NY Giants gearing up to ride rushing defense to a division fitle?

NY Giants GM Dave Gettleman built the Giants with designs on a dominant running game and stopping the run, and the defense has held up its end during late-season surge

If you haven’t been paying a ton of attention to statistical rankings this year, it might surprise you to know the NY Giants’ rushing defense is the fifth best in the NFL. They’re only giving up 95 rushing yards per game, and 3.89 yards per attempt – that ranks seventh best.

If the Giants can keep that up down the stretch, it could bode well for them as the weather gets colder and windier and the passing game becomes a little more difficult for opponents to execute. That’s especially true if they sneak into the playoffs and get to host a home game at MetLife Stadium.

Looking purely at the numbers, the Giants don’t have a big weakness in their ground game. They’ve fared the worst against runs behind the left tackle, allowing 4.7 yards per attempt (18th in the league). But they’re in the top 10 against runs off the left end, behind the left guard, and behind the right tackle.

The run defense will need to be stout this week, as the Seahawks are seventh in the league with nearly 4.7 yards per rush. New York comes off one of its best performances of the year against the run, giving up just 40 yards on 15 attempts (2.7 per carry) in last week’s 19-17 win over Cincinnati. If the Giants rushing defense can come anywhere near matching that, they’ll have a fighting chance at pulling off the big upset this week against the NFC West leading Seahawks.

Leonard Williams has been a force to be reckoned with, racking up a team best eight tackles for a loss this year. While he’s been a little bit less productive statistically of late, it’s been Jabrill Peppers stepping into the box with three tackles for a loss in the least two games. That may not be something they want to do too much of this week, though, as the Giants passing defense will have its work cut out for it.