tell me. Did you do anything?
A: I guess we'll see when the practice report comes out and says.
Q: It makes us think that you're not really feeling okay then?
A: Why?
Q: If the practice report does come out and says 'did not practice' or 'limited' or – I mean, we saw you stretch.
A: I mean, that's part of practice.
Q: I saw you go inside.
A: Oh, you want to know why I went inside?
Q: You're feeling like you're going to play and you're fine?
A: Yeah, that's the mindset. If that's the question, you want, that's the mindset. I played last week and like I said, it's getting better each week. The reason why I went inside had nothing to do with my ankle.
Q: How did you feel like you played against the Buccaneers?
A: Obviously, not enough because we didn't win. I got to go in there, obviously your mindset when you come back, you want to go and be right back where you were at and go crazy and have an amazing game. That's just anybody as a competitor, as an athlete what you want to do, but at the end of the day, you've got to work back into it. You've got to feel it, getting my feet back underneath me, getting my eyes, getting my vision back. I felt explosive still even though I really didn't get a chance to show it. But like, just within my cuts a little bit, felt pretty good. Just got to keep trusting it, keep trusting and keep getting better and keep working.
Q: The Eagles ran the ball 50 times last week. Would you like to see you guys run the ball more or with the offensive line banged up so much you can't?
A: I'd like to see us win. That's plain and simple. I feel like a lot of people get caught up in how you win. The only thing that matters is winning, whether you carried the ball 50 times, or you throw the ball 50 times. For me, it doesn't really matter how we're getting the job done. I just want to get the job done.
Q: What does it feel like when there is that disconnect between your feet, your brain and your eyes?
A: It sucks. I can tell you right now, it sucks. It feels weird, it's frustrating. But you know, that comes with some of the unfortunate things that happened to me the last two years. It's part of it, it's part of it, it's part of the journey, it's part of the story. As I continue to work through it and continue to get better, when I'm back and I'm doing the things that I know I can do, continue to have a long, healthy, successful career, I'm going to look back on these moments and these dark times and these frustrating times and know that these are the moments that helped mold me become the player that I am and the player that I am going to continue to be and going to be in the future.
Q: Have the coaches asked you guys as players about what you want to see in the offense this week? Have they solicited any feedback from you guys on how this can evolve?
A: Yeah, they kind of tell us as we're going through the week we've got to start figuring out and knowing what we like too, because we're going to be the ones on the field. We're going to be the ones running the plays. If you've got your five top runs, come let me know your five top runs. Like these five plays that you know and you believe that are going to work, let me know the play that you believe is going to work. Just be open, be honest, the plays that we like, the plays that we don't like. When we're out there at the end of the day, we're the ones that have got to be out there running the plays and make the plays happen.
Q: Joe talked about speaking with the team captains, a bunch of them, before making a final decision with Jason. I'm assuming you were part of that. What was that like and what do you as a team leader say to a coach when you're in that kind of situation?
A: Honestly, it sucked, because you develop a relationship with Coach Garrett and the offensive coordinator. Aside from football, he's a good dude. I learned a lot from him with football, without football, just the way he carries himself, his mannerisms. There's a lot that I'm going to take from him, so when you see anybody let go, whether it's the OC, whether it's one of your teammates, whether it's your teammate who gets traded, one of your teammates gets released or he doesn't sign back, it always sucks, but that's kind of just the part of the nature, the part of the business. That's really it.
Q: One of the themes that Joe has talked a lot about this week is focusing on players, not plays. I'm assuming you're in that players group. Does that excite you and the other playmakers that we've been sort of chronicling all this year?
A: Yeah, I guess you could say it excites me, but I really don't read too much into it. Meaning no matter what the play call is, whether it's a play designed to go to me or it's not, or it's designed to go to (Wide Receiver Kenny Golladay) KG or (Wide Receiver Kadarius Toney) KT or (Quarterback Daniel Jones) DJ or whoever, we've got to make the play happen. It doesn't always have to be some fancy play or some play that's directly designed to get me in space or to get our wide receiver one-on-one. Sometimes it's got to be a dirty three-yard run and you've got to make that dirty three-yard run and get down there and make it what it is or if you get one-on-one with a safety, make that play. It doesn't matter. They can scheme up as much as they want and they could draw it up beautiful, but if all of us on the field are not playing as a whole unit, playing as a collective group, it doesn't matter.
Q: You mentioned you don't need to get the ball in space, but how much is that the goal here? Do you sense that that's the change here, that they need to get you guys, the top playmakers, involved in space so you can do your thing? I know what you say about the dirty yards and that's great and all, but as for you, Kadarius, (Wide Receiver Sterling Shepard) Shep, those guys, that's where you make your difference, isn't it?
A: I think we make a difference whether it's in space, not in space. I see what you're saying. Obviously, you want the play calls to be designed to set you up and put you in the best position possible, but sometimes it's the NFL. Those guys are good over there, too. They're scheming up, too. It's not like before we never had any plays designed for this person or that person. Sometimes just the way the game plays out, you get behind the sticks. Certain situations on the football field, whether you're in the red zone or you're not. You've got packages that may not be able to come up just because of how the way the game is going. So, for me and what I'm kind of telling the guys too is obviously it sucks that JG, he got fired, he was let go, but like I said after the game, it's easy to point the finger, sometimes you've got to point the thumb. We've got realize that we're just as accountable for that, too. The reason why that decision was made was because we're not scoring points. The reason why that decision was made was because we're not making plays and at the end of the day that's on us, too. We've got to go out there, make the plays whenever the play is called, make it happen and find a way to win the game.