Now that the Barkley saga has ended and in all likelihood both are done as Giants - 20 years from now - when fans are making their lists of best Giants of all time...who lands higher on the list???
Looking at both on paper - they were remarkably similar.
Odell was a Giant for 5 years while Saquon was a Giant for 6 years and both had to deal with injuries while wearing the blue...
Also of note:
- Both Odell and Saquon won AP offensive player of the year awards
- Odell was named to 3 pro bowls, Saquon was named to 2
- Saquon had 3 - 1,000 yard rushing campaigns, while Odell had 4 - 1,000 yard receiving seasons
- Saquon had 47 touchdowns in 1489 touches while Odell had 44 in 405
- Saquon played in 2 playoff games and won one - Odell played in one playoff game
Odell is currently ranked #2 all time in Rec yards in Giants history, 4th all time in receptions, #1 in rec yrds per game, and 4th in rec TDs.
Saquon is currently ranked #4 all time in rushing yards, 6th in rushing TDs, #1 in rushing yards per game, #11 in total TDs
I guess the whole picture is to be taken into account on these kinds of things - so their impact on the team as a whole should probably be taken into the equation along with personality, how they left...etc.
It's always hard to compare players that play different positions - but that plays a part in the discussion.
So what say you BBI - now that it's all said and done...who was the better Giant? I say it's pretty darn close...
Accurate
They do have a lot in common though. They were reasons to watch an otherwise bad and boring team for the past 10 years. Odell just did a lot more and did it more consistently.
THe challenge with Barkley is it was extremely hard to get him in space because RBs are highly reliant on line play. Not his fault, just the nature of RB needing an OL to really excel.
This is so true.
Barkley is definitely overrated in my opinion. He looked like a HoF RB coming out of Penn State and his first year proved that he was on that path, however he declined after his ACL tear and in my mind, not the same back since.
But, JFC, he was uncoverable those first three years. He terrorized defenses.
I can't imagine DCs having the same level of anxiety dealing with Barkley...
This
Odell was on better teams - for sure.
SB had nothing….
You would rather we took a QB that our leadership didn't like?
There are two players in my lifetime as a Giants who just seemed to be playing a different game. Odell was one of them. If he had not gotten hurt he could have been top 5 all time.
barkley (6 years) - 74 games, 7330 yards, 99 typg, 47 tds
giants have really had a lot of bad luck this millenium with homegrown skill players getting cut down by injuries. may as well add to the list:
smith (4 years) - 46 games, 2400 yards, 11 tds
nicks (6 years) - 76 games, 4700 yards, 27 tds
cruz (5 years) - 70 games, 4500 yards, 25 tds
bradshaw (6 years) - 84 games, 5300 yards, 35 tds
jacobs made it 8 years and 107 games so i dont really count him as cut down early, he at least made it to age 30. he got 5100 yards and 64 tds.
Barkley just had one fantastic season and has been hot and cold since then.
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In comment 16555522 Eric from BBI said:
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players are more legends in their own minds.
Yeah. Can I vote neither.
You might not like either of them - but they are both going to be Giants legends … just sayin
Still voting neither. Neither are Giants’ legends. Neither will be in the Ring of Honor. Both will be “what could have been”.
I still think that one handed catch vs. Dallas his rookie season was-long term-the worst thing, injuries aside, that happened to him as a pro.
Barkley is definitely overrated in my opinion. He looked like a HoF RB coming out of Penn State and his first year proved that he was on that path, however he declined after his ACL tear and in my mind, not the same back since.
Amen Phil
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In comment 16555522 Eric from BBI said:
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players are more legends in their own minds.
Yeah. Can I vote neither.
You might not like either of them - but they are both going to be Giants legends … just sayin
Beckham and Barkley are not Giants legends. They're actually really, really forgettable. The best day of either guy's Giant tenure was the day he left.
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In comment 16555552 BillT said:
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In comment 16555522 Eric from BBI said:
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players are more legends in their own minds.
Yeah. Can I vote neither.
You might not like either of them - but they are both going to be Giants legends … just sayin
Still voting neither. Neither are Giants’ legends. Neither will be in the Ring of Honor. Both will be “what could have been”.
If you just compare their statistics to players in the Ring of Honor, they both would be in. We get to sort out “winners” and “losers” and can say NO they shouldn’t be in there.
I have a hard time remembering anything this team has done since about 2012.
I could go on.
Three straight All-Pro teams in his first three years says a lot.
I could go on.
Meh. And I was at the Josh Norman game!
I'm sure it's less about the player and more about how lost this team has been for ten years.
Statline looks absurd and it was an absurd performance, but that stat line barely tells you the story of who/what Odell was in that game.
- Fumbles on first Giants play of the game
- Odell gets hurt with 6 mins left in the 2nd, goes to locker room
- Odell has 11 first half yards
- Odell scores 75yd TD to take lead in 3rd Q
- Odell proceeds to lay down with the kicking net over him
- Odell scores insane 66yd TD with 94 seconds left to take 4pt lead
- Odell gets penalty for taking helmet off
- Odell proceeds to propose to the kicking net
- Giants hold on and win
- Giants go on a 6 game win streak (8 of 9)
- Giants make the playoffs
I mean wtf is this! 211 yards in the 2nd half. One of the best Giants receiving TDs I’ve seen with his 66 yard game winner. Lays with the kicking net. Proposes to kicking net. Almost costs team with penalty after that insane GW TD. Clutch performance in 2nd half is the catalyst to a playoff run.
