As numbers go, 23 gets around.
Michael Jordan wore it for most of his career and so does LeBron James. Every human cell normally has 23 pairs of chromosomes. John Forbes Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician made famous in the movie “A Beautiful Mind,” once said 23 was his favorite prime number. Jim Carrey starred in a 2007 thriller called “The Number 23.’’ Ask someone to name their favorite passage from the bible, many will point to, and even recite, Psalm 23.
There is nothing really wrong with 23, except as it relates to the Giants this season. In Week 3, they turned their offense over to rookie quarterback Daniel Jones, and in four games he has played all 257 offensive snaps. Jones has been on the field with Saquon Barkley, the generational running back, for just 23 of the snaps — the first 23, all at Tampa Bay. That means in his past 234 snaps, Jones had to hand the ball or throw the ball to someone other than his best and most dangerous weapon.
It was 23 skidoo for Barkley, and that was unfortunate for Jones and the Giants. Jones threw a pass that Barkley turned into a 6-yard gain with 2:53 remaining before halftime in the Week 3 victory over the Buccaneers, and that was that. Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain and was expected to be out of action for 6-8 weeks.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s a big part of what we do,’’ Jones said. “He’s a special player. It would be big to have him back.’’
Barkley is back. His remarkable recuperative powers and mind-over-matter fortitude have him, almost defiantly, back on the field after missing just three full games — a victory over the terrible Redskins and losses to the Vikings and Patriots. Jones has the centerpiece to the offense to lean on, and everything should look different now. Receiver Sterling Shepard remains in the concussion protocol and will not return Sunday, but distributing the ball to Barkley and Evan Engram — plus, if need be, backup running back Wayne Gallman, cleared from his concussion — will give Jones the options he needs to produce points needed if Kyler Murray, the Cardinals’ rookie quarterback, gets things rolling and this becomes a shootout.
As they sat and watched together as their team lost at New England, Engram said the group noticed specific plays when they could have made an impact.
“It’s tough, definitely opportunities in that game, and it sucked not being out there,’’ Engram said. “There’s things that are just out of our control when they do happen you can’t really dwell and pout and gain anything from it.’’
Receiver Golden Tate missed the first four games while sitting out a suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Barkley, Engram and Shepard were in and out of the lineup. All the weapons have never been able to get on the field together.
“It’s definitely unfortunate, something we kind of talked about and thought about,’’ Engram said. “We’re all getting back to the right page.’’
And what happens then?
“Be ready for the bounce-back,’’ Engram said.