The New York Giants will host their co-tenants, the New York Jets, this Sunday at MetLife Stadium. It is an important midseason game for both teams, one that will likely feature a pair of backup quarterbacks struggling to move the offenses against two stingy defenses.
That means this game will come down to who runs the football better. We know the Giants will ride with their Pro Bowler, Saquon Barkley, and the Jets will counter with their own explosive player in second-year back Breece Hall.
“He’s a good one.,” head coach Brian Daboll said of Hall on Wednesday. “He’s a big back that runs really fast. If he gets out in the open, he can make a guy miss, he can slash and one-cut. A couple runs he had backed up in the first game of the year, then he had a long one against Kansas City, 43-yarder. You’ve got to put a lot of hats to the ball on him. He’s a big back, but he’s fast, too, and he can take it a long way. Good player.”
Hall is currently ninth in the NFL in rushing with 426 yards and has added 113 yards on 13 receptions (8.7 yards per catch).
The former Iowa State standout owns two of the NFL’s top three runs from scrimmage this season. His 6.5 yards per carry is currently second to Miami rookie De’Von Achane’s 12.1 YPC.
#Giants Wink Martindale on #Jets: The biggest challenge we are going to have is Breece Hall. He’s special.
— Ryan Dunleavy (@rydunleavy) October 26, 2023
Hall had a monster beginning to his career last year but tore his ACL in Week 7 and missed the remainder of the season. He appears to have picked up where he left off. Call it stardom delayed.
Hall will be a major challenge for a Giants’ run defense which has allowed over five yards per carry (29th in the league) this season and surrendered eight rushes of 20 yards or more (30th).
Since Hall is coming off such a serious knee injury, he has been playing under a ‘pitch count’, which has been recently lifted. Over the past two games, however, Jets head coach Robert Saleh has lifted that and as a result, Hall has been involved in 59% of the team’s offensive snaps while handling 76% of the carries.
This week, Hall scared the Jet faithful with this post on his social media account.
Found out I Tore My ACL a year ago today. Look at God man🤞🏾 Answered all my prayers and then some🙏🏾
— Breece Hall (@BreeceH) October 23, 2023
“I had no idea today was the day until I think one of my trainers had told me and I was like, ‘Oh, that is crazy,’ “ Hall said on Monday, after posting the above. “I really wasn’t even thinking about it or it hadn’t crossed my mind or anything. But it has been a crazy year, ups and downs, frustrations, tears, everything. Just prayed throughout the whole process, worked my tail off and I am here today.”
Hall likes to think his presence makes the Jets a better team. He’s right. The Jets are 8-5 with Hall in the lineup and 2-8 without him.
“I think I bring the mentality that not only helps myself but helps the guys on our team out,” Hall said. “They see me walk out there and kind of have that mindset that I am the best player when I am on the field. Those guys see that, and they believe in me, they know I believe in them, and I just want to be one of those guys that just grabs everybody, turns everybody up, and makes everybody play a little bit better.”