Cam Skattebo says he plans to keep running the way he always has, after being flagged for impermissible helmet contact in the Giants' win at Houston. CBS Sports' John Breech wrote that Skattebo "made it clear he intends to keep seeking out contact." ESPN reported that Skattebo and coach John Harbaugh both objected to the first-quarter call. The flag was for unnecessary roughness and came against the Texans on Sunday. SB Nation said the penalty came when he trucked a Houston defender.
Harbaugh was the more pointed of the two. Yahoo Sports' Jason Owens quoted him saying, "That's the way you're supposed to run." Owens framed the dispute as part of a larger problem. In his words, the NFL has yet to come up with a player safety measure that doesn't "legislate the football out of football." Only CBS calls the penalty rarely enforced, and none of the summaries we have say how much yardage the flag cost New York.
SB Nation also noted Skattebo's background: a physical runner who was off to a great start as a rookie before a season-ending leg injury. It added that he drew attention over the offseason for calling CTE an "excuse" and later apologizing. That makes a comment about seeking contact more sensitive than it would otherwise be. We have no word on whether he addressed that history this week.
The penalty did not slow him down. In the 27-21 overtime win he ran 17 times for 124 yards and a touchdown, 7.3 yards per carry, with a long of 42. That is his best game of the year by a wide margin. Before Sunday his highest rushing total in 2026 was 81 yards, in the opener against Dallas, and he had not topped 60 in any of the previous four games. Entering Sunday he had a 3.6 yard average on 81 carries, and the 17 carries Sunday took that to 294 yards through six games. The Giants as a team ran for 188 yards at 5.5 per carry and held a 35:50 to 26:45 edge in possession.
The officiating was not one-sided in the box score. Houston was called for 10 penalties for 80 yards, and New York for four for 50, including Skattebo's.
The win leaves New York 4-2 and first in the NFC East, with a one-game winning streak after a 34-27 loss to New Orleans and a 27-27 tie at Washington. Houston is 2-5. How Skattebo carries the ball matters for a running game that is trending up, and he has said he won't change his approach. The Giants' next game is at Philadelphia on Sunday, Nov. 8, and officials there will be watching how he runs.
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