Takeaways from the NY Giants rough 20-20 tie vs. the Commanders

2. Saquon Barkley is out of his funk, but it wasn’t enough

Barkley was in dire need of a strong game after back-to-back rough showings and he looked strong early on. Barkley entered Week 13 with 61 rushing yards to his name over the past two games. His performances vs. the Lions and Cowboys were the complete opposite of what we’ve grown used to seeing from No. 26. He posted 63 rushing yards vs. Washington.

Barkley, who also surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season in this game, was running with passion and he simply would not stop moving his legs on runs. You could tell he was playing with some extra swag in this one. Barkley knows his play hasn’t been good enough of late, which is why he wanted to play close to his best vs. Washington.

While the offense looked awful late in the second half, that’s not on Barkley. He continues to run behind a shaky offensive line, which has battled inconsistent play and injuries all year long. With five more games left in the season, the NY offense will need to keep feeding Barkley to put themselves in the best position to win. However, he’s going to need to average more than 3.5 yards per carry – that was his average on Sunday.