Without David Montgomery in the Houston Texans' lineup for Week 6 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, this offense heavily relied on second-year running back Woody Marks to lead the way on the ground with a majority of the work for the day.
Marks found his way to 17 touches both on the ground and in the passing game, combined for over 80 all-purpose yards, and turned in a second-straight week of solid performances en route to a big win in London.
Now, the Texans are heading into Week 7 against the New York Giants. Montgomery is out once again with the same groin injury, and Marks seems prepared to take a bulk of Houston's workload at the running back position.
And against a Giants rushing defense that hasn't been too stellar for six weeks of the season, there could a road for Marks to have another strong day as he's had for the past couple of games.
However, based on the Texans' latest roster decision for their running back room for Week 7, there tends to be even more optimism surrounding just how solid of a day Marks could have, strictly based on the vast opportunity he'll have on his hands.
Texans to Face Giants With Just 2 RBs on Roster
According to KPRC2's Aaron Wilson, sources say that the Texans will not be signing or elevating any running backs from the practice squad for Week 7 against the Giants––thus leaving Houston with just two running backs on the roster for this weekend: Woody Marks and Dare Ogunbowale.
The Texans do have a third running back on their practice squad in Deuce Vaughn that some speculated could be elevated on gameday in order to provide a bit more depth at the running back position.
Instead, the Texans will steer clear of using one of their practice squad elevations on Vaughn, and face this Giants team with as slim a running back room as they've utilized so far this season.
Now, of course, such a setup in the Texans' backfield isn't expected to be one that'll be used long-term. Odds are, Houston will see Montgomery return to the lineup as soon as they get out of their bye in Week 9 against the LA Chargers.
However, for this game against the Giants in particular, the Texans will have just two running backs to bank one; and one of those names in the backfield in Ogunbowale has yet to record a carry through six weeks of the season so far.
So when taking a step back to look at the Texans' running back situation for Week 7, all signs seem to be pointing towards a big day for Marks.
Through both Weeks 5 and 6, that Marks has been the lead ball carrier in the Texans' offense, he's seen a snap share of 85% and 78%, respectively. It seems almost certain that his snap share will look largely similar to those two showings in this weekend’s game vs. the Giants, and lead to what might be his most impressive statistical game yet.
So far this season, the Giants have found themselves ranked 29th in the NFL for total rushing yards allowed, and 31st in yards per carry allowed.
If the Texans can gain any consistency on the ground similar to the past two weeks, Marks will likely be the biggest beneficiary of that plan of attack. That already seemed to be the case leading into this weekend, but becomes even more certain now that Houston's depth at the running back position will probably be as barren as it will be all season long.
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