Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams don't care who finishes season as Giants' top rusher
Andre Williams #44 of the New York Giants fumbles the ball in the first quarter against the Indianapolis Colts during their game at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 3, 2014 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Getty Images / Al Bello
Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams will split time in the backfield on Sunday against the Rams. How that time is divided could determine who winds up leading the team in rushing this season.
Williams currently has the lead with 678 yards, and if he holds on, he will be the first rookie since Joe Montgomery in 1999 to lead the Giants in rushing yards. Jennings has 606 yards despite missing five games and almost all of a sixth because of injury. If Jennings, who is listed as questionable with an ankle injury, takes the bulk of the carries Sunday, he could surpass Williams.
Not that either of them seems to give a hoot.
For two professional athletes whose entire being revolves around competing, neither seems all that interested in coming out on top.
"We definitely don't talk about it and we don't see it that way," Jennings said. "We're trying to build each other up, not break each other down."
Jennings went so far as to say that he's rooting for Williams.
"It'd be cool for him to get it, let him go out there and pop some more big ones," he said, a reference to Williams' runs of 45 and 50 yards in recent games. "There's no competitive spirit at all [between us]. We just want to win."
Jennings said he doesn't even know how many yards he's behind Williams.
"The idea is let's just get the win," he said. "We don't care about numbers, who got how many touches, how many plays. Never looked at it a day in my life in my career and I never will."
The two players have become close friends throughout the season, with Jennings taking Williams under his wing. They have similar personalities and intellectual approaches to the game.
"I really feel like he's my brother and we're kindred spirits," Williams said. "It's just not in my nature . . . I don't want anything bad to happen for him. I want good for me and good for him. So however that's going to play out, it'll play out, whether he's leading or I'm leading."
The possibility does exist that they wind up tied. Would that be the ideal situation?
"I guess so," Williams said with a chuckle. "I'm not playing for a tie. I would like to have another 100-yard game and I would like Rashad to have another 100-yard game. Most likely, it's not going to happen that way."
However it works out, there's a good chance they'll each be the guy most happy for the other.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
