Orleans Darkwa had a tremendous game in Week 6, a major reason why the New York Giants beat the Denver Broncos on Sunday night and got their first win of the season.
The Giants running back had 130 yards of total offense of which 117 were rushing yards in the Giants shocking 23-10 win. Darkwa was tremendous for the Giants, putting together their first 100-yard rushing game of the year.
It was a breakout performance for the back, now in his fourth year in the league, as he rattled off the best rushing performance of his career.
“I think when you go back to 2014 and he emerged onto the scene, he did some nice things for us in the run game,” Giants head coach Ben McAdoo said on Monday. “I remember back to St. Louis, he popped a nice run and we tried to get him going a little bit in 2015, it was just a challenge to get it going there. I feel he’s a very natural runner and he’s been taking advantage of his opportunities this year.”
In fact, the 117 rushing yards on Sunday represents more yardage than he had in two of his first three seasons in the NFL. Based off the Broncos game, more opportunities and more reps should follow.
For a Giants team that has, to put it mildly, struggled to establish a ground game over the past two years, the emergence of Darkwa might help turn around this season. A physical runner, he seems to thrive on contact and churning out yardage.
And given the Giants struggles along the offensive line, his style might be a good fit to balance the offense. This is especially true given that the Giants are currently without three of their top wide receivers.
To that point, Pro Football Focus rattled off some interesting numbers about Darkwa’s Week 6 performance and his hard-running style.
Per PFF’s Ryan A. Smith, Darkwa “gained 69 of his 117 yards after contact. His 3.29 yards after contact per attempt ranked thirteenth among 36 running back in Week 6.”
