Injuries are supposed to be random, but Saquon Barkley isn’t certain his was.

Barkley is listed as questionable on the Giants’ injury report, but the stud running back is expected to play Sunday against the Broncos, completing the long road back from a torn ACL, sprained MCL and partially torn meniscus he suffered Sept. 20, 2020, against the Bears. So much of the talk around Barkley for the last year has been about what happened to him in that Week 2 game, but a crucial part of the story goes back to the criticism he faced after Week 1 and the way he internalized it for six days.

“That’s a great point,” Barkley said. “As I look back and think about that, I do think the frustration from Week 1 led me to go into Week 2 with a different mindset. That’s something I’ve talked personally about with my family and my teammates.”

Barkley’s five-year honeymoon from three years as a generational prospect at Penn State through two 1,000-yard seasons with the Giants abruptly ended when he carried 15 times for six yards against the Steelers in Week 1 of 2020. A porous offensive line couldn’t shield him from blame by the analytics crowd, looking to bury a highly drafted running back.

And criticism of his pass-blocking shortcomings went viral during “Monday Night Football” that week, prompting Tiki Barber — a former Giants great, a friend and a CBS Sports Radio host — to suggest Barkley “might not be an every-down back” if he is going to be a “liability” on blitzes.

As much as Barkley tried to block out the noise, the hardest week of his NFL career was on his mind as he Giants faced the Bears. He took all of the adversity as a challenge.

“Last time I played the game of football, I didn’t play it in the right space of heart,” Barkley said. “It wasn’t out of love. It was kind of to show this is who I am. And I will never allow that to happen again.”

The first game of Act II of Barkley’s NFL career is here.

After months of avoiding a definitive timetable for Barkley’s return, head coach Joe Judge said before Friday’s practice that Barkley had a “promising” and “encouraging” week of practice. So what could stop him from playing? The doctors who needed to medically clear him, for one. Or …

“Some kind of setback that’s unforeseen or some kind of response to his body after practice,” Judge said.

Two hours later, Barkley confirmed he did not suffer any setbacks. But he continued months of playing coy: Was he going to try to talk his way onto the field? How does he feel about being on a snap count to protect him from injury? Can he bounce back when the Giants have two games in a five-day span (they play at Washington on Thursday)?

“Whatever the team wants me to do, I’m down to do,” a smiling Barkley said on loop.

Barkley has played more than 80 percent of the offensive snaps when healthy during his career. There is a thought — much to the dismay of fantasy football players — that won’t be the case again.

“In terms of specific rep numbers and pitch counts, to me, it’s just more important to know that the guy is healthy,” Judge said. “If you go out there for one snap, I want to make sure you’re able to go for that one snap full speed. The volume that we play any specific player, a lot of it will be dictated by the flow of the game. I wouldn’t want to take someone into a game where we say he can only do this, and then all of a sudden you get to a point where you have to do more.”

When he finally gave an inch, Barkley acknowledged he has gone as far as practice can take him. He will never get the reassurance of getting up after a tackle to the ground.

In an eerily similar situation, Barkley again will be running behind a suspect line in Week 1. And again will be asked to pass protect against a fierce duo off the edge. But he’ll welcome the opportunity to be back.

“I wouldn’t go out there if I didn’t feel I could protect myself,” Barkley said. “Practice and the game is totally different, but I’ve been having a really good week of practice, trusting the knee and getting a feel for the run game, the pass game, pass pick-up.”