Vikings at Giants

[CharVike]

New season and new era. Sammy is back on his original stomping grounds. We are road favorites which says more about the Giants than us. The G men are in tank mode already and will have a few wins but are playing for pick No 1 more than anything else. We are playing for ah... I'm not really sure. No more than entertainment but I don't see much entertainment in marching some bum QB out there and hoping he can all the sudden turn it around. I've seen that act over and over. I don't see too much scoring in this one. Ingram is about to get his #### kicked by Lawrence again so I expect Bradberry to try and help which will put others on an island which means Darnold will get some hits. Our punter Wright is one shank away from getting cut. I guess we will try and get the ground game going and if it fails it will be an all out passing game. D Jones got a big contract thanks to us. The Giants have nothing on O and that starts with the OL. That's a bad group. They threw Barkley away so I guess it's ground game by committee. I'll assume the D is ahead of the O and our starting O only played one series in the preseason. KOC will try and work the kinks out in this game. The Giants have a decent D. My guess is 13 to 12 us. Will the thrill wins it with a chip shot FG.

[VikingsVictorious]

New season and new era. Sammy is back on his original stomping grounds. We are road favorites which says more about the Giants than us. The G men are in tank mode already and will have a few wins but are playing for pick No 1 more than anything else. We are playing for ah... I'm not really sure. No more than entertainment but I don't see much entertainment in marching some bum QB out there and hoping he can all the sudden turn it around. I've seen that act over and over. I don't see too much scoring in this one. Ingram is about to get his #### kicked by Lawrence again so I expect Bradberry to try and help which will put others on an island which means Darnold will get some hits. Our punter Wright is one shank away from getting cut. I guess we will try and get the ground game going and if it fails it will be an all out passing game. D Jones got a big contract thanks to us. The Giants have nothing on O and that starts with the OL. That's a bad group. They threw Barkley away so I guess it's ground game by committee. I'll assume the D is ahead of the O and our starting O only played one series in the preseason. KOC will try and work the kinks out in this game. The Giants have a decent D. My guess is 13 to 12 us. Will the thrill wins it with a chip shot FG.

Vegas has an O/U on Darnold at 227 passing yards. In this KOC pass happy offense that is an easy bet to win on the Over. KOC will try to establish the run for maybe 5 plays then it will be bombs away. I'm expecting a much higher scoring game than you. 27-17.

[VikingLord]

I think the success of the Vikings offense this year is going to come down to how well they can run on early downs. If they can do that, Darnold will be put in optimal situations and the passing game should be effective. If they can't do that, it's going to be a loooonnnggg season because Sam Darnold is not a QB who can put a team on his back.

Defensively, it comes down to how effective the front 7 are against the run and pass. I personally think the Vikings secondary won't be terrible - there is simply too much veteran talent there for them to be that bad, but neither do I want opposing teams comfortably chucking it all over the field. The front 7 has to be disruptive and consistent.

Any games that come down to special teams mean the Vikings should have the advantage. The question is, how many games will end up being that close?

I think this game will end up being close, but I'll give it to the Vikings because if they don't get a win here we could be looking at a winless first half of the season.

Vikings - 17
Giants - 10

[CharVike]

That was a good beat down. Turner getting a sack and Van Ginkel did it all. Patrick Jones 2 sacks. I will say Darnold has good feet movement and strong arm. Accuracy will haunt him sooner or later. But he did what was needed today.

[makila]

The Vikings did what they should have done. Very good win. They went on the road, and beat a bad team convincingly, in all aspects of the game.

Offense, without Hock and Addison going out, was sharp. Darnold was in rhythm right from the get go. Multiple receivers were involved, Nailor and JJ both catching TDs in the first half. Aaron Jones, Chandler, and the run game, was refreshing. We were able to run when everyone knew we were going to run. It was so nice. Darnold was efficient today. Not asked to do a lot though.

Defense, the new additions (rookies and fas) all made plays. Some showed up on the stat sheet, and some won't. They played really good. Obviously it's hard to gauge the level of play when the opposition is the NYG offense, it's seriously bad. Secondary seemed to play really well, Murphy better in the slot the majority of the time. Additions in the front seven made impacts. We had five sacks, including Turner picking up his career 1st. Van Ginkel had a pick 6 and a sack. However, as said, the opposition is poor. Side note.... we gave Daniel Jones that contract. Sheesh. Donatell defense was just absolute garbage.

