The New York Giants are 4-7, sitting atop the lowly NFC East and firmly in the playoff picture. The Giants’ defense has been the true strength of this team. Patrick Graham’s defense has been phenomenal all season long and has kept the Giants in games and even won them games this season.
But the Giants’ offense has improved drastically in recent weeks. After looking like a futile group in the first few weeks of the 2020 NFL season, Jason Garrett’s offense has really turned things around. The key to the offense’s improvement: an efficient running game.
Many presumed the Giants’ offense to be dead after losing Saquon Barkley in the second week of the 2020 NFL season. But, in actuality, the terrible loss of Saquon Barkley has opened things up for the emergence of Wayne Gallman. Gallman was drafted by the Giants in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He struggled to win meaningful reps in the first three seasons of his career. But, in 2020, with Saquon Barkley placed on injured reserve, Wayne Gallman has taken full advantage of his opportunity to flourish.
All Aboard the Wayne Train
Wayne Gallman has provided the Giants’ offense with the exact thing it was missing: efficiency. Gallman might not be the big, home-run hitter that other running backs may be. But Gallman is a strong, patient, and efficient runner that has been very productive as a starter this season.
The Wayne Train has been running at full steam over the past five games. Wayne Gallman has reached the end zone in five consecutive games, the longest streak by a Giants player since Saquon Barkley scored touchdowns in five consecutive games from Sept. 23-Oct. 22, 2018. He is the first Giants player to rush for a touchdown in five consecutive games since Andre Brown had a streak of six straight games in 2012-13 (Giants.com).
Gallman is coming off of a career-day versus Cincinnati in Week 12. Wayne ran for a career-high 94 rushing yards on Sunday on 24 rushing attempts. He also added one rushing touchdown. This is the highest volume of single-game rushing attempts that Gallman has received in his young career and he took full advantage of it.
Wayne Gallman is averaging an impressive 4.0 yards per attempt this season. The Wayne Train has totaled 6 rushing touchdowns this season. Gallman has started each of the last four games for New York and has worked well as the lead back in the Giants’ running back by committee approach with Alfred Morris and Dion Lewis.
Gallman and the Giants’ offense have a tough matchup ahead of them, traveling to Seattle for an afternoon matchup with the Seahawks on Sunday. The Seahawks have a historically bad pass defense. But, their run defense has been one of the best in the NFL this year. Seattle is allowing only 89.3 rushing yards per game this season, the third-lowest average of any team in the league. New York needs more efficient and productive running out of the Wayne Train this week in order to come out of Seattle with an underdog victory.