New York Giants: Keys to Beating the Minnesota Vikings
Aug 12, 2016; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham (13) looks on in the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Giants begin a challenging two-game road stretch starting with a visit to Minnesota, a place that hasn’t been kind to them as of late
History hasn’t exactly been on the side of the New York Giants (2-1), who take on the undefeated Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. For starters, the Giants are 23-26-1 overall on Monday night, a mark that includes a 15-27-1 road record.
They’ve been involved in some lopsided games against the Vikings dating back to 2009, includinga 44-7 Vikings win at Minnesota, and the most recent one being a 49-17 loss last year (also at Minnesota).
Speaking of Minnesota, the Giants have not won a road game against the Vikings since 2004, when they emerged with a 34-13 victory. (Note: The Giants did win a road game “at Minnesota” 21-3 in 2010. However, that game had been moved to Detroit after the old Metrodome’s roof collapsed under the weight of a snowstorm.)
History aside, this is a new Giants era led by a new head coach and the more pressing question is going to be just how resilient this group really is after suffering such a devastating loss last week to Washington, a game that the Giants literally gave away thanks to sloppy play and turnovers.
“You just go back to what got us here in the first place, go back to the basics,” said offensive lineman Justin Pugh when asked how the Giants can avoid falling into a rut.
Let’s take a look at some of the key questions the Giants will need to answer in order to have a fighting chance.
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How will New York Handle the Crowd Noise?
Loud stadiums can never be a good thing for a visiting team, and certainly not for a team whose quarterback tends to tweak the play and protection calls right up until the last possible minute. Therein lies one of several challenges for Eli Manning and the offense, to get lined up and to all move on the same snap count despite what’s sure to be eardrum splitting noise.
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“It’s going to be loud,” said head coach Ben McAdoo this week. “I’m sure it’s not going to be much louder than the Metrodome. I don’t know if you can get any louder than that building there.”
To prepare for the expected noise levels, the Giants worked inside their field house last week where they cranked up recordings of crowd noise to the highest possible volume.
They also put a focus on hand signals and silent counts, the latter being “like it’s another play, another scheme, in the offense” according to McAdoo.
If all that preparation doesn’t work for a Giants team that is coming off 11 penalties at home the prior week, it could be a long night for New York.
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Who’s In and Who’s Out?
The Giants brought all their injured players with them to Minnesota with the exception of safety Nat Berhe (concussion). The team has already declared defensive tackle Robert Thomas (illness) and safety Darian Thompson (foot) out, so we know they won’t be playing.
However, the three biggest question marks—cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (groin) and Eli Apple (hamstring), and running back Rashad Jennings (thumb)—will all be in the building Monday night. Will any of those three play? Let’s start with the defensive backs since the Giants are rather thin going into this game at both corner and safety.
The early feeling is that Apple probably won’t dress for this game, but there is a remote possibility that Rodgers-Cromartie might dress and serve as an emergency type of player. The Giants, remember, did not hold their weekly workouts until literally a couple of hours before their chartered flight to Minnesota.
If one or both Rodgers-Cromartie and Apple were that bad, they probably would have found a way to get the open workouts in much earlier in the week, especially considering they had an extra day in which to prepare. McAdoo said last week that neither Rodgers-Cromartie nor Apple have to practice in order to play in the game, a stark contrast to the practice former head coach Tom Coughlin used to have.
Given that Rodgers-Cromartie is a bit more versatile in the defense—he can play outside and in the slot—and, given that he seemed to be moving much better Friday during the part of practice open to the media, there is a small chance he could dress for this game unless he suffered a setback during the Saturday practice. Assuming the worst, the best guess is that Leon Hall and Andrew Adams will rotate at free safety depending on the personnel grouping, with Trevin Wade getting the start at cornerback.
Sep 18, 2016; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (90) celebrates a sack of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (9) during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Can They Win the Matchup in the Pit?
The Giants offensive line vs. the Vikings defensive line is a scary matchup, especially after that Minnesota unit made the Carolina offensive line look like Swiss cheese the week before. On the other side, the Giants defensive line against the Vikings offensive line is a better match-up and is one they have to win.
Right defensive end Olivier Vernon probably has his best matchup of the year against second-year man T.J. Clemmings. Vernon has been disruptive thus far, but the sacks haven’t really come for him just yet. This weekend could change all that—Vernon has a lightning-fast first step which should give Clemmings some headaches.
You could say this every week for the Giants and most teams, but winning in the trenches will be pivotal. However, that’s even more of the case on Monday Night Football as the Vikings offer a test on both sides of the ball in that regard.
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Will They Open Things Up?
Despite having a much better receiving corps in Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz, and Sterling Shepard, the Giants have only completed passes to those three players 46 times out of quarterback Eli Manning’s 76 pass completions. Compare that to the fact that Manning has completed 24 passes to the trio of Shane Vereen and tight ends Larry Donnell and Will Tye.
To further break down those numbers, the 24 pass completions to Vereen, Donnell and Tye are more than those completed to Beckham (19), Shepard (16), and Cruz (11).
If the receivers are the Giants’ strength and the pass blocking is there, those numbers need to change. The question, though, is whether the offensive line will be able to give Manning the time he needs to wait for the receivers to get into their patterns before he has to make the throw.
One thing the Giants might want to try doing more of is running short slants. The slant has been pretty much open for the Giants this year, especially with Sterling Shepard. So it might behoove the Giants to take the old Vince Lombardi approach of continuing to do what’s worked until the opponent finds a way to stop it.
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Prediction: Minnesota 27, Giants 21
The Giants injuries on defense are stirring up far too many memories of last year, when they scrambled to fill holes with guys who probably weren’t ideal fits. Talent level aside, it’s all about chemistry, and the concerns in the defensive secondary in particular are likely to be too much to overcome.
Coming up against a well-coached Vikings team, New York will be tested in most facets of the game. They have the talent to compete, surely. However, the question is always whether this team will play to their potential or falter far too often.
It won’t be a blowout or a lopsided win for the Vikings as I think the Giants offense will keep them in the game. But the state of the secondary is worrisome. Thus, the home team looks like they’ll be walking out of Monday Night Football the victors.