Saquon Barkley looks like rookie in disappointing outing

INDIANAPOLIS — Saquon Barkley got the ball enough — 21 rushing attempts — to do some damage Sunday against the Colts, but he was limited to only 43 yards. He did catch five passes, but for only 34 yards. His longest run of the day? Six yards. The Giants lost 28-27.

There were some moments when Barkley actually looked like the rookie he is. He dropped a pass — something he almost never does. He lost the ball on a fumble but the whistle had already blown, ending the play because his forward progress was ruled stopped. On the final series, Barkley caught a pass for 6 yards on the right sideline but failed to get out of bounds, with the Giants needing every second they could find.

“That is what he should have done,’’ coach Pat Shurmur said of Barkley failing to get out of bounds.

He knows he should have run out of bounds.

“I was trying to get out of bounds,’’ Barkley said. “The cornerback was playing outside leverage. I could have gone out of bounds right away and probably taken a negative loss so I tried to get skinny, get vertical and get out of bounds.’’

The non-fumble came at the end of a 5-yard run from deep in Giants territory. Barkley believes that was no big deal at all.

“To be honest, some people do extra stuff after the whistle for no reason,’’ he said. “The whistle was clearly blown dead. At the end of the day I do have to be better with the ball security as a competitor and as a running back and situational awareness, I got to be better. When you’re going down you have to protect yourself, too, and if people are going to be stripping the ball when the whistle’s down, I know that wasn’t a fumble so it doesn’t really bother me.’’