The Los Angeles Rams started their season giving up the fourth-most rushing yards in the league during Week 1, a performance that highlighted existing concerns about their run defense. After a 20-point season-opening loss, the Rams allowed the 49ers to gain 174 yards on the ground. While no single San Francisco rusher hit the 100-yard mark, both Christian McCaffrey and Kaelon Black each accounted for at least 65 yards, signaling trouble.
Now, the New York Giants are coming to town, bringing with them a formidable ground game that could pose one of the toughest challenges for the Rams this season. The Giants themselves rushed for 165 yards in Week 1 against a reportedly improved Dallas defensive front, making their ground attack the fifth-most productive in the league to start the year.
The Giants' running back corps is a significant part of their strategy. Second-year back Cam Skattebo led the team in Week 1 with 81 yards on 18 carries. He’s joined by veteran Devin Singletary, who is nearing 5,000 career rushing yards over seven seasons, and third-year back Tyrone Tracy Jr., who is coming off back-to-back seasons with over 740 rushing yards. This trio of Skattebo, Singletary, and Tracy collectively accounted for 1,587 yards last season, helping the team finish fifth in rushing a year ago. Notably, New York currently boasts the lowest rate of runs stuffed in the NFL.
This emphasis on the ground game is a hallmark of John Harbaugh’s coaching, a philosophy that dates back to his tenure with the Baltimore Ravens. According to the Giants team website, Harbaugh’s Ravens teams from 2008 to 2025 averaged an NFL-leading 139.8 rushing yards per game, outpacing the second-best team by 10 yards. Furthermore, the Ravens led the NFL in rushing yards five times in their last seven seasons, specifically in 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
For the Rams, these issues are not entirely new. Their run defense showed lapses toward the end of the 2025 season. Last year, Los Angeles allowed opponents to gain 100 or more rushing yards in eight games. Five of those instances occurred after the team’s bye week, including a staggering 219 yards given up to the Falcons in Week 17. Even in a 17-3 victory over Harbaugh’s Ravens in October 2025, the Rams allowed Baltimore to rack up 179 yards on the ground, the second-most they had given up after the Atlanta game. This total came without two-time MVP Lamar Jackson in the lineup due to injury.
The struggles continued into the playoffs, where the Rams allowed one opponent, the Bears, to amass 160 rushing yards. In total, Los Angeles gave up 318 rushing yards and four touchdowns across three playoff games. Between the regular season and playoffs, the team surrendered 100-yard rushing performances in nearly half of its 20 games played, with two-thirds of those occurring after their bye. These figures suggest that the Rams' run defense reverted to the inconsistent play that plagued the latter half of last season.
With Harbaugh and the Giants clearly intending to prioritize their powerful ground attack, the Rams must tighten up their run defense quickly. They will need to be significantly more prepared than they were against the 49ers to avoid being run out of their own stadium on Monday night.
