One of football's popular old adages, "It's tough to beat a team three times in one season," applies perfectly to the Giants' matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday night in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
New York lost to Philly 48-22 in Week 14, and then they lost again in Week 18 with mostly backups playing, 22-16.
The Giants will now aim to prove the phrase right and pull of the upset against the NFC's No. 1 seed on the road. Running back Saquon Barkley was asked by reporters on Wednesday about the first game against the Eagles and explained how the team can learn from their experiences to have things go their way in the postseason.
"Yeah, you can learn from the good, the bad, the ugly," Barkley said. "Obviously the first game they got up right away. Offensively, I think we did some pretty good stuff, but we can be a little more consistent. At the end of the day we know they're a talented team. They have how many Pro Bowlers, how many All-Pros, they're number one team in the NFC for a reason. It's going to be a tough challenge, but you can definitely go back and look at film and also like I said, learn from the good, the bad, the ugly."
Barkley added: "We're a very confident team. We've kind of been that way throughout the whole season, had our ups and downs facing adversity. But our mindset has kind of been the same, just continue to come out, go out there with competitive mindset, believe in each other. That gives us the best opportunity."
The star back was then asked about the Giants "playing with house money," as many did not expect them to make the playoffs, let alone win a road game against a higher seed.
"I don't really look at it that way, I don't think we look at it that way at all," Barkley said. "We're here for a reason. You got to win football games to get into the playoffs, no one's just invited, you got to get in, and we got in. To make it to where you want to go, you got to win or you go home. We did that the first round, now we got another opportunity in the second round."
Barkley grew up in eastern Pennsylvania and attended Whitehall High School, just outside of Allentown, about an hour and a half north of Philadelphia. He's been around Philly fans his whole life and knows what to expect from them at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night. After teammate Dexter Lawrence made headlines Tuesday by saying he's holding his mom back from attending the game because she'll argue back with Eagles fans, Barkley said his parents will be in the crowd and everyone is ready for the environment.
"Pretty much the same, but my mom and dad are definitely going to show up to that game," Barkley said. "I'm not going to say that it's going to be the same, but Philly's Philly. Their fanbase, it's crazy. They're going to be loud, there's going to be cheers, there's gonna be boos, there might be some double birds, that's Philly... Playoffs is definitely, I expect it to be a hostile environment, this is playoffs, that's how it's going to be. You know how Philly fans are.
"Growing up in Pennsylvania, obviously I wasn't a Philly fan growing up, but had a lot of Philly fans (friends), I know how passionate they are. It's going to be fun. This is the stuff that you dream about as a kid, and the atmosphere like was in Minnesota, and you know another great atmosphere going to Philadelphia."
He went on to say that having Eagles fan friends and being from the area doesn't change his desire to win the game, but simply being on the Giants is all the motivation he needs.
"Playing in Philly, it means something because I represent the New York Giants," Barkley said. "They're a tough opponent. If you want to get where you want to go, you got to get through a team like that."