I keep seeing: "They average 3.8 ypc against them. I wonder if we'll be able to run the ball" posts.
We are a very good rushing team. The answer is still yes. They don't run a 3-4 and they don't have a monster lining up over center so we should be able to run the ball very well.
Mike
Just to bolster your argument with facts (and because I know you like stats):
If you remove our game against the Colts, the Colts gave up 4.4 yards per carry to the other teams they played. Not good. But they gave up 6.1 ypc to us.
If you remove our game from the Cowboys, the Cowboys gave up 3.0 ypc. They gave up 5.6 ypc against us. (We should have run against them more.)
The poor Raiders got gashed by the run by the Titans almost as bad as they got gashed by us. But still, removing our game from the Raiders, the Raiders give up an average of 4.6 ypc. They gave up 6.9 ypc against us.
And the games against the Colts and Raiders include some Victory Formation "carries" that reduces our average.
The Redskin game appears to be an anomaly. Foster had 2 0 yard runs that hurt our average AND Turk's run-the-time-off-the-clock -27 yard carry really hurts our numbers. So I removed Turk's run from our rushing totals. We only rushed for 3.7 ypc against them and they gave up 4.1 ypc against their other opponents. BUT... if you remove the two 0 yard carries Foster gave up at the end of the game trying to put the ball at the correct hash, then we rushed for 4.0 ypc. Still low.
Now, if you look at the Giants. The two games they lost (Colts, Titans), the opposing team had 40+ carries.
Panthers: 24/89 3.71 ypc. (4.0 overall)
Colts: 43/160 3.72 ypc. (3.2 overall)
Titans: 41/161 3.93 ypc. (4.3 overall)
Bears: 16/59 3.69 ypc (3.3 overall)
Obviously, the Colt and Titan game plans were to just run and stick with the run and they won doing that even if they didn't get more than 4 ypc. Two teams actually ran better against the Giants than their average.
I expect us to follow the Colt/Titan game plan. But I honestly expect our ypc to be higher. It may be below our league leading 5.5 ypc average, but I expect it to be higher than 3.8 ypc.