New York Giants’ Backfield Struggling Without Rashad Jennings
By Joe Pietaro
@MuscleSportMag
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
The one piece of good news concerning Rashad Jennings is that he is getting close to returning from the sprained knee he suffered back in Week 5. The bad news is that by the time he takes the field, the New York Giants may be out of the playoff picture.
When the five-year pro went down with the MCL injury, the Giants were 2-2 and went on to win that game to go above .500. Rookie Andre Williams became the feature running back and was instrumental in the Giants’ second half comeback against the Atlanta Falcons.
But that was the last time that Big Blue tasted victory and they head up to the Pacific northwest on Sunday to face the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
Jennings is listed as ‘doubtful’ on the injury report and worked with the scout team in practice this past week, finally getting in some live reps to test the knee. Tom Coughlin reflected on how it has been without him.
“You’re always missing a quality player like that who finds a way to, who is, first of all, a great worker,” the Giants head coach said. “He’s very positive, has a great effect on his teammates and also has the ability. Any time you have a player of that magnitude and he’s not in your lineup, you’re going to miss him.”
Williams has rushed for 59, 51 and 22 yards, respectively, in the last three games and the Giants will need him to get off to a faster start so they can establish a ground game. If they fall behind, then that will put added pressure on Eli Manning to throw the ball more and into the direction of the Seahawks’ talented secondary.
It also appears that the Giants’ game plan will not be totally relying on Williams, as offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo made it sound as if the team is using an ‘all hands on deck’ philosophy this week.
“We are going to use all our guys,” he said in response to a question about Peyton Hillis and Michael Cox getting some touches. “We have a lot of faith in Andre [Williams] and he is going to get an opportunity to run the ball again, as well as the two other guys.”
Jennings was off to a quality start with nearly 400 yards rushing when he hurt his knee. Just how effective he is once back in the line-up remains to be seen, as does the Giants’ hopes this season.
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