Rashad Jennings confident he's ready to return
Giants running back Rashad Jennings (23) reacts after scoring a touchdown against the Houston Texans in the second quarter of a game, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: AP / Bill Kostroun
A lot has happened in the month or so that Rashad Jennings has been sidelined.
The Giants have lost four straight games, all of them without their starting running back. Their rushing game has struggled, and it has created an imbalance that has thrown off the entire offense. The team had a winning record when Jennings last came off the field Oct. 5 against the Falcons, but they have since fallen into a chasm in the NFC East standings.
So as Jennings prepares for his return to the lineup against the 49ers on Sunday -- "I think this is the week I can convince everybody that I'm ready to go," the usually overly optimistic but this time probably right running back said -- the question to ask is if it is too late? Has the season already been lost while he was gone?
"It's definitely doable," Jennings, who has been nursing a knee sprain, said of turning things around while at the Veterans Day Parade in New York City Tuesday, where he was signing autographs for Pentagon Federal Credit Union. "We can accomplish everything we wanted to from the beginning of the season. We can. It's crunch time, though."
With seven games left in the season, the Giants trail the Eagles by four games and the Cowboys by 3 1/2. They are also three losses out of the second NFC wild-card spot which, if the season were to end today, would belong to the Seahawks.
Jennings, who spent the first six seasons of his career with the Jaguars and Raiders and has never been in the playoffs -- never been on a team that finished with a winning record -- said the Giants have a different attitude than some of the other losing locker rooms he's been in.
"It's a different vibe, energy," he said. "Different leadership. Different coach. I see us getting better every single week. There have been some hiccups, but overall, I can see the growth of the whole entire team."
It was hard to spot that in Seattle. Like two of the other three road losses, Jennings had to watch that game on television. From his couch. With, as he said, his little dog next to him.
"It's been hard," he said of not being with the team on the sideline during the difficult times they have faced. "I'm the type of person that leads by example, the way I practice and prepare. No matter how much you are trying to watch film with somebody or break it down, you have to be out there. It makes a big difference. Seeing plays that you could have possibly made or been able to encourage or hype up somebody, you just feel like you could have helped."
The Giants have been without a lot of those voices. Jennings is one of three emotional leaders of the team who have been sidelined in the past month. Two of them were captains, Jon Beason and Victor Cruz, and though they intend to still be around the team and provide leadership and guidance, there is only so much captaining that can be done from injured reserve.
Giants veterans have spoken in recent weeks about the team lacking passion and heart. What they've probably been missing is the players who usually instill those qualities. "Next man up" is a fine mantra for the depth chart. It gets a little more complicated when it comes to the hierarchy of voices the team turns to in times of crisis.
Unlike Beason and Cruz, though, Jennings gets to come back. And they certainly need him now. Besides the struggles of rookie Andre Williams, the Giants also lost some depth with Peyton Hillis suffering a concussion and Michael Cox fracturing his left leg against Seattle.
Jennings participated in practice last week as a member of the scout team -- he played the role of Marshawn Lynch -- and was able to cut and change direction on his knee. "I was rolling," he said with a big smile.
Now he has to try to get the Giants back rolling too. Before it is too late.
Notes & quotes: The last four Giants opponents have all accumulated at least 423 total yards, the first time in Giants history that has happened . . . The difference in rushing yards between Seattle (350) and the Giants (54) was the most in a Giants loss in franchise history . . . Odell Beckham Jr. is the first Giants rookie with consecutive 100-yard receiving games since Byron Williams in 1983. No Giants rookie has ever had three consecutive 100-yard games.
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.
