The New York Giants squeaked past the Tennessee Titans in their Week 1 encounter via a two-point conversion.
But they wouldn’t be in the position to win without their impressive run game.
Typically, it’s the Titans that dominate the ground battle because of Derrick Henry.
The Giants had the last laugh this time by exploiting the gaps the Titans gave.
Those carries led to them having the most rushing yards by a team during opening weekend.
Week 1 NFL Rush Leaders 👀🔥
No. 1 Team: @Giants
No. 1 Player: @saquon pic.twitter.com/6FnRqayLXQ— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 15, 2022
FOX Sports NFL shared that the Giants had 238 rushing yards to start the 2022 season.
In contrast, the Titans only had 98.
From their total, Daniel Jones, Matt Breida, and Kadarius Toney finished with 25, 24, and 23 yards.
But the star of the show was Saquon Barkley, who had 164 yards on 18 carries.
In other words, he averaged almost ten yards for every attempt versus Tennessee.
That performance earned him NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
The former Penn State standout also scored a touchdown, aside from having the most yards.
More importantly, this is not the same Giants team that struggled on offense last season.
Brian Daboll’s arrival is shaking things up, hopefully for a long time.
Long Time Coming For Barkley
Having an explosive performance is long overdue for a player that became a Pro Bowler and Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2018.
Barkley finished that season with 261 carries for 1,307 yards and 11 touchdowns.
He also added 721 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
A year later, he had 1,003 rushing yards, 438 receiving yards, and eight total touchdowns.
Unfortunately, things went south for him from that moment.
A torn ACL limited him to two games in 2020.
He bounced back in 2021 by playing 13 games but did not have the same stats as his first two seasons.
Barkley is coming off a year with 856 total yards and four touchdowns.
The Giants will look to go 2-0 when they face the Carolina Panthers on September 18.
NEXT: Daniel Jones Was Part Of A Surprising Week 1 QB Group