The New York Giants travel across the country to face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in their fourth road game of the season.
Seattle is notorious for its volume and is a difficult venue to play. Still, the Giants are having the best season they’ve had in a long time, and Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has concerns about the Giants’ run game.
He is right to be worried. The Seahawks are tied with the Chicago Bears with the worst run defense in the league this season, allowing a total of 1,048 yards. The Seahawks also allow 4.9 yards per carry, and Saquon Barkley averages just over 5.0 yards per carry.
But it’s not just Barkley that Carroll is worried about — he knows Daniel Jones is a ground threat as well.
“You can see in this team in particular, the quarterback really enhances [the run game]. He’s got 300 and some yards already — he’s got a ton of yards — he’s a big factor in their games. The rest of the running game is effective, too, so it’s a big challenge for us,” Carroll told reporters on Wednesday.
In fact, Jones has 348 yards on the ground this season, ranking third among NFL quarterbacks behind Lamar Jackson and Justin Fields.
Jones’ ability only makes stopping Saquon that much more difficult, and Carroll knows his team is up against it.
“As hard as it gets,” Carroll said of the challenge Barkley presents.
The Giants rank second in the NFC so far this season, and the Seahawks aren’t far behind in fifth. There are a lot of games left and each one is important.
The Giants have a tall task ahead of them this week, especially with all of the injuries and player movement that are happening, but if they can utilize Barkley and Jones on the ground early and often, it will go a long way toward a win.
