When the New York Giants drafted running back Saquon Barkley

second overall in the 2018 NFL draft Youth Sterling Shepard Jersey , visions of offensive fireworks danced through fans’ heads. With hyper-athletic playmakers at every offensive skill position, how could the offense NOT improve? Unfortunately, the Giants’ offense has yet to realize its potential through the first quarter of the season. The fault for the offensive slog isn’t at the feet of Barkley, however. He has racked up at least 100 all-purpose yards in each game so far, and scored a touchdown in three of them. He is doing his part on the field, and he also seems to be blossoming rapidly off the field as well. Despite the way the team has started the season, Barkley sounds like the mature “Face Of The Franchise” he was drafted to be. He insists that the way forward for the team is to be optimistic, but also realistic about the hole they have dug for themselves. “Obviously you’re 1-3, the season is obviously not over,” he said. “It’s a long season but you can’t say it’s a long season forever because you get to a point where you get redundant and you keep saying that, then there’s no chance for you to make the playoffs. Everything that we still want, all of our goals are still in reach. Coach said something perfect today, he said the only thing that we’re not capable of doing this season is an undefeated season, and that only happened one time. I don’t know if everybody expects to win every single game, but most likely not going to win every single game. You’ve just got to continue to work, not get down like I said, have positive energy Alec Ogletree Jersey , come into the building and continue to work and like you said examine yourself, watch film, learn what you can do to help the team, learn what you can do better to help yourself better in certain situations and get ready for the next week.”On the offensive strugglesDespite having players like Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram on their offense, the Giants have struggled mightily on offense. They have struggled with execution and mental mistakes, they have struggled with consistency, and they have struggled to find an identity.“We’ve got to get back to the basics. We’ve got to kind of do what we did the first drive against other teams, continue to have that momentum, that first drive epitomizes what we’re capable of doing on the football field and we have to have that mindset,” Barkley said. They showed in their first game that that they have the talent to match up and be a problem for any defense in the NFL. But what the Giants need to do is find an identity on offense.“Yeah, it is that simple,” Barkley added. “We’ve got to get back to playing Giants football. I don’t think really any team so far that we’ve played, obviously at the end of the game they had the win and they had more points than we had, but there’s a lot of things we did ourselves to put us in that situation. If we can fix ourselves and just focus on ourselves 4Dalvin Tomlinson Jersey , I think the rest of the season will take care of itself.”‘Giants Football’, as Barkley referred to it, is “just being consistent, running the ball, making efficient plays, maximizing on the opportunities when we get the opportunities, stay away from mistake-free football – obviously you’re going to make mistakes, but make less mistakes than the other team, not turn the ball over.”On his rookie seasonBarkley himself has had a good start to his NFL career. So far he has proven his ability as a runner and receiver, shown that he can create on his own in both facets of the game, and be the playmaker the Giants drafted him to be. But that doesn’t mean that he is satisfied.Barkley said, “Even when you win, win or lose, I’m always going to be my biggest critic because I have the passion, I want to be great, I want to be a great player in this league and I have to hold myself to that standard. When we lose, you’ve got to look back on yourself.”That passion Eli Manning Jersey , the high standards to which he holds himself and the work ethic with which he drives himself to meet those standards, bordered on legendary in college. Despite having the kind of start to his rookie season of which any player would be proud, Barkley wants, needs, to be better.“I’ve got to be better,” he said. “I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of breaking tackles so far, I’ve got to find a way to break more tackles. I was brought here to be an efficient player and when the opportunity comes, create big plays, and I’ve got to do a better job there. A lot of the reason we haven’t been successful is we haven’t been able to run the ball, we haven’t run the ball as well as we are capable of. That’s where my job kicks in and that’s where myself and the O line, we’re kind of a whole when it comes to that, where we’ve got to take that as a personal challenge and continue to work and get better. When the next game comes, when the opportunity comes, capitalize on it.” Happy Saturday and welcome to Week 9 of the college football season! The New York Giants might not be saying that they have thrown in the towel on the 2018 season, but the trades of Eli Apple and Damon Harrison should be a pretty clear signal to fans that it’s time to start paying more attention to 2019 draft prospects. Today we have several games that should have great match-ups. We’re starting with one team we have looked at before, but will keep an eye on throughout the remainder of the season. We also have some other teams that we haven’t checked in on yet. Northwestern at (20) WisconsinFOX - noonI have put the spotlight on Wisconsin a few times already this season, but for a New York Giants team in desperate need of several offensive linemen Authentic Odell Beckham Jr Jersey , being familiar with Wisconsin isn’t a bad idea. As we’ve pointed out before, Wisconsin is one of the few OL factories remaining in college football, and they have several draft-eligible lineman the Giants should be scouting.Players to watchNorthwesternPaddy Fisher (LB)Montre Hartage (CB)WisconsinDavid Edwards (OT)Michael Deiter (OT)Tyler Biadasz (OC)Beau Benzschawel (OG)Olive Sagapolu (DT)T.J. Edwards (LB)Ryan Connelly (LB)(17) Penn State at (18) IowaESPN - 3:30 p.m. A match of ranked opponents usually makes for a good game. When the two are right next to each other in the rankings, it should make for a great game.For the Giants, Penn State is probably the more interesting team from a scouting perspective. With Eli Apple traded and Janoris Jenkins possibly next — or a potential cap casualty — the Giants will need to rebuild their secondary to play James Bettcher’s defense. Penn State cornerback Amani Oruwariye has the size, length, quick feet and body control to play in Bettcher’s aggressive coverage schemes, but he is also something of an unknown. He has 35 games of experience, but never started a game before his fifth year at Penn State. Also, wide reciever Juwan Johnson could intrigue a team which still has few proven options behind Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard. Johnson has great size at 6-foot-4, 230, and could intrigue as a potential flanker.Players to watch Penn StateAmani Oruwariye (CB)Juwan Johnson (WR)Ryan Bates (OT/OG)IowaNoah Fant (TE)Anthony Nelson (DE)(16) Texas A&M at Mississippi StateESPN - 7 p.m.This is one of those interesting games where the more highly ranked team isn’t the one which is most interesting from a draft perspective. The player to watch this game is Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. Simmons is working his way into the conversation with Alabama’s Quinnen Williams and Houston’s Ed Oliver for the top defensive tackle in the draft. Simmons combines a prototypical build with athleticism and explosive power into a very nasty package. Players to watchTexas A&MDaylon Mack (DT)Kingsley Keke (DT)Mississippi St.Jeffery Simmons (DT)Montez Sweat (EDGE)Darryl Williams (Guard)