Averaging 3.1 yards per carry through seven weeks of professional football should buy a running back absolute silence at the locker room microphone. Yet on Wednesday, Ashton Jeanty stood in front of reporters, looked past his own four-game losing streak, and decided to question the physical manhood of the New York Jets ahead of their Week 8 matchup at MetLife Stadium.
“I think we can definitely get the run game going,” Jeanty said Wednesday, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “Get back on track and really get after these guys. A couple guys out there that don’t really want to tackle, but I’m not going to say names.”
Let’s examine the record before we hand out style points for October trash talk. The Raiders opened the 2026 campaign at 3-0 and have since cratered to 3-4 on the back of four consecutive defeats and a dormant ground attack. When a back is churning out 3.1 yards a pop, handing an opposing defensive meeting room laminated bulletin-board material is an act of competitive negligence.
A 3.1-Yard Average Demands Humility, Not Anonymous Shots
I respect a feature back who wants the ball when his offense is skidding, and I understand why the Silver and Black locker room is desperate for a spark. Jeanty tried to strike the right leadership chord on Wednesday when addressing the four-game slide.
“I think the main thing is we’ve just got to stick together. You lose games, everybody starts questioning things,” Jeanty said. “Most importantly, not pointing fingers. Everybody has to work together. It’s a team sport.”
Refusing to point fingers inside your own building while pointing an anonymous finger across the country at another locker room’s courage is a wild contradiction. Either name the specific defenders on the Jets’ tape who are turning down contact in the hole, or keep the critique inside the film room until your own offensive line proves it can move a front seven.
Now, the Raiders’ coaching staff and Jeanty’s defenders in the desert have a very fair counterargument: the Jets’ run defense has been a sieve, and the tape backs up every word he said. Through seven weeks, New York ranks 24th in the NFL by surrendering 127.7 rushing yards per game, per ESPN, and second-level defenders making business decisions in space is the exact reason opposing backs keep gashing them.
The Tape Against New York Leaves Zero Excuses Left
Look closely at the wreckage opposing ground games have left against New York’s defensive front and secondary run-support fits this season. When defenses fail to set firm edges or when safeties and overhang linebackers hesitate to fill the alley against downhill duo and zone concepts, volume runners feast on leaky pursuit angles and arm tackles.
Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai battered New York for 146 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per tote. Detroit Lions star Jahmyr Gibbs sliced through them for 99 yards and two scores on 20 carries at 5.0 yards a clip. Last week, Miami Dolphins running back Ollie Gordon II pounded out 103 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries, averaging 4.1 yards per rush.
Those numbers do not exonerate Jeanty for talking on Wednesday; they trap him. Because when Monangai, Gibbs, and Gordon have already proven that this 24th-ranked New York defense folds against committed downhill rushing, a 3.1-yard average stops looking like bad luck and starts looking like an indictment of the runner and his blocking unit.
Calling out another man’s willingness to hit you in the mouth changes the entire temperature of a Sunday afternoon in East Rutherford. Every linebacker and safety in a green jersey just had their professional pride challenged in the New York papers, and they will spend the rest of the week waiting to meet him in the A-gap.
Jeanty just cashed in every ounce of grace he had left for a sluggish 2026 campaign. When the fourth quarter ends at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon, anything short of a 100-yard statement on that turf will turn his Wednesday bravado into the exact moment the league stopped fearing him in the backfield.
