Giants Aim to Stop the Runs vs. Commanders in Week 15 Tilt

There’s nothing worse than a bad case against the runs, which is what the New York Giants have been dealing with for the majority of the 2025 season.

No, we’re not talking about the stomach ailment, but rather a leaky run defense that has struggled to stop opposing running games.

And when the Washington Commanders come to town this weekend, head coach Dan Quinn hinted that they might just be looking to lean heavily on their fourth-ranked running game to deal the crushing blows to a Giants run defense that is allowing 154.2 rushing yards per game, 31st in the league.

“Yeah, it's been the best thing that we've done, so we definitely have to lean on that,” Quinn told the team’s local media this past week.

“(We) have been really proud of [RB] Chris [Rodriguez Jr.] and his kind of progress throughout the year, and he's really playing on a high level right now, so that has to be, you know, how we win these games moving forward.”

No one could blame Washington for going after the Giants' run defense. Back in Week 1, the Commanders averaged 6.9 yards per carry on the ground in their win over New York, rushing for a season-best 220 yards on 32 carries.

The Giants, who had four missed tackles against the run in that first meeting, know they have to be better in these remaining four games, which is something defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen, in his self-scouting of the unit, has been trying to shine a light on for what’s left of the 2025 campaign.

“I think execution is part of it,” he said of what he learned from watching the defense’s performance over the bye. “Tackling is part of it. And just getting swarmed to the ball, speaking of the tackles, getting more guys to the ball, something like that is part of an area we can improve in the run game.”

The Giants have been running tackling circuits to improve angles to the ball and cut down on missed tackles. Per data from Pro Football Focus, the Giants have averaged 5.15 missed tackles against the run this season, which, on the surface, isn’t bad.

However, the Giants have seen most of their missed tackles against the run occur on second and third-down plays.

Per TruMedia (via the Locked On Giants podcast), the Giants' run defense has missed tackles on 10.9% of the rushing attempts coming on second down, 22.9% on third down.

The Giants’ season high in missed tackles in the run game came in their Week 9 loss to the San Francisco 49ers (9), followed by missed tackles in a Week 5 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Their next highest total of missed tackles in the run game (6) has occurred four times, including their pre-bye loss to the New England Patriots in Week 13.

Of the 67 total missed tackles against the run, linebacker Bobby Okereke (12) and safety Tyler Nubin (8) account for nearly 30% of those.

The Giants are looking to win their remaining four games, and in particular, if they can beat the Commanders and Dallas, it will give them their first .500 season against NFC East opponents since they went 4-2 in 2020, a small consolation in a season that was lost weeks ago.

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