Saquon Barkley is having a good season. It could be about to get a whole lot better. The Giants are just entering the soft underbelly of their schedule.
New York’s next two games are at home against the Texans and Lions, and there are no teams a running back would rather face right now. Both of those defenses have struggled, particularly against the run.
The Texans have allowed a running back to run for more than 140 yards in half of their games. The Lions have been similarly awful (though oddly didn’t give up much last week against Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon).
With Barkley playing well anyway, he looks like a good candidate to finish with top-5 running back numbers in each of his next two games.
Below see the 16 running backs who’ve posted the best overall numbers for their teams in games against Houston and Detroit. The final column shows point totals using PPR scoring.
| LEADING RUNNING BACKS AGAINST TEXANS, LIONS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Rushing | Receiving | Yards | TD | PPR |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | Hou. | 20-143-3 | 3-12-0 | 155 | 3 | 36.5 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | Hou. | 32-219-2 | 1-9-0 | 228 | 2 | 35.8 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | Hou. | 13-60-2 | 6-49-1 | 109 | 3 | 34.9 |
| Khalil Herbert, Chi. | Hou. | 20-157-2 | 2-12-0 | 169 | 2 | 30.9 |
| Rashaad Penny, Sea. | Det. | 17-151-2 | 1-6-0 | 157 | 2 | 28.7 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | Hou. | 31-161-1 | 4-14-0 | 175 | 1 | 27.5 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | Det. | 25-161-0 | 2-14-0 | 175 | 0 | 19.5 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | Det. | 13-96-1 | 2-9-0 | 105 | 1 | 18.5 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | Det. | 15-57-2 | 0-0-0 | 57 | 2 | 17.7 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | Det. | 17-96-1 | 0-0-0 | 96 | 1 | 15.6 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | Hou. | 17-93-1 | 0-0-0 | 93 | 1 | 15.3 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | Hou. | 10-71-0 | 3-43-0 | 114 | 0 | 14.4 |
| J.D. McKissic, Was. | Det. | 3-9-0 | 7-54-0 | 63 | 0 | 13.3 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | Hou. | 15-75-0 | 1-10-0 | 85 | 0 | 9.5 |
| Raheem Mostert, Mia. | Det. | 14-64-0 | 1-3-0 | 67 | 0 | 7.7 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | Det. | 9-25-0 | 2-20-0 | 45 | 0 | 6.5 |
—Ian Allan