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Top 5 Rushing Matchups

Washington vs NY Giants

Jayden Daniels provides an electric spark to this offense that should get Commanders fans excited about the offense this season. Last week, Daniels ran the ball 16 times for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler were less successful running the ball just 14 times for a combined 50 yards. It appears that the big issue for Robinson and Ekeler is going to be the number of points that the defense is going to let up, as while the team added Dan Quinn as their head coach, they kept a lot of the same personnel in the secondary which was the worst in the NFL in 2023, and will likely once again be amongst the worst in the NFL. If that is the case, and the defense does not improve, expect the Commanders to be trailing in a majority of games this season, which means we will see a lot of Daniels scrambling more than a designed handoff to Robinson. Ekeler mysteriously only had 2 carries in this game, which likely is an anomaly, as he was on the field for 53% of the snaps. Most of his work was in the passing game as he was the team's leading receiver.

The Giants are a mess of a run-stopping unit but are showing signs that they are willing to try new things to improve this unit. Last week, Aaron Jones ran for 94 yards on 14 carries against the Giants, and, had the game been close, he would have easily topped 100 yards as the team pulled him for most of the second half. What is interesting with the Giants in this game is that they switched their starting linebacker late in the week as they did not play Micah McFadden, who was active but did not see a snap. If Darius Mussau beat out McFadden, this would be good news for the Giants as McFadden has consistently been one of the league's worst run-stoppers, leading the NFL in missed tackle rate last season. What we don't know is why McFadden did not play. He was a full participant at practice with a groin injury, while Mussau did not practice with a knee injury. If McFadden slides back into the starting slot, expect the Giants to struggle throughout the season. The Giants need someone else on the defensive line to step up alongside All-Pro Dexter Lawrence II. 2022 5th overall pick Kayvon Thibodeaux had zero tackles in Week 1, while their big free agent signee Brian Burns was also largely ineffective in stopping the run.

LA Chargers at Carolina

The Chargers' rushing attack was a bit of a surprise in Week 1, as JK Dobbins may be on his way to earning a bigger role within this offense. Dobbins was tremendous, rushing the ball 10 times for 135 yards, including a 61-yard run. The often-injured running back looked fully healthy after missing last season due to an Achilles injury in Week 1 last year. Meanwhile, Gus Edwards struggled to get going as he had just 26 yards on 11 carries.  This is a Jim Harbaugh offense that will want to take a run-heavy approach in a Jim Harbaugh/Greg Roman offense that decided not to keep both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason.

Carolina's run defense started 2024 the same way it ended 2023, allowing significant gains on the ground. The Panthers allowed 132 rushing yards to New Orleans in Week 1, and this week, face a Los Angeles team that will want to take a run-heavy approach on their path to victory. We wrote about it last week, but Carolina is still trying to figure out its identity on defense as they lost their leading tackler, Frankie Luvu, to Washington and replaced him with a traditional off-ball linebacker in Josey Jewell. At least in Week 1, it appears Shaq Thompson is going to be the primary run-stopping tackler for this offense, as he had 10 tackles, albeit 6 of them were assists. This team needs improvement across the board, but the interior of the defensive line put too much pressure on the linebackers this past week. Shy Tuttle, in particular, had one of his worst games in the NFL. The 29-year-old, who started his career off as a solid run-stopper in 2019, has been on the decline for the last several seasons.