Fans want to see a new RB1 after the Giants win over Seattle
New York Giants fans have been critical of GM Joe Schoen’s work in the draft. But if there’s one pick they’re extremely happy with, it’s 2024 fifth-rounder Tyrone Tracy.
Tracy got the start against the Seattle Seahawks, and he carried the load in the Giants’ surprising road win. He carried the ball 18 times for a league-leading 129 yards on the ground – an impressive 7.2 yards per carry. Tracy’s vision, contact balance, and short area quickness allowed him to make defenders miss and pick up extra yardage on nearly every run. In fact, Tracy averaged 2.6 yards per carry over expected, based on NFL NextGenStats player tracking data.
Tracy had a strong preseason, but only carried the ball 12 times in the previous four games as Devin Singletary was the Giants’ workhorse. But after Tracy’s performance against the Seattle Seahawks, the vast majority of Giants fans are ready to see Tracy take over as the starting running back.
Fans might just get their wish, and Tracy another chance to impress, against the Cincinnati Bengals. As of this writing, Singletary is listed as “questionable” for the game with a groin injury. Even if Singletary is active for the game, we could see the snap load be much more evenly split between Tracy and Singletary (and Eric Gray) to account for both Tracy’s impressiveness on the field and Singletary’s injury.
For his part, if offensive coordinator Mike Kafka was surprised by Tracy’s play, he won’t admit to it.
“I don’t think he surprised me,” Kafka said. “He’s [Tracy] been putting in great work all through camp, since he’s gotten here really. He puts really good intent into the meeting rooms and on the practice field he tries to be as detailed as can be. And (running backs) coach (Joel) Thomas has done a nice job of getting him up to speed. So, no, there’s no surprise there. He’s a good player and it’s a guy that we expect him to do what he does.”
Giants’ fan confidence, meanwhile, has rebounded to tie the season high with 78 percent of fans confident that the team is headed in the right direction.
Fan confidence has rocketed dramatically between elation and abject despair this year.
Last week, confidence dropped 30 points following the Giants’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys. It has since more than doubled, from 38% to tying the preseason high of 78%, following the win over Seattle.
Finally, 79% of fans believe that the Cincinnati Bengals will cover the spread against the Giants on Sunday Night Football. The Bengals are 3.5-point favorites on the road, with an over/under of 47.5 per FanDuel.
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