Running Back Saquon Barkley
Q. Saquon, how do you describe the emotions at the end of the game and how you pulled it out?
SAQUON BARKLEY: Yeah, we fought, found a way to win the game, the football game. Obviously, I've got to be way better in situational football there, not even putting us in that situation, giving Jacksonville another opportunity with that much time on the clock. But the defense had my back, not only my back but the offense's back. We trust each other, and we were able to get a win.
Q. Did you lose your balance on that play?
SAQUON BARKLEY: Just got to do better. Not going to make any excuses. Just got to be better. That's really it. I'm expected to understand the situation. I knew the situation. I tried to get down, but got to do a better job of it.
Q. What was it like for you to have to be on the sidelines watching that final minute?
SAQUON BARKLEY: I mean, yeah, you know that you're the reason why they're even in that situation or I forgot how much time they would have had, but you believe that our defense is going to get the job done. In my mind, it's like, damn, I can't put us in that situation. But it came down to the last second, probably two yards, but this team has grit, the team has fight, and we found a way.
Q. How long do you hold stuff like that? Will you be rid of it when you get back on the plane in the air?
SAQUON BARKLEY: To be honest, I'm going to find a way to close my eyes, whether it's tonight, whether it's on the plane, play it back in my head , do it the right way in my head and move on. Yeah, it's part of life. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to have your failures in life. But it's easier to learn from them when it's a win, but this could have easily went the other way. But go back, watch it on film, find time when I'm able to shut my eyes, play it back, have positive reinforcement behind it and move on.
Q. You had 18 yards at halftime on nine carries, so they were doing what they needed to do. What changed late in the game so you really could --
SAQUON BARKLEY: You never want to take credit from another team. They did a great job. But that was me. I was running soft, thinking about the wrong things. (The) O-line was playing lights out. I've got to do a better job hitting the hole. But I'll find a way to get on fire a little bit, closer to the end of the game. I've got to go a better job starting out faster.
Q. When you say "thinking about the wrong things," what were those thoughts?
SAQUON BARKLEY: Just not going out there and being 26. Just got to go back out there and trust in it. We have a great system. We have a great offensive line, great players. They've been doing a great job putting me in position to be successful, and I've got to make those plays, and I wasn't making those plays in the first half, so I've got to be ready for the team.
Q. You ran the same play a bunch of times down the stretch, didn't you?
SAQUON BARKLEY: Good eye. We did. Can't stop it, why not? Like I said, the difference was I was just doing a better job of hitting it, trusting it. The O-line, especially (center Jon Feliciano) on those plays was doing a great job opening it up, and just got to do a better job starting quicker.
Q. You said earlier this year the idea of a good team is able to run the ball when they know you're going to run the ball. They knew you were running the ball there. Is that almost the biggest statement that you guys could have made as an offense to gain the yards you did when they knew the same play was coming over and over again?
SAQUON BARKLEY: I mean, that's every week, especially where we're at now as a team. A lot of teams will come and do different things to make sure to slow down the run game, but when that happens, guys got to step up and make plays, which they've been doing all year. DJ (quarterback Daniel Jones) has been balling, Slay (wide receiver Darius Slayton) going up top, David (wide receiver David Sills V), Richie (wide receiver Richie James), all the guys, the tight ends, all those guys coming in and making plays when we need them. As that continues to happen, you soften up a little bit, you can get back to just getting downhill and trusting the run. You're able to do that when Kaf (offensive coordinator Mike Kafka) and Dabes (head coach Brian Daboll) and all the guys, the coaches don't give up on the run, especially when you're behind, having trust in them, continuing to trust it, and for us as players making it work.
Q. When you ran the same play at a time and it works and you run it again, do you think that has a demoralizing effect on them?
SAQUON BARKLEY: I don't know if they realized that it was the same play until probably like the fifth or sixth time, to be completely honest. Then we had something off of when we keep it, and DJ (quarterback Daniel Jones) made a big play, used his feet. It's hard to -- it can look like we're running the same play, but you can run so many things out of that formation. That's credit to Kaf (offensive coordinator Mike Kafka) and Bobby (offensive line coach Bobby Johnson) for setting us up. Was it demoralizing? I don't know. Just I can tell when you lean on defense, when you lean on defense throughout the game, you can feel them starting to soften up, and take them to the deep water and drown.
Thats cold!