EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Giants running back Saquon Barkley was limited in practice for the second straight day and his status for Monday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks remains uncertain because of a sprained right ankle.
New York (1-2) practiced indoors on Friday because of heavy rain in the area.
Barkley, who sustained a high ankle sprain in Week 2 against Arizona and sat out against San Francisco last week, did some straight-ahead running and jumped over thin rectangular pads in the portion of the workout open to the media. The No. 2 overall draft pick in 2018 did not speak to reporters for the second straight day.
Coach Brian Daboll had said that Barkley's workout on Thursday would give him an idea how much progress Barkley had made.
“He did good,” Daboll said before Friday's workout. “He’ll be out there again today. We’ll see where he’s at.”
A player who seemingly did not make progress was left tackle Andrew Thomas, who has missed the last two games since sustaining a hamstring injury in the season opener. He did not practice Friday after being limited on Thursday.
Second-year pro Josh Ezeudu has started the past two games with Thomas out.
Daboll said left guard Ben Bredeson passed the final neurological examination and he is out of the concussion protocol. Bredeson also was hurt against Arizona and missed the game against San Francisco.
“The protocol is there for a reason, to protect players and have a safe return, and I’m just happy we were able to go through with that,” said Bredeson, who said this was his first concussion.
Outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) and tight end Daniel Bellinger (neck) were limited for the second straight workout. Daboll said he expects Bellinger to play and that Ojulari was excited about the chance to return to the lineup after missing two games.
The Giants' offense was limited to 150 yards against the 49ers, including 29 yards rushing on 11 carries.
In the win over Arizona on Sept. 17, Barkley was on the field for 66 of 68 plays and had 17 carries for 63 yards. New York gained 127 yards rushing and 439 overall.
“We know Saquon is valuable to our offense,” Daboll said Friday.
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said Barkley is the type of player who never wants to come out of a game.
“He’s a competitor, that’s what we love about him,” Kafka said. “I think when you have guys like that, which we have a lot, those guys want to be in the mix, and they want to be involved and they want the ball. As an offensive coordinator, that’s what you want. You want players like that and Saquon’s definitely one of those.”
Kafka noted the game plan against the 49ers was not run-heavy because the Giants thought they'd fare better with a pass-focused attack against one of the best defenses in football. It didn't work in a 30-12 loss.
DEFENSIVE TURNAROUND?
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale thinks his unit is ready to turn things around despite being ranked 24th overall, having two sacks and no forced turnovers.
“Don’t like where we are 1-2,” Martindale said. “We got to start faster as a defense, but I like where we are going. I told the defense today, one of the things about having a guy that’s had experience, we still control the narrative.”
Martindale said he had the same feeling with the Baltimore Ravens in 2019. They split four games to open the season and then won 12 straight.
“Not saying that’s going to happen, but I’m just saying that to the players of, you control the narrative, we control the narrative of our careers, of life and everything else, individually,” he said. “I’ve gone down this with you guys before, but we are going to be ready to go Monday night.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
