New York Post - 19.08.2019

New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019

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46

SOAKINGITIN:In

hisfirstdayback

asafull-contact

participant,Sterling

Shepardtakesalittle

breaktocooldown.

HowardSimmons

D

ON’T PLAY Saquon Barkley.

Pat Shurmur should have Barkley

take a seat andwait for theregular-

season opener against theCowboys to play

him.

Barkley is the straw that stirs the Giants

drink.

The risk-reward isn’tworth taking him

out of bubble wrap.

Better safe than sorry.

Keep him in mothballs.

Hehasn’tplayed in thefirst two pre-

seasongames and there

is noco mpellingre a-

sonwhy he shouldplay

Th ursday night inCi ncin-

nati.

Barkley’s indefatigable

work ethic andrelentless

preparation enables him

to be on thesamepage

with hisoffensive linemen anyway.

For what it’s worth,even if Ezekiel Elliott

ends hiscontract dispute, he will have tak-

en zero preseason snapseven before the

Sept.8 opener.

Of courseyou can suffer an injury in

practice, everyone knows that, but running

backs aren’t viewed as an endangered spe-

cies thewa y quarterbacks are in the NFL.

Th ink there might be an angry lineba cker

fightingforastarting job ora spot on the

roster eagerto makeanamefor himselfby

taking downa starof Barkley’s magnitude?

Barkley, with his Mamba Mentality,

wouldplay thegame in theparking lot if

the stadiumwere unavailable.

“If I didn’tplay in the preseason,” Bark-

ley told The Post after practice Sunday, “I

know I’ll beready, because lastyear,Ionly

really got to play four plays anyway.

“For memymindset isto continueto

be a pro. Even thoughI haven’t played in

thosefirst two games,I try to get as much

reps andworkload as I can soI can be

ready for thefirst game

of the season— not just

the first game of the sea-

son, beready for if I got-

ta carry theball 10 times

or I gotta carry theball

25 timesto h elpmy

team win and put us in

positionto wingames.”

Barkley is a studentof thegame— his

game andeveryone elseblockingfor him,

too.

“I thinkwe’re on thesamepage,” Bar-

kley said. “Obviously it’salittle different

when you’re going live situation, but the

same mindsetI tryto take withevery-

thing, bea pro about it and just tryto take

game situationalreps, and ifI don’tplay

for preseason, I’mready to go Week 1.”

Shurmur has not tipped his hand

whether he willplay Barkley in the third

preseasonga me.I asked him about the

risk-reward of playing Barkley, and he

said: “A nytimeyou putaplayer on the

field, they’re exposedto injury.”

I told him that I don’t think he should

play. Shurmur smiled. “I’ll letmy view be

revealed,” he said.

Inthe meantime, there is a backup

running-backbattle amongPaul Perkins,

Wayne Gallman andRod Smith being

waged. Perkins displayed good burst and

straightawayspeed against theBears.

“I was working a lot onexplosive move-

ments in theoffseason,getting somefoot-

work stuff down,” he said.

Perkins spent last season on IR witha

pectoral injury.

“It was tough,” he said. “It wasalong

road, but it wasablessing in disguise.I

got to seemybrotherplay at theUniver-

sity of Virginia,sawalotof hisgames,

andI got to see thegame froma different

perspective. AndI got to cheer theseguys

on.”

It gavehima new Why.

“It just motivated meto go out there

andwhen I got myopportunityIwould

really cherish it and thenreally play for

God andplay for myfamily andevery-

body,” Perkins said.

Play the backup RBs.

Don’tplay Saquon Barkley.

[email protected]

By ZACH BRAZILLER

The curr ent Giantsregime

didn’t draft Paul Perkins.

It wasn’t aroundwhen he

became theteam ’s starting

runningback two years ago or

flashed potential asa rookie

the season before.

So, considerFriday night,

when Perkins amassed 65yards

of offense ina preseason vic-

tory over theBears, theexecu-

tives’ andcoaching staff’s

introductionto what he can do.

“I went out and showed

them,” Perkinssaid foll owing

Sunday’s practice. “Talking is

only go ingto take yo u so fa r.

Theywant to see proof.”

Afterapoor opener in

whichPerkins fumbled and

picked up just9 yards on four

carries, he bouncedback. He

ran six timesfor 35 yards and

caughttwo passes for 30 yards,

includinga 26-yard reception

when hetook a short Daniel

Jonespassand made it into

much more.

“It was cool, itwas defi-

nitely the most I’ve played in

a wh ile ,” he sa id. “Ife el I can

always keep improving,keep

getting my stamina better.

“It was big. Whenever you

can have a co upleof big runs

andexplosive plays, it’s always

goingto do wonders for your

confidence. But you have to

back it up the nextweek.”

A 2016fifth-round pick out

of UCLA,Perkins isbattling

Wa yne GallmanJr. andRo d

Smithto be Saquon Barkley’s

backup. Perkins didn’tplay last

year aftersufferinga pecto-

ral injury and spent all season

on the non-football injury list.

Now Perkins isback, hoping

to provehe belongs at the age

of 24, either with the Giants or

elsewhere.

“I feel likeIcan still do it. I’m

not old or anything,” he said.

“Going out there [onFriday]

reminded meI can stillplay

footballat a high leve l. I still

ha ve a lot to learn, I’m stilla

studentof thegame, so that’s

encouraging.”

Perkins trying to show what he can do

No reason to risk

Saquon’s health

Steve Serby

ps

Ste Serb

MAKINGA PUSH

The first-team defensive

line was impressive,

frequently pushingback or

standing up the first-team

offensive line in running

plays, leaving littleroom

for runningbackSaquon

Barkleyand others to

maneuver.

DROP OF THE HEAP

ReceiversBennieFo wler III

andRussell Shepardeach

had drops in team drills,

which iswo rth following.

They will be needed to

produce with Golden

Tate suspended the first

four games of theregular

season.

CAUGHT MY EYE

Tight endCJ Conradmade

the catch of the day, a

leaping grab from Alex

Tanney in traffic during

team drills. That play will

stand out in the filmroom.

KEEPING UP WITH

THE JONES

It wasaquiet day forDaniel

Jones,who saw limited

reps behindEli Manning,

and missed ona few passes

down the field. However,

he continued to get rid of

the ball quickly, mostly in

checkdowns to his running

backs.

INJURY REPORT

WRSterling Shepard(left

thumb) practiced without

a yellow non-contact

jersey for the first time. WR

GoldenTate(concussion

protocol) andDTDalvin

Tomlinson(personal

reasons) didn’t practice. CB

Sam Beal(hamstring) and

CBDeAndre Baker(knee)

remained out. LBAlec

Ogletree(calf), RBWayne

Gallman(foot) andOTBrian

Mihalik(burner) returned

to practice.

— Zach Braziller

TRAINING

DAY

ON THE SAMEPAGE:Saquon Barkley chats with offensive linemen(fromleft) Will Hernandez, Mike Remmers and

Kevin Zeitlerduringa breakin Sunday’s practice. Howard Simmons