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Eye on the Opponent: Jets RB Breece Hall Rumbling in Comeback Season

Running back Breece Hall figures to play a key role for the New York JEts offense Sunday when they "visit" the Giants.

Stephen Lebitsch

Eye on the Opponent: Jets RB Breece Hall Rumbling in Comeback Season
Eye on the Opponent: Jets RB Breece Hall Rumbling in Comeback Season /
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It’s been two weeks since the return of running back Saquon Barkley from a high ankle sprain, and the New York Giants have been reminded once again just how important their lead ball carrier is to the opportunistic flow of their offense.

On the New York Jets side of things, the same can be said about breakout rusher Breece Hall, a second-year player who has returned from his own grueling circumstances to supercharge the team’s backfield and looks to take MetLife Stadium’s latest rivalry installment by storm.

Coming out of Iowa State in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Jets were ecstatic that they had selected one of the best running backs in college football to boost their ground attack, one of the worst operations for the past several seasons.

The 36th overall pick landed in Florham Park as a two-time All-American with the Cyclones. It boasted nearly 4,000 career rushing yards, 734 receiving yards, and 56 total touchdowns to earn numerous All-Big 12 honors and solidify his status as a heavily coveted back for the incoming draft class.

However, in Week 7 of his rookie campaign with the franchise, the offense took an unfortunate blow as Hall tore his ACL and meniscus in a win over the Denver Broncos and was forced to watch the remainder of the season from the sidelines. After his departure, the Jets rushing department couldn’t rebound from losing its brightest player and fell to the sub-25th-ranked depths of the NFL in all major rushing categories.

Returning to the gridiron following his grueling rehab, Hall has been everything the Jets expected him to be and more as he leads the New York pack and ranks ninth in the leaderboards for the first six games of the season.

The 22-year-old holds 66 carries for 426 yards (6.5 average) and two touchdowns and has accompanied that with his slight contributions in the receiving game with 13 receptions for 113 yards and an 8.7-yard average.

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It took the second-year running back a few games to get his motor going due to snap counts imposed by the Jets coaching staff in due diligence. Yet by Week 5, the leash had been taken away, and Hall had his breakout performance against a familiar opponent in the Broncos, rallying 22 carries for 177 yards and a touchdown to lead the Jets to an important victory on the road.

With Hall as their main workhorse, the Jets offense is a lot like the Giants’ in that it’s imperative for defenses to respect the running back no matter where he’s deployed on the field. If the ball gets into his hands, he has all the strength and speed to burst through the interior gaps and take the pigskin to the house. Per PFF, his rushing average of 6.4 yards is good for third in the NFL and has helped put the Jets’ unit at third-best in the same category for their best marking in the last five seasons.

When he is in the open field, Hall shares a great twitchiness with Barkley, allowing him to evade incoming defenders and keep plays rolling toward enemy territory. He averages 4.21 yards after contact per attempt this year and has forced 13 missed tackles in pursuit of a breakaway play. He also likes to attack from the interior gaps but can extend the run out to the zone, where he holds more carries and has earned seven runs of at least 10 yards, six of at least 15 yards, and 259 breakaway yards.

In terms of the passing game, the Jets are not afraid to use Hall as a decoy on the outside or in the flat to force the attention of a defender away from the middle of the field. While he can catch some passes and get upfield on screens or select play-action looks, his presence pressures opposing schemes to bite down on his flares. That can open up holes in the middle to deep range for the team’s arsenal of receivers to make huge catches downfield and boost quarterback Zach Wilson’s confidence as a consistent passer.

The degrading health of his starting offensive line could make things tricky for Hall’s impact against the Giants. In recent weeks, the Jets have lost a handful of their starting blockers to various ailments, including left tackle Alijah Vera Tucker (Achilles), center/guard Joe Tippmann (foot), and tackle Duane Brown (shoulder/hip). It has forced them to get a little creative with rotating their next replacements on the depth chart.

The team may enter Sunday’s game with at least two non-starters on their offensive line, while the Giants defense has started to heat up and dominate opposing backfields with their heaving blitz scheme. The Wink Martindale-led unit tallied six sacks and forced two more turnovers against a weary line for the Washington Commanders in Week 7 to thwart a comeback effort and secure the Giants 14-7 victory over their divisional rivals.

Nearing the midway point of the 2023 season, the Giants have found some offensive life by improving their defense, which has notched a defensive touchdown and seven total turnovers in the last three contests. That said, the Jets have still been very efficient at protecting the backfield and opening holes for the running game. They rank ninth-best in team run block win rate per ESPN Analytics, and that is an elite 72% standing for a group that has felt the blow of the injury bug.

On the other hand, the Giants defense has excelled at rushing the passer but stands at just 28th (29 percent) overall in the run-stop win rate metric. It will take another big performance from their interior rushers, in particular Leonard Willams, Dexter Lawrence, and Rakeem Nunez-Roches, to set the tone at the line of scrimmage and keep Hall inside the tackles if Big Blue wants to have success against the better half of the Jets’ diverse offense.

Stopping the passing threats will be another issue, but it always helps when an opponent's offense is made one-dimensional and forced to beat you through the air for four quarters. The key is not letting Hall get the best of you at critical moments of the game because one flashy run could be the difference between getting another big upset and seeing the slight momentum from the week before ripped away in a single play. 

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Stephen Lebitsch
STEPHEN LEBITSCH

“Stephen Lebitsch is a graduate of Fordham University, Class of 2021, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications (with a minor in Sports Journalism) and spent three years as a staff writer for The Fordham Ram. With his education and immense passion for the space, he is looking to transfer his knowledge and talents into a career in the sports media industry. Along with his work for the FanNation network and Giants Country, Stephen’s stops include Minute Media and Talking Points Sports.

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