Top 5 Rushing Matchups
Chicago at Cincinnati
The big question heading into Week 9 is whether D'Andre Swift will play. He did not practice on Wednesday with a groin injury that held him to just 11 carries last week. This would be a significant loss for Chicago if he were to miss extended time, as Swift has been a focal point of this offense in recent weeks. In Weeks 6 and 7, Swift had back-to-back 100-yard performances against Washington and New Orleans as he overcame a slow start to the year. If he's unable to go, rookie Kyle Monangai would get the start for Chicago. Monangai has been involved throughout the season, averaging 4.4 yards per carry, including a 13-carry, 81-yard performance in Week 7 against New Orleans. Making matters worse for Chicago is that it has to rely even more heavily on the run. Luther Burden III (concussion), DJ Moore (groin), Rome Odunze (heel), and Olamide Zaccheaus (knee) all did not practice on Wednesday, so keep an eye on their practice reports as the week progresses, and if they miss, expect a heavy volume for these running backs.
The Bengals' defense remains the worst in the league at stopping the run. Last week, we saw that they were decimated, allowing 133 yards and two touchdowns to Breece Hall and 65 yards on just seven carries to Isaiah Davis. The team has continued to utilize Logan Wilson as a backup, primarily in pass coverage, as he's an excellent blitzing linebacker. However, they have placed most of the run-stopping capabilities on two rookies, which has not been effective. Both Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. have combined for the worst run-stopping unit in the NFL in the 2025 season. This year, Cincinnati is allowing 132 rushing yards per game, the most in the NFL, and a staggering 5.3 yards per carry, as four running backs have topped 100 yards this season against the team. Along the defensive line, T.J. Slaton Jr. and B.J. Hill get pushed around far too often, which forces the inexperienced linebacking group to have to shed blockers to make the tackle.
Arizona at Dallas
Arizona has had a weird bye week. The team cut Michael Carter, only to re-sign him to the practice squad. The Cardinals have not had much success with any of their running backs since James Conner went down, but Carter had a very poor game before being benched and has not performed as well, having just 11 yards on seven carries against Green Bay in Week 7. Meanwhile, the next man up is Bam Knight, who has led the team in carries over the last two weeks as Emari Demercado is still in the dog house after dropping the ball before crossing the goal line. Knight has not been great this season, averaging just 3.5 yards per carry, and has not had a run longer than 10 yards on his 29 carries this season. This team is an absolute mess but should get Kyler Murray back this week, which will help the dynamic offense and the running game.
The plan to build around the interior of this defensive line has not worked since the team traded away Micah Parsons. Kenny Clark was a key piece that the Cowboys demanded for the trade to occur, yet he has been having the worst year of his career. The once elite run-stopper is now just league-average on a team that needs him to be special. The key reason they need him so much is that their linebackers are either the worst or second-worst in the NFL, as Kenneth Murray Jr. and Shemar James are two who are really struggling. Murray has been among the weakest run-stopping linebackers dating back to his rookie season when the first-rounder was in Los Angeles. Last week, Dallas was tormented by a Denver team that had not shown that type of upside as J.K. Dobbins ran for 111 yards, while R.J. Harvey had 46 rushing yards, adding two touchdowns on the ground and one through the air. Dallas has now allowed over 100 yards in three of their last four games as Dobbins, Rico Dowdle, and Breece Hall have all topped the 100-yard mark against this team.
San Francisco at the NY Giants
Christian McCaffrey is coming off of one of his worst games in a long time as he had just 25 rushing yards on eight carries and while he was able to add 43 receiving yards this was the lowest rushing yardage in a game for the future Hall of Famer since December 30 2018 in Carolina which was a game where the team only played their starters for one series in that game (he still had 20 yards in that one). The good news for McCaffrey is that he gets a defense that is coming apart after Philadelphia just ran for over 250 yards against the Giants last week. The one concern for McCaffrey is that we have not seen the explosiveness that we've seen in prior years as a runner. Early on in the season, it was attributed to a small sample size, but now, in Week 9, for McCaffrey to still be averaging just 3.5 yards per carry is alarming. He has not had a run longer than 15 yards this season. In fact, even looking back to last season, where he suffered the Achilles injury and tried to play four games after it, he had just one carry longer than 15 yards, which was a 19-yard carry. In that four-game sample size, he averaged just 4.0 yards per carry. It's likely time to re-baseline McCaffrey as a volume workhorse who is going to catch a lot of passes, but has not yet shown the consistent 100+ rushing yard upside that we saw before his injury.
The Giants simply had no answer last week for the Philadelphia rushing offense. From the start of the game, when Saquon Barkley ran for a 65-yard touchdown, to the end of the game, when, after Barkley was injured, we saw Tank Bigsby have a career day. All in all, Philadelphia ran for 254 yards against this defense as both Barkley and Bigsby topped 100 yards and joined Omarion Hampton as the three to do so. The issues for the Giants have been the same problems that they've faced over the last several seasons. This is one of the most talented defensive lines in the NFL, but it is specifically designed to rush the passer. Against the run, other than 330-pound Dexter Lawrence II, this is a unit that lacks size, as they have a bunch of speed rushers in Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, and Kayvon Thibodeau. What this does is it makes them vulnerable to the big play. Linebackers Bobby Okereke and Darius Muasau remain weak spots on this team, often finding themselves out of position. It's a unit that the defensive line certainly is capable of just taking over and overwhelming a defensive line. Still, when this unit faces some of the game's better run defenses, they're going to struggle.
Cincinnati vs Chicago