New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley defended himself on social media Sunday night after a video began circulating of him angrily engaging with a fan during the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Barkley, who has been sidelined with an ankle sprain since the Giants’ Week 2 win over the Arizona Cardinals, was seen shouting in the direction of fans in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley watches from the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on October 2, 2023. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
The two-time Pro Bowl running back addressed the video on his own social media, explaining that he was defending quarterback Daniel Jones after he left Sunday’s 31-16 loss early in the fourth quarter with an apparent neck injury.
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“Stop reaching and trying to make it a me vs fans thing,” Barkley said in a post. “I’m not gonna just sit there and not say anything while you talk crazy to 8 (Jones) after he just got hurt… buddy knew he was in the wrong.”
Jones took a beating on the field for the second week in a row. He was sacked six times and took several hard hits throughout the game. In the previous week’s loss against the Seattle Seahawks, Jones was sacked 11 times.
“I think we’ve played some physical games against physical defenses, and I think we all probably feel it,” Jones told reporters Sunday night. “It’s football, it’s part of the game.”
Bradley Chubb of the Miami Dolphins, left, tackles Daniel Jones of the New York Giants during the first quarter at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on October 8, 2023. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
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The video of Barkley’s interaction with a fan follows the controversial remarks offensive tackle Evan Neal made about New York’s fan base, which he called “fair-weather.”
“Why would a lion concern himself with the opinion of a sheep?” he told NJ Advance Media last week. “The person that’s commenting on my performance, what does he do? Flip hot dogs and hamburgers somewhere?”
Neal later issued a statement on social media, apologizing for what he called “unnecessary distraction.”
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Daniel Jones of the New York Giants is shown during the first half against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on October 8, 2023. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Barkley addressed Neal’s comments, saying he would caution any teammate to “never pick a battle with fans.”
“Never going to win that one. They’ve been here before us and will be here after us. That’s just the truth,” he told the media in the locker room last week.
“Do I think what he said was wrong? I think he could have used his words differently. In some cases, he’s right, knowing that you’re getting booed and this. How I take it, the hamburgers and stuff like that, he definitely could have chosen his words differently there. But at the end of the day, we’re all we’ve got. We’ve got to do better on the football field. We’ve got to perform better. At the end of the day, it’s an entertainment business, and we’ve got to put a product out there for the fans to be happy about.”
