Saquon Barkley feeling better but 'no guarantees' he will play for Giants vs. Dolphins
Giants running back Saquon Barkley during the first half of a game against the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 10. Credit: Lee S. Weissman
Saquon Barkley said on Thursday “each day it gets better,” referring to his injured ankle. But the Giants running back also said “no guarantees” when asked if he will be able to play on Sunday at Miami.
“It’s a tough injury,” Barkley said. “Just taking it one day at a time and just trying to improve each day.”
Barkley has been out since spraining his ankle at Arizona on Sept. 17. He was limited in practice on Thursday, but said he was able to do more than he could at the same time last week.
“I’ll definitely say I’m in a better spot than what I was last Thursday,” Barkley said. “Definitely encouraged, but don’t want to make no guarantees. Just continue trusting my body and trusting the training staff and we’ll go from there.”
Not so special
Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said “a lot of stuff” on Monday night led to a lot of penalties by his unit (six).
“We knew that [officiating] crew threw a lot of penalties, but you just can't do it,” he said. “Offsides or two holding penalties, I can deal with those effort penalties, but the illegal shift and holding penalty at the line of scrimmage — that wasn't necessary. Stuff like that. That's just — it’s hard enough to win games in this league, to beat your opponent. You can't over overcome yourself and then try to beat your opponent. It's obviously a point of emphasis all the time, but especially this week after we had that type of performance.”
McGaughey said coach Brian Daboll is “always on my [butt],” and this week was no different, and added he doesn’t feel any extra pressure after last week’s performance.
“Pressure?” McGaughey said. “That comes with the job . . . Pressure is my friend. I keep it right here in my back pocket. Pressure don't bother me. You want to be here in New York. You want the pressure of being the best. You want the pressure of just trying to be at your absolute best. That's why we do this. We don't do it just to be average. I don't show up here just to be just some average coach playing on some average team in an average market. I had a choice to come here to New York. I made that choice. I knew exactly what I was getting into, so I love it.”
Wink’s baby talk
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said his wife asked him if designing a scheme to stop the high-powered Miami offense is keeping him up at night.
“Yeah,” Martindale said he told her. “I’m sleeping like a baby. Every two hours I wake up, cry, and then go to the bathroom and try to get more sleep. It’s unbelievable.”
The Dolphins scored 70 points against Denver in Week 3, the second-most points in a regular-season game in NFL history. But Miami lost to the Bills last Sunday, 48-20.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
More Giants
