NASHVILLE – By any measure, Saquon Barkley delivered a first-rate performance Sunday.
The New York Giants running back is the NFL’s leading rusher with 168 yards on 18 carries (an average 9.1 per attempt). His 68-yard run in the third quarter was the longest ] of the NFL’s opening weekend. He also was his team’s leading receiver with six catches for 30 yards, scored New York’s first touchdown and scored the two-point conversion that provided the decisive points in the Giants’ 21-20 victory.
It’s not the first time that type of thing has happened in the Tennessee Titans’ first game of a season. Far from it, in fact.
The NFL named Barkley the NFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday, which makes this the seventh time in eight years that one of the league’s weekly awards went to someone who played for or against Tennessee in Week 1.
The bad news for the Titans is that Barkley is the fifth of those who played against them. He follows then-Arizona defensive end Chandler Jones, who was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the 2021 opener.
“I knew we were going to have a great game, and we were going to make some plays,” Barkley said Sunday. “It was just when the timing was right.”
The run of exemplary performances started in 2015 with Marcus Mariota’s NFL debut. He was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week after he threw four touchdown passes with no interceptions and posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in a rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In 2019, outside linebacker Cameron Wake was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his Tennessee debut against the Cleveland Browns. Wake registered two and a half sacks and a safety that day. Those turned out to be the final sacks of his career.
A rundown of the players who earned one of the NFL’s weekly awards for their Week 1 performances for or against the Tennessee Titans (2015-22):
• 2015: Marcus Mariota, Tennessee (AFC offense) – He threw touchdown passes on the offense’s first two possessions and had twice as many touchdown passes (four) as incompletions (two). He finished 13-15 passing for 209 yards and rushed twice for six yards in a 42-14 victory.
• 2016: Eric Kendricks, Minnesota (NFC defense) – The middle linerbacker put the Vikings ahead to stay with a 77-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter. He also had six tackles and one tackle for loss in Minnesota’s 25-16 triumph.
• 2017: Giorgio Tavecchio, Oakland (AFC special teams) – It was the kicker’s NFL debut and he could not have gotten off to a better start. He was 4-for-4 on field goals and 2-for-2 on PATs. Two of the field goals were from 52 yards, and the last was a 43-yarder that effectively sealed 26-16 defeat.
• 2018: Jakeem Grant, Miami (AFC special teams) – In a game interrupted by a long weather delay, Grant put the Dolphins ahead to stay with a 102-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, immediately after Tennessee tied it 10-10. He had one other kickoff return for 23 yards and – for good measure – finished with a team-high five receptions for 38 yards as the Titans fell 27-20 in their first game under Mike Vrabel.
• 2019: Cameron Wake, Tennessee (AFC defense) – Wake had two sacks in the first half. The second was for a safety that extended a four-point lead to six points, 16-10. He combined with Logan Ryan on half a sack midway through the fourth quarter. Wake recorded three tackles, two tackles for loss and four quarterback hits in what turned out to be his best day with Tennessee.
• 2021: Chandler Jones, Arizona (NFC defense) – He looked unblockable at times as he racked up six tackles, five sacks, four tackles for loss, six quarterback hits and two forced fumbles. Jones took particular advantage of left tackle Taylor Lewan, who was playing his first game since reconstructive knee surgery ended his 2020 season early.
• 2022: Saquon Barkley, N.Y. Giants (NFC offense) – His 194 yards from scrimmage were the fourth-highest total of his career and led the NFL in Week 1. Of that total, 135 yards came after halftime when the Giants rallied from a 13-point deficit. Barkley’s 4-yard touchdown run started the comeback.
The lone exception to this run of season-opening Players of the Week was 2020, when the Titans capped the opening weekend with a 16-14 victory at Denver in a late Monday contest. Safety Kevin Byard made a case for AFC Defensive Player of the Week with nine tackles, one forced fumble and one pass defensed.
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