I’ll never forget this game. It was an experience. The good, the bad, the ugly, the great. Odell showed it all in this one. And at the end of the day, I was in shock at what I watched.
Saquon truly might be the most athletic RB since Bo/Hershel, but he never had a performance like THAT. Similar athletes. Odell was a better football player on the field. Saquon was a nicer guy off it.
Odell was better
Both players careers got derailed by injuries. OBJ was great for multiple years, Barkley just 1. The sad thing is they are both the face of failure in NY.
It’s not close on who was the better player and it’s not close on who was the better man. I think OBJ gets knocked for being a jackass and Barkley gets elevated because he is a good guy but OBJ when healthy was always the best player on the field for the Giants and Barkley just sometimes.
SB - great talent - just couldn't stay healthy.
SMH at you guys who develop the personal animus against players. WTF?
OB had nearly as many TDs with well over 1,000 fewer touches? He was a scoring machine in comparison. Really reminds you of how many games SB missed.
Barkley is a POS!
Football is not an individual sport like tennis, golf or bowling. It's a team sport where even superstars can't begin to make up for a poor supporting cast, bad coaching, and lousy management.
LT's Giants won one playoff game in his first 3 seasons and in that third season, the Giants were 3-12-1, even with LT playing a full season.
If the Giants TEAM hadn't turned it around in 1984 and enjoyed continued success through the rest of the 80s and early 90s... would people be dismissive of LT's career, or would he still be considered an all-time great player, who had the misfortune of being stuck on a bad team?
Both OBJ and Saquon were great Giants, who should be remembered as such. But to answer the original question... OBJ by a mile.
Football is not an individual sport like tennis, golf or bowling. It's a team sport where even superstars can't begin to make up for a poor supporting cast, bad coaching, and lousy management.
LT's Giants won one playoff game in his first 3 seasons and in that third season, the Giants were 3-12-1, even with LT playing a full season.
If the Giants TEAM hadn't turned it around in 1984 and enjoyed continued success through the rest of the 80s and early 90s... would people be dismissive of LT's career, or would he still be considered an all-time great player, who had the misfortune of being stuck on a bad team?
Both OBJ and Saquon were great Giants, who should be remembered as such. But to answer the original question... OBJ by a mile.
Jim with the home run.
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are personally responsible for the Giants (mostly) sucking the past 12 years.
Football is not an individual sport like tennis, golf or bowling. It's a team sport where even superstars can't begin to make up for a poor supporting cast, bad coaching, and lousy management.
LT's Giants won one playoff game in his first 3 seasons and in that third season, the Giants were 3-12-1, even with LT playing a full season.
If the Giants TEAM hadn't turned it around in 1984 and enjoyed continued success through the rest of the 80s and early 90s... would people be dismissive of LT's career, or would he still be considered an all-time great player, who had the misfortune of being stuck on a bad team?
Both OBJ and Saquon were great Giants, who should be remembered as such. But to answer the original question... OBJ by a mile.
Jim with the home run.
+1. an extremely diminished OBJ was the difference in the rams winning a SB in 2021. maybe this is how things always are or maybe nyg fans have gotten to a frustrated enough place that the general online consensus seems to knock the best players on the team for not doing enough vs accepting the obvious real problem that there have been way too many abject failures around them.
if the nyg had added whitworth and mcvay during obj's tenure he may have won a sb here too.
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In comment 16555884 Jim in Tampa said:
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are personally responsible for the Giants (mostly) sucking the past 12 years.
Football is not an individual sport like tennis, golf or bowling. It's a team sport where even superstars can't begin to make up for a poor supporting cast, bad coaching, and lousy management.
LT's Giants won one playoff game in his first 3 seasons and in that third season, the Giants were 3-12-1, even with LT playing a full season.
If the Giants TEAM hadn't turned it around in 1984 and enjoyed continued success through the rest of the 80s and early 90s... would people be dismissive of LT's career, or would he still be considered an all-time great player, who had the misfortune of being stuck on a bad team?
Both OBJ and Saquon were great Giants, who should be remembered as such. But to answer the original question... OBJ by a mile.
Jim with the home run.
+1. an extremely diminished OBJ was the difference in the rams winning a SB in 2021. maybe this is how things always are or maybe nyg fans have gotten to a frustrated enough place that the general online consensus seems to knock the best players on the team for not doing enough vs accepting the obvious real problem that there have been way too many abject failures around them.
if the nyg had added whitworth and mcvay during obj's tenure he may have won a sb here too.
This sounds about right. Some fans knock the better players on the team as you said, then in the same breath knock the construction of the roster which admits the surrounding talent probably is not good enough. Sure, two things can be true at once but I don't think most of those fans bother to research the impact these plays have outside of posting Win/Loss stats while those players were presently with the team.
Difference makers need help too.
Because people think and see things differently. While I agree, Beckham made the bigger impact, your comment comes off a bit arrogant.
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That’s why I’m not as disappointed in the Nabers pick (instead of a QB) as I was with the Barkley pick - WRs are more impactful these days.
You would rather we took a QB that our leadership didn't like?
When you consider who the leadership was at the time, sure. I would sooner draft someone that Gettleman ruled out than draft someone that he liked. He was the real-life embodiment of the Costanza opposite-effect.
His acceleration and open field burst were eye-popping on the screen. He could get past LBers before DBs could get a good angle, and then he had the speed to outrun anybody.
Those Giants teams stunk, and he was always a bit of a tease as a receiver, but at least it was occasionally fun.
The worst thing to happen to the Giants was the Beckham catch. Btw, they lost that game to fall to 3-8. People prop it up with the Tyree catch. Wtf?