EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – This will not qualify as a surprise considering they were selected second and sixth overall in their respective drafts, but Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones have become the Giants' indispensable offensive players in the first quarter of the 2002 season.
Each made numerous vital contributions in the Giants' come-from-behind 27-22 victory against the Green Bay Packers Sunday in London.
Barkley had a game-high 70 rushing yards on 13 carries, including the deciding two-yard touchdown out of the wildcat formation with 6:08 remaining, and caught three passes for 36 yards.
Jones completed 21 of 27 passes, a 77.8 percentage that is the second highest of his career, for a season-high 217 yards and ran for 37 yards on a career high-tying 10 carries.
Barkley leads the NFL with 676 yards from scrimmage, 46 more than Cleveland running back Nick Chubb and 125 yards more than his nearest competitor in the NFC, Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Barkley has the third-highest scrimmage yardage total through five games in Giants history:
- 817 - Tiki Barber (2004)
- 723 - Tiki Barber (2006)
- 676 - Saquon Barkley (2022)
- 642 - Frank Gifford (1956)
- 629 - Homer Jones (1967)
*Barkley increased his career total to 5,095 yards. He is the 16th player in franchise history with at least 5,000 yards from scrimmage.
*Barkley's 533 rushing yards are tied for the franchise's second-highest five-game total:
- 577 - Tiki Barber (2004)
- 533 - Saquon Barkley (2022)
- 533 - Tiki Barber (2006)
- 467 - Bill Paschal (1944)
- 456 - Tiki Barber (2003)
*Thirteen teams have rushed for fewer than Barkley's 533 yards: Washington, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Miami, the Jets, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Carolina, the L.A. Rams and Chargers, Houston and Tennessee.
The Giants have rushed for 895 yards, the NFL's second-highest total behind Cleveland's 962.
*With 533 rushing yards and 18 receptions, Barkley is one of four players to lead his team in both categories:
- Saquon Barkley (Giants) - 533 rush yards, 18 catches
- Christian McCaffrey (Carolina) - 324, 26
- Austin Eckler (Chargers) - 313, 31
- Leonard Fournette (Tampa Bay) - 280, 26
*Barkley had a 40-yard run and a 41-yard reception against the Packers. It was the third time in his career he had both a 40+ yard rush and reception in the same game. He also did it on Oct. 11, 2018, vs. Philadelphia (50-yard run, 55-yard catch) and Dec. 22, 2019, at Washington (67-yard run and 51-yard catch).
The only other NFL player with a 40-40 game this season is Detroit wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had a 58-yard run and a 49-yard reception against Washington on Sept. 18.
*Jones had the two highest completion percentages of his 43-game career in the first five games of this season, and they were in road games against the teams that were the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences in the 2021 postseason.
On Kickoff Weekend in Tennessee, he completed 85% of his passes (17 of 21). Against Green Bay, the figure was 77.8% (21 of 27). His season completion percentage is 66.7, which is tied for eighth in the NFL. Jones has raised his career percentage to 64.14, easily the highest in Giants history among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 1,000 passes. Eli Manning is second at 60.29.
*Jones completed 13 of 14 passes when the Giants scored 17 unanswered points in the second half Sunday. That included a career-high 11 consecutive completions. His previous career best was nine in a row, which he had done four times, most recently against Las Vegas on Nov. 7, 2021.
*Though he has thrown only three touchdown passes in 132 attempts, Jones has thrown just two interceptions, a 2.3 percentage that is tied for fourth in the league.
*On Sunday, Jones increased his career total to 1,400 pass attempts. That moved him past Dave Brown (1,391) and into sixth place in Giants history. Fran Tarkenton is fifth with 1,898.
*Jones is also the Giants' second-leading rusher with 230 yards and two touchdowns on 41 carries. He joins Buffalo's Josh Allen and Baltimore's Lamar Jackson – the Giants' opponent this Sunday in MetLife Stadium – as the only quarterbacks to rush for at least 200 yards in four consecutive seasons. Carson Wentz, Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray can join them.
*Jones set his career high 10 rushing attempts twice this season, against Carolina on Sept. 18 and Sunday against Green Bay. He has had nine rushes in a game five times, including against Dallas on Sept. 26.
*This season, the Giants have won three games in which Jones led the team to victory after it trailed or was tied in the fourth quarter. That ties Minnesota's Kirk Cousins for the NFC high this season. The Vikings are also 4-1.
*Brian Daboll is the fifth coach in Giants history to win four of his first five games, joining Jim Lee Howell (1954), Allie Sherman (1961), Dan Reeves (1993) and Tom Coughlin (2004).
*Daniel Bellinger, Gary Brightwell and Barkley all rushed for touchdowns against Green Bay. It was the first game in which the Giants had three different players run for scores since Sept. 26, 2004, when Tiki Barber, Kurt Warner and Mike Cloud did it in a 27-10 victory vs. Cleveland.
*Two years ago, Washington won the NFC title with a 7-9 record. Now, the division has the league's only undefeated team (5-0 Philadelphia) and two 4-1 teams (the Giants and Dallas).
The four NFC East teams are a combined 14-6. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is the first time the NFC East has the NFL's best record through five weeks since 2016. The 14-6 mark is the NFC East's second-best through five weeks since the current division alignment was instituted in 2002 (14-5 in 2008). This is just the fourth time since 2002 a division has had three teams earn at least four wins through a season's first five weeks. It also happened in 2002 (AFC West), 2008 (NFC East) and 2020 (AFC North).
*With victories against Tennessee and Green Bay, the Giants have won their first two road games for the first time since 2009, when they started 3-0 as visitors.
*In addition, they are the first team since the 2016 Atlanta Falcons to beat both previous season's top playoff seeds (Tennessee and Green Bay) on the road. The Falcons beat Denver and Carolina.
*The Giants overcame deficits of 13 points to defeat the Titans and 14 points to top Green Bay. This is the first time they've done that twice in a season – and twice in a season's first five games – since 2012. That year, they trailed Tampa Bay, 27-13, but rallied to win 41-34, and fell behind Cleveland, 14-0, before surging to a 41-27 triumph.
*Including the Giants' victory on Sunday, there have been 10 games this season in which a team has overcome a deficit of at least 14 points to win or tie, the second-most such games through Week 5 all-time. Only 2011 (11 games) had more.
*The Giants have not had a 300-yard passer in 18 consecutive games, tying them with the Carolina Panthers for the NFL's longest active streak.
*The Giants started a trend when they held Tennessee scoreless in the fourth quarter of the season opener. The Titans are the first team since the 2005 Niners to not score a single point in the fourth quarter through five games.
*On Sunday, wide receiver Marcus Johnson and running back Matt Breida became the 40th and 41st different receivers to catch a pass from Jones.
*The Giants are the only NFL team that has yet to intercept a pass this season and their streak of six consecutive games without a pick is their longest since they went six in a row spanning the 2019-20 seasons.
*The Giants have been outscored in the first half, 54-33, but have outscored their opponents in the second half, 70-39. They are 4-0 when they have a second-half point advantage and 0-1 (vs. Dallas) when they don't.
*This is only the third season since the 1970 merger in which every team has at least one victory by Week 5. The others were 1990 and 2018.
*The Giants' converted 54.5% of their third down opportunities in London, the first game in which they were over 50% since Oct. 18, 2020, vs. Washington (63.6%, 7 of 11).
*Chicago and Green Bay both lost in Week 5 and remained tied with an NFL-record 785 regular-season victories. By defeating each of those teams in the last two weeks, the third-place Giants now have 710 wins.
