The New York Giants defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 31-24, on Sunday afternoon.
In their first playoff game since 2012, Big Blue came out gunning for this upset and delivered. The win gave New York another week of life as they advance to the NFC divisional round to face the Philidelphia Eagles on Saturday night in primetime.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.
Offense: A-
The Giants played a clean game offensively on Sunday.
Everything went well for New York on that side of the ball. They did not commit a turnover, scored on each of their three opening drives, and only punted twice on the day.
One of the only knocks on this group was they had a chance to win the game but Darius Slayton dropped a crucial third-down ball. Nevertheless, scoring on five of seven meaningful drives is a great conversion rate and 31 offensive points are tied for the most this season.
Individually, the Giants’ playmakers also performed well.
Daniel Jones passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns in his playoff debut. He was also electric in the run game leading New York’s rushing attack with 78 yards. Saquon Barkley was also dominant on the day as he totaled 109 scrimmage yards and two rushing touchdowns on only 14 touches. Finally, Isaiah Hodgins was once again dominant versus the Vikings as he recorded eight catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.
The only player that had an apparent poor game was Evan Neal as he struggled to defend Danielle Hunter off the edge.
This performance was great to see from Big Blue as they prepare to play one of the league’s best defenses in the Eagles. New York has now scored 20+ points in seven straight games (with their starters present) and they will look to continue this against Philidelphia.
Defense: C-
While the Vikings do have a potent offense, the Giants’ defense (specifically the pass defense) did not show up on Sunday.
Kirk Cousins was able to pass for 273 yards and two touchdowns with a passer rating of 112.9. He continuously picked apart New York’s defense as he was a marksman in the short to intermediate range. The main benefit of this passing attack was T.J. Hockenson, who the Giants could once again not guard, as he totaled 129 yards on 10 catches.
New York also allowed the Vikings to score on three straight drives allowing the team to get back into the game. Overall, surrendering 24 points and 332 yards while recording no sacks or turnovers is not something to hang your hat on. However, there were a lot of positives on the day for Big Blue’s defense.
The defense recorded 11 quarterback hits on Cousins — four of them came from Dexter Lawrence, who was unstoppable on the day. The team also did a great job guarding one of the league’s best receivers in Justin Jefferson as he was held to only seven catches for 47 yards and only one catch in the second half.
The run defense was also phenomenal. This was a facet of the defense that had struggled all year but they showed up on Sunday as they held the Vikings to 61 yards rushing.
Most importantly, the defense performed close to par because of how well it performed late in the fourth quarter. The Giants needed two straight stops to win the game and on those two drives, Big Blue forced a punt and then a turnover on downs.
Special Teams: B
The special teams unit did its job in this Wild Card matchup.
Richie James returned two punts for 17 yards, while Gary Brightwell returned his one kick for 19 yards. In the punting game, Jamie Gillan averaged 45 yards per punt and landed one inside the 20-yard line. Finally,
Graham Gano was once again perfect as he made all four of his extra points and his one field goal.
Coaching: A
Brian Daboll and his coaching staff deserve an A for giving this franchise its first playoff victory in 11 years. Daboll had his troops ready from the get-go and the team looked inspired throughout. His in-game coaching was perfect and his decisions to go for it on fourth down were brilliant and helped New York win this game.
As for his coordinators, Mike Kafka had a great game plan on the offensive end. Kafka put Jones and Barkley in space to make plays and it worked as the two stars combined for all of Big Blue’s touchdowns. The former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback coach was also amazing on crucial downs as the Giants were 7-13 on third downs and 2-2 on fourth downs which extended drives and put points on the board. It also helps when your offense puts up 431 yards.
On the other side of the ball, Wink Martindale did not coach as great of a game but still got the job done. He did not go to his man look as often as he had in the past which allowed Cousins to have more time in the pocket. However, Martindale had his defense also show up in the clutch as they made stops on the last two drives and held the Vikings to 4-10 on third down.
