Tiki Barber shares his reason for criticizing Saquon Barkley

Tiki Barber raised some eyebrows recently when he was critical of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley’s pass protection. Now, the ex-Giants running back is explaining why he said what he said.

Barber said his criticism came from a desire to see Barkley improve and he likened it to when a media member made him aware of his fumbling problem when he was still playing.

“I’ve been asked if I’m going to reach out to Saquon (to help him work on his blocking),” Barber said on Friday’s “Tiki and Tierney,” on CBS Sports Radio/CBS Sports Network. “No, I’m not his coach. I hearken this back to when I had fumbling issues, and a media member sat down with me and said ‘Tiki, you have a fumbling problem and I’m going to write about it.’ And I was like ‘what the hell are you talking about?’ He made me aware of it. I wasn’t even thinking about it or really aware of it. It was alarming, but it rose my awareness about it and made me self-conscious about it. …

“I don’t point this out because I want to (bust) on Saquon. I think he has a desire and the ability to be one of the greatest RBs in the history of the NFL. But in order to do that, you have to be reliable in every aspect of what they ask you to do. I remember (early in my career) my coach telling me, ‘If you can’t protect your quarterback, if it doesn’t (tick) you off when your QB gets hit under the chin by that linebacker that you were supposed to block, if that doesn’t (tick) you off more than getting a negative-yard run, then you’re not the right teammate.’

“At the end of the day, my opinion doesn’t matter. … My job as an analyst is to point out what I see, and it’s what I’ve seen. It’s his coach’s job and his job to fix it, and I’m positive that he will. I’m absolutely positive that he will.”