The Giants continue to pound the ball on the ground and they continue to win football games. New York moved to 6-1 with another one-possession win this week, this time down in Jacksonville.
It wasn’t an unusual script for the Giants. The game was back and forth until the fourth quarter when the Giants put 10 unanswered points on the board in the 23-17 victory. The Jaguars ultimately came up one yard short of tying the game in the waning seconds.
Saquon Barkley ran for 110 yards on 24 carries with Daniel Jones adding over 100 yards himself – 107, to be exact – on 11 carries. The Giants ran for 236 yards in total, bringing their season average to a second-best 173 yards per game.
Shaun Morash and Paul Dottino of the Audacy Original Podcast “One Giant Step” talked about Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka’s commitment to the running game and the Giants’ physicality throughout the season.
“I think I was reading about (Jon) Feliciano basically urging the sideline as they were really grinding it out in the fourth quarter, just keep feeding it to Saquon. Keep feeding it to Saquon,” Morash said (7:23 in player above). “It felt like the offensive line caught their groove and they were starting to beat the heck out of that defensive front for the Jags.”
The Giants ran nearly six minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter during their 79-yard touchdown drive to take a 20-17 lead. That led to a three-and-out for the Jaguars and another scoring drive for the Giants, this time a field goal.
“It felt like the Giants as an offensive unit loved feeding off that physicality and it’s no secret,” Morash continued. “We’ve seen multiple games now where Saquon’s numbers just aren’t there in the first half and you look up and by the end of the fourth quarter he’s up 80, 90, 100 yards rushing again because the offensive line just keeps getting this mojo and there’s Saquon finding his gaps. I mean that was it, they wore them down late.”
Barkley has averaged 4.8 yards per carry in the first half this season (248 yards on 52 attempts) and 5.3 in the second half (478 yards on 91 attempts). He only averages 3.3 yards per carry in the first quarter, however, quite the opposite of his 6.0 average in the third quarter and 4.6 yards in the final frame.
As long as the Giants keep running the ball, they’re finding success.
“The commitment of Kafka and Daboll to continue to go back to the run game. How many weeks are we talking about this, Shaun? They just keep doing it. It doesn’t matter,” Dottino said. “You want to stone the GIants’ rushing attack in the first half? It doesn’t matter. They’re not going to let you take them out of their game. They’re going to do what they want to do. Alright, you threw up a wall. OK, they’re going to keep chopping away until they break through it. It’s just that simple. The Giants will not be deterred from their running game or their balanced attack. They continue to prove it week after week and it continues to be effective as the second half wears on.”
The Giants will look to improve to 7-1 when they travel to Seattle this weekend. The Seahawks allow the fourth-most rushing yards per game (149.7), so Daboll may just keep feeding Saquon again this week.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram