|
Giants (0-0) Minnesota (0-0)
The Vikings finished third in the NFC North
last season with a 7-10 record. The last time they finished first in their division
was 2022. The Vikings then lost their Wild Card Playoff game to the Giants 31-24.
The
Giants finished third in the NFC East with a 6-11 record. The last time the Giants
won their division title was in 2011. The Giants went on to win Super Bowl XLVI. Minnesota
Vikings
The Vikings have never won a Super
Bowl, though they had four appearances in eight years from 1969-1976. Last season
in a game against Green Bay, quarterback Kirk Cousins was leading the team to
their third straight win when he injured his achilles tendon in the fourth quarter.
Cousins had never missed a game because of injury in his 12-year career, but this
one put him out for the rest of the year.
The Vikings closed out their 2023
season losing six of their final seven games including their last four. Minnesota
decided to move on from Cousins, and he signed on to a four-year, $180 million
contract with Atlanta Falcons in March. Veteran Sam Darnold signed a one-year,
$10 million contract with the Vikings, who also added another quarterback, drafting
J.J. McCarthy with the 10th overall pick, acquired by a trade with the New York
Jets. NY
Giants
The Giants have been to five Super
Bowls, have won four, and this year are celebrating playing in their 100th season.
They have special uniforms designed to honor this event twice this season, and
will be wearing them to start things off on Sunday. The Giants had many areas
they needed to improve on during the offseason and hope to have accomplished that
goal. They even looked at moving up in this year’s draft to select a quarterback,
likely Drake Maye, who went to the Patriots as the number 3 overall pick.
Aside
from player acquisitions in free agency and the draft, the Giants have a new defensive
coordinator, special teams coordinator, and offensive line coach. Head coach Brian
Daboll also took over the play calling duties for this year. Two Giants key player
losses were safety Xavier McKinney, and running back Saquon Barkley. Minnesota
Vikings Offense
Sam
Darnold was expected to be the likely starting quarterback to start the season,
and that became a certainty when J.J. McCarthy, the fifth quarterback selected
in the 2024 draft, suffered an injury during the preseason. McCarthy had surgery
on his torn right meniscus, and will miss the 2024 season. Darnold, a former No.
3 overall pick by the New York Jets in 2018, has had a tough career, and over
the past six years with three different teams has thrown 63 touchdowns and 56
interceptions.
Darnold's off to a fresh start with a team that was tied for
5th in total passing yards while using four different quarterbacks. The skilled
receivers include Justin Jefferson who missed 7 games with a hamstring injury,
and still led the team with 1074 yards, averaging 15.8 yards a catch. Tight end
T.J. Hockenson was next, but he won't be available for a few games. Hockenson
tore his ACL and MCL in the next to last game last season.
Jordan Addison had
to step up in his rookie year when Jefferson was out, and he led the team in touchdowns
with 10. Addison sustained an injury in joint practices with Cleveland last month,
and was limited in practice this week. The Vikings rushing offense was ranked
29th last year, and they brought in running back Aaron Jones from Green Bay. Jones
is replacing Alexander Mattison who led the team last year with 700 rushing yards.
Jones finished off his last five games with the Packers, running for over 100
yards in each of them, including two playoff games. Minnesota
Vikings Defense
Brian
Flores is in his second year as defensive coordinator for the Vikings. Flores
improved the team in just about every area. The defense finished up their season
ranked 16 overall in the NFL, higher than that on rushing defense, and lower on
passing defense. A big loss was defensive end Danielle Hunter, who is now with
the Houston Texans. Last year Hunter had 16.5 sacks, and the Vikings also lost
linebacker D.J. Wonnum who had 8. No one else on the team had more than 3 sacks.
They addressed that by bringing in linebackers Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel,
and Dallas Turner, their second draft pick in the first round.
There were a
number of other players brought in up front and in the secondary, cornerbacks
Shaq Griffin and Stephon Gilmore. That was fortunate, as cornerback Mekhi Blackmon
tore his ACL during a training camp practice and is out for the year, Flores will
have to get everyone used to working together. The Vikings were dealt a blow with
the tragedy of cornerback draft pick Khyree Jackson, who died in a car accident
along with two former Maryland high school teammates. The team pledged support
for his family. Giants Offense
What Giants fans should be thinking about when Daniel Jones is ready to call for
his first snap of the season, shouldn't be about his quarterback abilities, which
often come under question. The focus should be all eyes on the offensive line.
