There are victories and then there is the triumph the Giants managed to secure on Sunday, which in many ways defied the imagination.
Try this on for size: Saquon Barkley, wildcat quarterback.
The star running back made an emergency position switch in the fourth quarter when Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor were both forced out with injuries. The Giants were clinging to a 17-12 lead but there was plenty of time left and they had to figure out a way to close things out. They did, pounding away on the ground, Barkley taking direct snaps — and Jones lining up wide as a receiver — and came away with a wild and wacky 20-12 victory at MetLife Stadium to move to 3-1.
The Giants were down to no quarterbacks after Jones went out with an ankle injury and Taylor was forced out by a helmet-to-helmet hit by Kyler Gordon.
Barkley got the battlefield promotion. Barkley out of the wildcat formation handed the ball to running back Matt Breida, who picked up 13 yards. Barkley ran for 4 yards and Breida for 5 but Gary Brightwell was stopped for no gain — Jones took the snap and handed it to Brightwell. Graham Gano’s 43-yard field gave the Giants an eight-point lead.
Khalil Herbert was stopped for no gain on third down by Tae Crowder and the Giants got the ball back with 3:04 remaining, backed up on their 3-yard line. Jones went behind center but could not run and was limited to handing the ball off to Barkley three times, forcing the Bears to burn their three timeouts. Jamie Gillen punted from out of his own end zone, a booming 59-yarder that was muffed by rookie Velus Jones Jr. and recovered by Gary Brightwell with 2:01 remaining. Incredibly, Gano’s 37-yard attempt with 17 seconds left hit off the left upright, giving the Bears a few plays and a crazy bunch of last-play laterals before it ended.
This is the best start for the Giants in quite some time. They were 5-0 in 2009 (and finished 8-8) and were 3-1 back in 2005 (and finished 11-5).
