What Buccaneers defense should expect against Daniel Jones
By Cory Kinnan
A heavy dose of RB Saquon Barkley
A rookie quarterback’s best friend is a great running back, and the Giants have one of the best young backs in the league in Saquon Barkley. Expect the Giants to give Bowles and the Buccaneers defense a heavy dose of Barkley on Sunday as they hope to ease Jones into action in his first ever start in the NFL.
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Last week the Buccaneers held Panthers’ star running back Christian McCaffrey to just 37 yards on 16 carries, and 16 yards receiving on two catches. After tallying over 200 total yards and two scores in week one against the Los Angeles Rams, the Buccaneers managed to hold McCaffrey to under three yards per touch in Thursday night’s win over the Panthers.
They will need a similar effort in order to control the Giants’ offense as it will run through Barkley, the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Differently from the Panthers, most of Barkley’s carries will come between the tackles and out of under-center formations, whereas the Panthers operated mostly out of the shotgun and on the perimeter of the field.
Barkley will have about 30 touches on Sunday, so the Buccaneers need to do their homework on the Giants’ bellcow. While they don’t have a ton of film on Daniel Jones, they know what to expect from Barkley, and even then they will have their hands full.