Last year Jones started six games and suffered a torn right ACL leading to two
others stepping in, so a total of three quarterbacks tried to get something going
against opposing defenses. There was a lack of depth and the Giants ended up being
the most sacked team in the league last season. They gave up 85 sacks, which was
20 more than the next worst team, and was the second most sacks allowed in NFL
history. The Giants passing offense was ranked next to last in the league.
The Giants replaced offensive line coach Bobby Johnson with former Las Vegas Raiders
offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo. They also added some skilled players to
the offensive line, left guard Jon Runyan Jr., right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor,
right guard Greg Van Roten, and guard Aaron Stinnie. Brian Flores does like to
blitz, so they will be tested. Jones needs to stay healthy and he has a nice set
of receivers to work with. That includes selecting Malik Nabers with the number
6 overall pick to work with veteran Darius Slayton, 2023 draft pick Jalin Hyatt,
and former second-round pick Wan'Dale Robinson. Top tight end Darren Waller retired
so Daniel Bellinger will take the lead. Chris Manhertz and Theo Johnson, selected
in the fourth round, are also available.
A big hit to the Giants offense was
allowing running back Saquon Barkley to slip away. Even missing three games, Barkley
was near 1000 yards on the season and had 10 touchdowns, 6 running and 4 catching.
People saw Barkley on Friday in his debut game playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Barkley ran for 109 yards and had 3 touchdowns. The Giants picked up Devin Singletary
to be the lead running back and will look to use a committee approach with newly
drafted Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Eric Gray. Giants
Defense
The Giants have parted ways with
Wink Martindale, and Shane Bowen is the new defensive coordinator. In his last
three years doing that for the Tennessee Titans, they ranked at or near the top
in run defense, and in keeping teams in the red zone area from scoring touchdowns.
The biggest difference the players will see is in the area of blitzing which was
a staple of Martindale's defense. Bowen relies more on bringing constant up front
pressure, and looks to have the right players in place.
Defensive tackle Dexter
Lawrence was a major problem for the Vikings the last time these two teams met.
Lawrence will be working with Kayvon Thibodeaux, who had a career high 11.5 sacks
last year, and outside linebacker Brian Burns, acquired from the Carolina Panthers
in a trade. The Giants should be able to deliver the quarterback pressure Bowen
will be looking for getting it from the front seven and at times with just four.
The Giants secondary couldn't afford to keep safety Xavier McKinney, and will
have to show they can overcome that loss. Cornerback Banks did very well last
year against some talented receivers in his rookie season, and should be up to
the task of covering Justin Jefferson. The Giants also
re-signed Adoree' Jackson after allowing him to test free agency. Jason Pinnock
would be the starting free safety as well as Dane Belton. The Giants also catch
a break in that Jordan Addison may not be playing at full strength.
Overall
As we said earlier, the last time the Giants won the division, they went on to
win the Super Bowl. It all starts with Game one of the season, and here we are.
The Giants would be hard put not to have a better showing for their home stadium
fans than what they presented to them in the season opener last year, a 40-0 loss
to the Dallas Cowboys. Since winning their
Super Bowl championship in 2011, the Giants have had only three winning seasons,
2012, 2016, and 2022. In their postseason games they lost two and won one, and
that was their 2022 win over the Minnesota Vikings. NFC
East Games
Friday at 8:15pm Packers (0-0)
at Eagles (0-0) |---| Eagles 34 - Packers 29
Sunday at 1:00pm Vikings (0-0)
at Giants (0-0)
Sunday at 4:25pm Cowboys (0-0) at Browns (0-0)
Sunday at
4:25pm Commanders (0-0) at Buccaneers (0-0)
The Eagles are the only NFC East
team favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Next Games
Sept
15 Giants at Washington
Sept 22 Giants at Cleveland
|
