SEATTLE — When Tyrone Tracy Jr. converted from wide receiver to running back at Purdue last year, he lifted weights with the Boilermakers’ offensive linemen and ate the same monstrous meals they devoured at the training table. All to bulk up, gain an edge and add 12 pounds of muscle, going from 198 to 210 for his new role. Tracy preserved his explosiveness despite the added weight, though, and continued to play with that same “juice,” a trait noted by multiple Giants teammates postgame Sunday. That prompted Joe Schoen and the Giants to draft the sixth-year senior in April’s fifth round, and that presented a major problem for the Seahawks’ defense in the rookie’s eye-opening coming out party. Tracy, 24, said as the Giants’ offensive line kept punching Seattle for 175 rushing yards and 5.1 per carry, he looked across the line of scrimmage and could see the Seahawks wearing down. “Oh yeah, for sure,” Tracy said. “You can see it. You can see it in their eyes. Because at a certain point, the D-line, they’re gonna get tired. Really that’s what football is: Football is about imposing your will on the other person. So if we just continue to impose our will on other people, at a certain point in the game, they’re gonna fold. “And I felt like today, we just continued to keep doing it, kept doing it, kept doing it,” Tracy added. “And at the end of the day, I felt like our O-line went out there and did a better job than their D-line.” This was not just about Tracy. As the rookie said: “I did a good job today, but it wasn’t just me.” This was also the most complete Giants offensive line effort in recent memory, born out of the starting five’s pride and understanding of what they mean to this team’s 2024 bottom line. “I think this team is going to go as far as this O-line and our D-line plays,” dominant left guard Jon Runyan Jr. said. “We take pride in that.” They took last week’s 26 rushing yards on 24 carries in a home loss to the Dallas Cowboys to heart, made corrections and saw immediate results. “I’m proud of the effort our backs had today and everyone in general,” center John Michael Schmitz said. “It was just a mindset we had that we were gonna get it done… We just focused more on our details and execution in the run game. We knew what area we needed to work on.” Runyan Jr. also said he was pleased that the line had “no pre-snap penalties” and no “holdings,” and it was “just clean up front.” This had already been a better pass protecting O-line than previous seasons, but on Sunday they added an effective running game and consistent discipline. The result was that they controlled most of the game. Left tackle Andrew Thomas even bailed Daniel Jones out on the offense’s first play by recovering the quarterback’s early fumble. Tracy’s emergence in the absence of injured starter Devin Singletary (groin), however, was the most exciting development given what it could mean for the offense’s future, as well. He went off for 129 yards on 18 carries, good for a 7.2-yard average. And that included two explosives: a 27-yard run off left tackle in the second quarter, and a 25-yarder up the gut in the third. The Giants scored 10 combined points on those two drives. “You look at those three, four-yard carries in the first and second quarter,” Schmitz said. “And when you get down the line, you’re just leaning on the D-linemen up front. And those four-yard carries can turn into bigger gains, an explosive run, with the backs we have.” Tracy said the 27-yard run into space did charge him up, but he was already feeling good as his carry volume began to increase and he observed the Giants O-line going to work. “I was already in the flow of it before that,” Tracy said with a smile. “We had an inside-zone run in the first quarter. I tripped up. That was about to be a big gain, but I tripped and fell. So I knew it was coming. “I just had to continue to follow my rules, follow my fundamentals and understand that when my time comes to make a big gain, you have to make it,” he continued. “If it’s two yards, get two yards. If it’s 20 yards, make sure you get that 20. Because you can’t leave explosives out there on the football field – not in the NFL.” Tracy was going to see an increased workload regardless on Sunday due to Singletary’s absence. But the door swung wide open for him when Eric Gray fumbled on the goal line on the Giants’ first drive, and the Seahawks’ Rayshawn Jenkins returned the ball 102 yards for a Seattle touchdown. Tracy is the bigger, better back for that situation. Gray was used perfectly by Brian Daboll on two screen passes that went for 19 and 18 yards on that first drive, respectively. But as multiple teammates noted, Tracy’s strength and intensity make him difficult for defenses to bring down. “He’s a hard guy to tackle,” Jones said. “[He] hit the hole hard and then [made] guys miss at the second level on a couple of those runs. I thought he had a really good game.” Jones played a big role in the running game, too, and not just with his 11 carries for 38 yards. The quarterback checked into a few of Tracy’s best runs when he recognized a light box from Seattle’s defense. That gave the line and Tracy an edge, running the right plays at the right times. “The O-line did a great job opening some holes,” Tracy said. “The quarterback did a great job throwing the ball down the field. That opens up the whole defense, because when we’re catching the ball down the field, they can’t just stack the box or we’ll throw it over your head. And you can’t just go back deep because we’re gonna run the ball. So it kind of puts the defense in a dilemma. “As you could see, our offense was moving the ball,” he added. “It wasn’t really anything they did anytime we had to punt. It was more so on our end. We have to clean up a couple different things, but I think we’ve got a lot more in the tank.” Tracy, in other words, is eager for more. In fact, Daboll said Tracy was making the “eat” sign with his hands on the sideline during the game, similar to the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott, urging the coaches to keep feeding him. The coach received the message: “Get him the ball,” Daboll said. Let Tracy eat. He lifted weights and ate with offensive linemen to become a running back. Now he’s teaming with the Giants’ offensive line to eat in the NFL.