Heading into the bye week, the NY Giants are 3-6, having won two of the last three games with a few key areas the team should look to build on going forward.
In a season where plenty has gone wrong, the NY Giants find themselves behind the 8-ball week in and week out, with every loss seemingly more crushing than the week, before as the clock runs out on the Dave Gettleman regime.
While nobody should get their hopes too high, there are a few things the Giants did quite well on Sunday that can surely carry into the remainder of the season.
With that being said, here are three key stats from the NY Giants’ 23-16 win over the Raiders:
99
For the second year in a row, the NY Giants have had to call upon the backup running back to take on a heavy workload in wake of a Saquon Barkley injury.
Last year, it was Wayne Gallman, and this year, it’s Devontae Booker.
In a game where the NY Giants had just 245 total yards, Booker was responsible for just about half of them, rushing for 99 yards on 21 carries to go along with three catches for 23 yards.
What was most impressive about his performance is that he ran for nearly 100 yards despite his longest gain going for just 20 yards.
Booker recorded 11 carries that went for four or more yards, including two that went for 16 and 20 yards, respectively. Additionally, he had just one carry that went for no gain and an additional carry that lost him three yards, putting him under 100 yards on his last carry of the game before heading to the locker room with a hip injury.
Fortunately, the initial x-rays for his hip came back negative, and with an upcoming bye week, he should be able to rest up plenty before the NY Giants head to Tampa to take on Tom Brady and the Bucs on Monday Night Football.
The elephant in the room is obviously the expected return of Barkley, but if the Giants were wise, they’d still incorporate Booker into the offense, if nothing more but to ease the pressure off Barkley. However, after tallying 440 yards from scrimmage with three touchdowns in the last five games as the feature back for the G-Men, Booker has earned some touches, proving to be a threat not only on the ground, but through the air as well.