It was two minutes into the second half when the real horror show began for the New York Giants. Their running backs had scraped together a grand total of 8 yards on 8 carries. But here’s the kicker, the stat that should make any offensive line coach lose sleep: according to the Next Gen Stats graphic on the broadcast, they’d traversed an astonishing *negative 20 yards* before contact. Let that sink in.
The Big Blue’s Rushing Game is a Wreck
You don’t need to be an NFL analyst to know that’s not good. Fox color analyst Greg Olsen, a dude who played tight end in this league for 14 years, immediately knew the question every fan was asking: should the Giants, somehow leading a struggling NFC East, actually go trade for a veteran running back like Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor? Olsen’s answer was blunt: “I think they got to press pause here and take a clean look at it.” Play-by-play guy Joe Davis agreed, saying if you’re getting hit in the backfield, “it doesn’t matter who you are.” And Olsen nailed it again, comparing it to the Eagles snatching Saquon Barkley in 2024. He put it perfectly: “Good backs don’t make bad run games good. Good backs , in Saquon’s case, great backs , make good run games great.” You gotta have the offensive line, the run scheme, that whole foundation locked down *first*. Then, *then* you add a Jonathan Taylor. This isn’t just about bad luck; the Giants have been all over the place with consistency this season. Injuries have hammered running backs Cam Skattebo, Tyrone Tracy Jr., and Devin Singletary. They lost their mobile starting quarterback Jaxson Dart to a season-ending injury, and Skattebo even got benched earlier this year. Their offensive line is ranked 18th in run-block win rate by ESPN’s advanced metrics. On Sunday, against a beat-up Eagles team and without Skattebo (hamstring), the Giants limped to 80 total rushing yards, with a whopping 33 of those coming from quarterbacks J.J. McCarthy and Jameis Winston.
The Price of a Superstar Back and the Looming Deadline
So, would Taylor help? Maybe. But is he worth the absolute king’s ransom the Colts are reportedly after? We’re talking a Christian McCaffrey-like package: roughly a 2027 second-, third-, and fourth-round pick, plus a 2028 fifth. That’s a massive haul for a team that, by Olsen’s logic, isn’t even ready for a back of Taylor’s caliber. Even Harbaugh, when asked, was cagey. He said they’re “open for any kind of situation,” and that “things do change from day to day,” but he also doesn’t “see anything particularly imminent right now either.” Sounds like a classic NFL “we’ll see what happens.” Complicating matters is the health of McCarthy, which is never a good sign when you’re staring down a trade. Jonathan Taylor’s status is going to absolutely dominate the conversation right up until the NFL trading deadline on Tuesday.
This Tuesday is huge for teams looking to make a splash, or in the Giants’ case, maybe not make a catastrophic mistake. Here in the Emerald City, we had a much better Sunday on the gridiron: Our Seahawks handled business, taking down the Arizona Cardinals 17-3. Big decisions are coming fast and furious for teams around the league, and we’ll be watching every move!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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