Saquon Barkley can see the light of day now, the light of day every day is brighter, the light of day he has seen in his dreams for almost a year, the light of day he is struggling to run again.
He was uniformly on the playground podium after a practice in which he absorbed contact, not Lawrence Taylor’s, of course, but the first things, for the first time since his return to the most famous broken ACL of New York, and her response to whether she felt her ex-husband was talking a lot about where she thinks she is, and should give Giants fans enough optimism about Week 1 to run with her, next to No. 26:
“I guess … I feel good. Take one day at a time. I don’t even try to think, “I look like my old self?” I am a very confident player. I know that whenever I can go back, maybe it can be a quarter, maybe it can be a play, whatever the opportunity, when I come back, I know I will be able to go out there and be who I am and play as I am. So right now I’m not concentrating on whether I’m making cuts, saying, “Was that the case before?” I’m focused on getting in the shape of football and living the moment, enjoying the moment and playing football again. “
The vision of the New York Football Giants offense that everyone, from John Mara and Steve Tisch, to Dave Gettleman and the front office, to Joe Judge and Jason Garrett, to Daniel Jones, what everyone had dreamed of is focused more intensely on Thursday when Barkley joined the training camp for the first time on full pads and for the second time WR Kenny Golladay, who signed on to a free agency to be Barkley’s Robin Batman or Barkley’s Robin Batman. And be Jones’s Plaxico Burress.
Golladay’s rehabilitation from a mild hamstring attraction to the training ground has nowhere been as harsh or dramatic as Barkley’s, but the ole hamstring was a bugaboo for him in his rookie season. of 2017 and again last season in Detroit.
“The hamstrings are complicated,” Golladay said. “You have to be smart and be patient with them.”
You also need to be smart and patient with your $ 72 million investment.
“It’s still cool, I have to put my legs under me and everything,” Golladay said.
Golladay is not lost as the games begin to count on Sept. 12, when his tenure will be to catch disputed passes, especially in the red zone (6 feet and four feet) and deep shots from Jones.
“It’s definitely a small road trip, but we still have a few days left,” Golladay said. “I have to have a lot of catches.”
Barkley is the best bet to start playing. Golladay is not a runner who doesn’t play in a year.
“I think we feel really good about what their strengths are and the positions we want to put in,” Garrett said. “Now is the time to do more than anything.”
If the offensive line isn’t an Achilles heel – bigger if at the moment – there will be no excuses for Jones or excuses for Garrett to coordinate the 31st-ranked offensive.
“When I look at the group and see all these guys,” Golladay said, “it’s very exciting. But people have come in and out of training, so we’ll probably take time to come down. But we have some workers on that team, and I feel like if we put in the work, I feel like we can be really special. “
The prospect of Barkley anywhere near his old self excites the entire franchise.
“Saquon is just a lot of energy, man,” Golladay said. “It’s almost everything I’ve seen before he got here, and he comes out here and puts it in the field.”
One step at a time, one day at a time for Saquon Barkley. Many steps and many days to this step and this day for Saquon Barkley.
“Within normal practice, for sure … they gave me good shots,” Barkley said. “It’s about passing protection, route running, just to get me back to the flow of things.”
There is no longer a red shirt 26.
“I ran [Wednesday], and I thought about it, and he said to me, ‘It’s like the first time I’ve really carried the ball in this situation since I hurt my knee,’ ”Barkley said.
You better think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I know week 1 and the season is right, but I’m leaving every day,” Barkley said. “That’s the approach I’m going to take, not just rehabilitation, but from now on.”
Someone asked him if he had been pushing for green light at the opening, and Barkley said, “These are personal conversations I have within the team. I don’t think it’s necessary to tell the media.”
Sometimes, especially when the essence of man is known, there is no need to say a few things.