Giants RB Saquon Barkley considers Titans game a ‘reality check’

With the New York Giants struggle to throw the ball, it allows teams to put extra defenders in the box to stop Saquon Barkley, and he felt the first-hand effects of that on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Barkley had come into Sunday's game having run for 100 yards in four straight games, but against the Titans, he struggled running the ball 14 times for only 31 yards.

After the game, Barkley said he understands that this is the reality he and the team are going to have to deal with because of how well the run game has worked.

“It comes with the territory, especially when you have a lot of success in the run game,” Barkley said via ESPN. “Obviously, a lot of teams are going to put focus on stopping not me as an individual, but our run game, because we have been so successful in the last five games. We still have to make plays, which we had been doing the last couple of weeks. We just didn’t do that.”

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Odell Beckham Jr missed the game dealing with an injury, and that was a significant loss for the Giants. With no other stars to focus on, it was all eyes on Barkley.

Titans coach Mike Vabrel said after the game that the game plan going in was to have at least two guys there at all times to stop Barkley.

“He is a really, really good player, and it takes everybody,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “There were times when one guy made the tackle, but the mentality coming in was that we needed more than one guy there.”