Week 8 Rushing Matchups

Go here for this week's Passing Matchups. 

Top 5 Rushing Matchups

Denver vs Carolina

Denver's offense is starting to show signs of life compared to earlier this season. The Broncos have now scored 30 points or more in two of their last three games, and a lot of that credit has to do with their running game. While consistent volume still may be somewhat sporadic, the team trusts Javonte Williams more than they did early in the season as Williams now has 13 or more carries in three of his last four games, and he averaged just eight carries in his first three games. With the additional volume has come additional success, as in those games with 13 or more carries, Williams has at least 60 yards rushing and is averaging 5.3 yards-per-carry compared to just 2.5 yards-per-carry in games where he did not have at least 13 carries. A big reason for Williams' recent success has been the offensive line. This offensive line had many questions heading into this season, but the guards Ben Powers and Quinn Meinerz have been impressive so far this season.

Carolina's run defense continues to be the worst in the NFL and has been a flagship defense in this article over the last two seasons. This team is one of the least talented in the NFL, and they currently have 21 players on their injury report as of Wednesday, along with another 10 players on IR. On the defensive side of the ball, the Panthers are likely to be without A'Shawn Robinson again this week, who has been the only run-stopper the Panthers have left on the field due to the Derrick Brown preseason injury. At linebacker, the Panthers might be getting Josey Jewell back this week, as he was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday. While Jewell will help, he's a replacement-level starter, and his return would only provide marginal benefits. This defense allows the most rushing yards per game to opposing running backs and the most touchdowns to the position, as they're allowing 1.9 rushing touchdowns per game to opposing running backs this season.

Buffalo at Seattle

James Cook and the Buffalo rushing offense are a unit that is good enough to exploit bad run defenses but are going to struggle against some of the league's best defenses. The recent schedule for Buffalo has been difficult as, over their last four games, they've faced Jacksonville, Baltimore, Houston, and Tennessee, four of the best run-stopping defenses in the NFL. In those four games, James Cook has failed to top 40 yards in three of those four contests and is averaging just 3.7 yards-per-carry. The big issue for Cook has been the lack of explosiveness this season. On the year, he has just one carry that has gone for longer than 15 yards, which, if he's unable to occasionally break a big play, then his success is largely going to depend on the matchup each week as consistently grinding out yards against some of the league's best-run defenses is extremely difficult.

Seattle's run defense has completely fallen apart over the last three weeks. In those three games, Seattle has allowed 129 yards to Tyrone Tracy Jr., 194 yards to San Francisco, led by Isaac Guerendo and Jordan Mason, and last week allowed 156 to Atlanta, led by Bijan Robinson. The Seahawks are trying to address the problem as they traded Jerome Baker to Tennessee for Ernest Jones IV, who has now been traded twice this season. While this may have long-term benefits, Jerome Baker was the defensive play-caller in Seattle, so trading him and bringing in Jones, who doesn't know the system, would seem to take time and could cause short-term issues with a player who has been with the team less than a week. A big issue for the Seahawks continues to be at defensive tackle as Johnathan Hankins, who was brought in to be the space-eater 330-pound defensive lineman, has struggled in run defense. Hankins has been a part of some of the worst run defenses in the NFL over the last several seasons, as he is no longer the player he was early on in his career.

NY Jets at New England

No team has disappointed offensively more than the New York Jets this season. However, for Breece Hall, there is hope with the change in offensive coordinators from Nathaniel Hackett to Todd Downing. Over the last two weeks, Hall has been a focal point of this offense. Hall has 140 total yards or more in each of the last two weeks, including a 113-yard rushing performance against Buffalo in Week 6. The Jets offensive line was a concern early on in the season, but it has been playing better as of late. This is largely due to left guard John Simpson, who was a big question mark, and second-year center John Tippmann having improved over the course of the season. While right tackle is still a concern as the Jets were likely hoping that first-round pick Olu Fashanu would be starting by now, he struggled in his two starts this season, filling in due to injury, and the team quickly turned to veteran Morgan Moses.

New England coming back from London is very much on quit watch. It really has been a tale of two seasons for the Patriots in just seven weeks. In the first three weeks of the year, this defense allowed just 69 yards per game to opposing running backs as they looked like one of the best-run defenses in the NFL, holding opponents to just 3.6 yards per carry. Since Week 4, however, New England has allowed a league-leading 163 rushing yards per game as opponents gained 5.4 yards per carry against this defense. This is a defense that relied heavily on Jabrill Peppers, who was placed on the Commissioner's Exempt list after Week 4 and seems unlikely to return this season due to pending legal issues, which has forced Marte Mapu into the safety that plays in the box and he has struggled with that role as he has just six solo tackles this season. The Patriots also have clear issues at the linebacker position as they have benched Raekwon McMillan after he was consistently one of the worst run-stoppers in the NFL and have replaced him with Christian Elliss, who has been a journeyman linebacker who is on his fifth team since 2021. How motivated this team will be after a 1-6 start will likely determine if this team has any hope of improving over the remaining ten games, but with an already under-talented defensive roster, it will be difficult to see improvement this season.