Rookie Paul Perkins rushes for 102 yards in first NFL start
Running back Paul Perkins of the New York Giants carries the ball against free safety Duke Ihenacho of the Washington Redskins in the third quarter at FedExField on Jan. 1, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. Credit: Getty Images / Rob Carr
LANDOVER, Md. — Paul Perkins said he felt something Sunday that he hadn’t felt since high school.
Nervous.
The rookie made his first NFL start against Washington at FedEx Field, and although he knew it was going to happen — the coaches told him there would be a change in the depth chart earlier in the week — actually stepping out there on the field for the Giants’ first offensive snaps was a bit daunting.
“Having my number coming out first and the defense is ready, licking their chops, the crowd is hyped, that was probably the biggest difference,” he said. “I was just nervous, so I was trying to get my nerves under control.”
He settled down and settled in, and the running back of the future had a Baby New Year-type of day with 102 yards on 21 carries. He became the first Giants running back to top 100 since Rashad Jennings against the Eagles in last season’s regular-season finale.
“I thought he ran nicely,” Ben McAdoo said. “I thought he had a couple of nice cuts and stuck his foot in the ground. He had a chance to put his pads down a couple of times and run for some physical, tough yards.”
It’s been quite the journey for Perkins, from fifth-round pick in the spring, to offseason absentee while he finished his academic career at UCLA, to inactive for the first few games of his rookie season. Eventually he started getting more and more carries, more and more snaps. That culminated Sunday.
“This is what everybody dreams of, everybody hopes for, coming into a top organization, coming in here and making a difference,” Perkins said.
The Giants’ running game has been a disappointment for most of this season, but it made progress in the past few weeks. The team ran for 114 yards in each of the previous two games before Sunday’s season-high 161. One of the reasons was the play of deposed starter Jennings, who ran for 52 yards on 18 carries. The Giants can only have one starter, but they still operated on a two-back system, with Bobby Rainey playing a handful of snaps as the third back.
As word of Perkins’ numbers spread among the offensive linemen, their eyes opened with pride. Perkins, though, downplayed it. He said the game did not feel like a milestone for him, even though it was filled with a lot of firsts.
“I have high expectations,” he said. “It’s nice, but I’m striving for more. I left a lot of yards on the field. It should have been more.”
He’ll get another chance. Perkins likely will go into the playoffs as the starter for the Giants, which he said might elicit a whole new round of nerves.
“It doesn’t mean anything if I don’t do it next week,” he said of his performance.
It’s not unheard of in Giants lore for a rookie running back to bloom late in the year. The most famous recent example was in 2007, when Ahmad Bradshaw burst on the scene in the final two regular-season games and wound up being the team’s leading rusher in Super Bowl XLII.
Perkins said he is familiar with Bradshaw.
“Hopefully,” he said, “it’s the same thing for us.”
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.
