New York Giants RB Saquon Barkley on return to form

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Saquon Barkley is back in the New York Giants backfield. He can see it when he sees film of himself.

He has 317 yards rushing and two touchdown on a 6.0 yard per carry average.

I'm not arrogant, but when you see plays like the one I had on Monday, where I made a jump cut inside a hole and found a way to score, it makes you smile.

He was named the offensive rookies of the year. He hasn't been able to stay healthy. He had ankle and knee injuries over the past three years.

He wasn't himself even when he played. He has been candid about it this year. He didn't have confidence in himself and his body.

He said that the guy who was always there was his return to form this year. To be completely honest, he was there a year ago. I couldn't find a way to get him out. It's coming with a loss of confidence and mental confusion. It's true. You're going to have ups and downs in life, but you have to find a way to stay positive. Continue to believe in yourself and the process. I think I'm starting to do that.

Last season, he had -44 rushing yards over expectations. He was considered a below average back.

This year isn't it? Through three games, he leads all running backs with 112 rushing yards.

He has his confidence back. The Giants called that third-quarter run against the Cowboys. It was a play they had run before, but they didn't like the result of a 6 yard gain.

"I know I missed it before, and Daniel Jones was like, 'hit that motherf---er,'" We scored after hitting it. It is just small stuff that is coming back. Trust is the only thing that matters.

The Giants will play the Bears at the stadium on Sunday. When the two teams met late last season, he claims he got back to where he was before.

In last year's loss to the Bears, he had 101 yards on 21 carries. It was the biggest workload of his career and his first 100 yard game in a long time.

Everyone wants to talk about the hurdle last year. It was a hurdle for me last year. We didn't play well as a team and we didn't finish the game. To go back to Chicago, the place where I tore my knee, to have a 100 yard game, it's all about the team, but to look at it from my perspective, it's put everything in the past for me. I was able to show a bit of that. I just wasn't breaking long runs, and now that I have that confidence back, everything is going to happen again.

He feels like he's smarter and more experienced than he was a year ago.