Saquon Barkley: 'I Let My Team Down!'

SEPT 17 OOPS! Saquon Barkley is taking the blame for the Eagles' 22-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at home on Monday Night Football - and the Giants ex is right to do so.

The Eagles win the game if Saquon catches a simple third-and-3 pass from quarterback Jalen Hurts. But Barkley - who jumped from New York to the Eagles on a three-year, $37.75 million contract - failed.

"I dropped the ball," Barkley said. "I let my team down today. Shouldn't have put the defense in that position. Make that catch; game's over."

Indeed, the Eagles settled for a field goal but left time and space for the Falcons to march the length of the field for the late-game TD and win ... dropping Philly to 1-1 on the season.

SEPT 16 LUCKY? Maybe the worst thing about the New York Giants falling in Week 2 at the Washington Commanders by a weird score of 21-18?

Washington head coach Dan Quinn on Monday is telling the truth when he suggests his team didn't play well enough to win.

Washington never scored a touchdown, was 0 of 6 in the red zone, and had 10 penalties for 69 yards.

“We’re fortunate that we’re sitting here today talking about this many penalties and winning,” Quinn said. "Those are the mistakes that we have to eliminate."

SEPT 16 TOO SOON? Week 2 of the Giants season saw yet another loss ... in yet another manner. The Giants dropped to 0-2 on the season with a 21-18 failure at the Commanders on Sunday.

Maybe it's too soon. But New York looks like a basement-dweller (again) ... and the media is now obliged to start asking the tough questions. And so coach Brian Daboll is having to face the music about his job security.

He got asked the question in the postgame scrum in Washington.

Inline

"I've done this for a long time ... My focus in on our football team," he said. ... which is about all Daboll can say right now.

SEPT 8 MOVE The New York Giants have called up linebackers Carter Coughlin and Ty Summers from the practice squad ahead of today's Week 1 game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium.

Coughlin is a core special-teams player for the Giants, so his moves down and out in recent days have all been about roster shuffling ... all likely leading to him being a helper on Sunday.

SEPT 1 HOPE It was in 2021 when the Giants used the No. 20 overall pick to select the dazzling receiver Kadarius Toney out of the University of Florida. He was traded to the Chiefs a year later and in his two seasons with Kansas City, he caught a total of 41 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns across 20 games. ... and this offseason he'd been cut.

Surely it's not over for Toney. Surely there is "hope,'' right?

“I just hope he matures,” Hall-of-Famer Shannon Sharpe sa id on his podcast. “We all don’t mature at the age of 21 but I hope he does because this is an opportunity you waited a lifetime to be in this position.

"He just needs to understand that he’s got to grow up.”

SEPT 1 DAK TO NY? We've written often about the idea of Dak Prescott ended up with the Giants. But we've tried to avoid getting too squirrelly about what seems like a) a remote possibility and b) a possibility that might not be the "ideal fit'' so many think.

So ... we'll leave the "squirrelly'' to Mike Florio.

Says Florio : “Wouldn’t it be great for the Giants to steal Dak from a division rival?''

We suppose, yeah, it might be. But why is ProFootballTalk.com "fan-boying'' the issue?

AUG 26 DEFENDING DANIEL Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is under siege. What else is new? And Jones' teammate Darius Slayton seems to be a bit sick of it.

“It’s easy to say negative things once there’s a negative narrative around a person,” Slayton said. But it doesn’t always make it ... true.''

Slayton believes the negative assessments are untrue, and that the abuse his QB takes is far worse that what quarterbacks like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert are subjected to because of the New York media spotlight.

That may be accurate. Of course, playing in New York and winning has the same level of bloated positive rewards. ... and winning is the only real way to fix that "narrative.''

AUG 11 – SCHMITZ BACK – The New York Giants got healthier on Sunday, activating offensive tackle Evan Neal off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List.

While that demanded an official roster move, New York’s second instance of good news did not. Center John Michael Schmitz is returning to practice.

Per Art Stapleton , head coach Brian Daboll revealed that Schmtiz would return to practice, though it’s unlikely he sees time in team drills right away. He’ll be doing individual drills to best ramp up while monitoring his shoulder injury that kept him out to this point.

While Schmitz is expected to start at center for New York this year, his spot shouldn’t be seen as iron clad. Like Neal, Schmitz struggled mightily in 2023, and after the signing of interior lineman Greg Van Roten, the Giants can feel more comfortable about their depth up front.

Van Roten will see time at guard, but his versatility could come in handy if Schmitz struggles at camp and into the season.