4 problems the Giants need to fix before facing the Commanders in Week 2

3. Establish the ground game

We knew watching Saquon Barkley depart to the Philadelphia Eagles was going to hurt a bit, but we didn’t realize it was going to leave a massive hole in the entire offense. While Barkley was having a three-touchdown performance and leading his new team to a win against the Green Bay Packers, the Giants running game looked like it did last year when Barkley was missing for three weeks: non-existent.

The Giants new running back in veteran Devin Singletary may have Barkley’s old number in 26, but he sure didn’t play like him, as he had just 10 carries for 37 yards. Singletary also had four catches for 15 yards, which led to a 52-yard total day in his Giants debut. Not exactly anything impressive and worth remembering. The Giants two other running backs in Eric Gray and Tyrone Tracy Jr. combined for four carries for eight yards. The running back by committee for the Giants didn’t exactly impress anyone.

Against Washington in Week 1, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got an almost 100-yard performance from their duo at running back in Bucky Irving and Rachaad White, so the Giants can run the football, if they want to, especially if they don’t want Daniel Jones to throw as much and go with a different offensive attack in Week 2.

We know Singletary has the ability to be a good back and he can make plays, but with Barkley looking like his old self on a rival, Singletary has to have better games moving forward than a 37-yard performance if he wants to help the Giants. And if it’s not from Singletary, then Gray and Tracy need to step up and have bigger roles and give the Gisnts something more than just eight yards combined from the two of them.

Coming up next: a better defense vs. the run-game