Retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber knows a little something about Jason Garrett. After all, the two were teammates from 2000-2003 and even went to the Super Bowl together.
Garrett, of course, now serves as the Giants’ offensive coordinator after spending more than a decade as a coach in Dallas, including nine seasons as the Cowboys’ head coach.
Drawing on his experience with Garrett, both the player and the coach, Barber expects a “calm” to overtake the Giants’ offense in 2020.
“There’s a calm with Jason,” Barber told Sports Illustrated. “If you’ve watched him as a coach, you can clearly see that he’s not overly emotional or demonstrative.”
It was Garrett’s calm that made him such an ideal backup for the Giants in the early 2000s, and something that served Kerry Collins well.
“The pressure wasn’t on Jason like that when I was with him because he was the backup. But I did see him impart some knowledge,” Barber said of their Super Bowl run in 2000. “[Collins] took some great leaps and became a Super Bowl quarterback for us … a lot of it was because of Jason.”
Barber believes Garrett will bestow some of that wisdom on second-year quarterback Daniel Jones and the Giants’ offense as a whole, who now has a new offensive line to help protect Jones and pave the way for running back Saquon Barkley.
“I’ve really loved this offseason for the New York Giants,” Barber said. “What I’m looking for going into this year is some more continuity with that offensive line. That’s the goal this season with Saquon — they have to develop some consistency in what they do and do it well.”
For all the criticism of Garrett, his offenses in Dallas were consistently among the best in the league. We can only hope that continues in New York.
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