Pace had a stupid penalty.

Second teams was solid for what they were asked to do today. Reichard made all his XPs, no FG attempts. Hunter didn't suck and we didn't return anything punt or ko wise that I can think of. Didn't give up any returns of significance to the NYG.

The play calling was good in multiple instances too. Both sides of the ball. Good plays called in the right situations.

Good win on the road to start the season.

[VikingLord]

Surprisingly little commentary on an otherwise strong showing today against the Giants. I know the Giants aren't getting a lot of respect around the league, but they were still at home and despite their offensive question marks, they have a decent defense and one of the best interior defensive linemen in the league right now. I thought the game would be closer than it ended up, and mostly that result came down to the efficiency of the Vikings on offense and the ability of the defense to neutralize Daniel Jones.

Offensively, I thought Darnold did a fantastic job. He was under some pressure and I thought he handled it very well for the most part and made some really nice reads and throws. I don't fault him for the INT. First, his arm was hit on the throw and second, the Vikings WR was there where the ball came down. I don't know what he was doing, but he should have and could have knocked it down and given the offense another shot. Instead, it looked like he thought he could catch it and just badly misjudged where it was. Not really Darnold's fault that it ended up picked.

I also thought Aaron Jones did a great job. The wheels are still on that bus. He showed creativity and fight and made some nice reads and cuts. He picked up a solid 90+ yards against a defense that I think is going to be among the better run defenses in the league when all is said and done this season. Nice job by him and the offensive line.

Speaking of the offensive line, I thought they did a good job too. The holding call against Bradbury was total BS early. In general, they executed well and while the Giants did get some pressure I thought they did a good job of giving him time to make plays. Once again, the Giants aren't a great team overall, but their defensive front 7 is a solid group and I thought the Vikings handled that challenge very well across the board.

On the defensive side, there were some really nice plays at every level. Daniel Jones, of course, is not exactly a great test. He's pretty much a first read QB who likes to take off if that read isn't there. But Flores didn't get cute defending him or try to stick to some scheme and kept him contained for the most part. The Vikings were able to get some solid pressure from multiple front 7 players and I thought the coverage was pretty good. Van Ginkel's INT was just a really aware play on his part. True, Jones threw a ball he should never have tried to throw on that play, but Van Ginkel also recognized something there and put himself into a great spot to defend that screen attempt. I just felt watching the defense that the players are really enthusiastic about playing together. There was an energy among that front 7 group that was both contagious and effective. They looked like there were having fun.

I'm still not as sold on the secondary. They were decent and made some nice plays as well, but the Giants both dropped a decent number of balls that hit them right in the hands and the secondary benefited from several Jones' misfires. Against a better QB like the one they'll face next week in Purdy the secondary will have to tighten up a bit. Still, no glaring errors were made and overall I liked what I saw from them as well.

It's early in the season. The Giants are not a great offensive team and may not be a great defensive team either. But I liked what I saw from the 2024 Vikings today. This team is going to be sorely tested over the next several weeks by better overall teams than the Giants, and yes it's possible those teams will expose flaws the Giants were not able to expose, but I get a sense this Vikings team is going to surprise us all this year. We'll know a lot more about what they're made of, as well as their potential, after they face the 49ers next week

.

[StpViking]

Great take everyone. Pretty sums it for me.

It's nice to finally blowout a bad team! I can't remember the last time, that's how bad it's been.

[psjordan]

Being a fan for so long, watching games always gives me the “yeah buts”. We won going away, but it was the Giants. We scored 28 but one was a defensive TD. Jefferson caught a long one but only had 4 catches. Punter did OK but shanked another one. So I’ll sum up my feelings this way:

The negatives:
One yard run up the middle on first play of season. What I would do for a creative first play of a season.
Sack on second play of season.
Fumble on third play of season, leaving opponent on our 21 yd line.
Ran FIFTEEEN plays before throwing a pass towards Jefferson. Nice play when we did however. Only 4-for-59 for JJ against a somewhat suspect D.
Shanked another punt for a 26 yarder.
Addison hurt again.

The positives:
Aaron Jones rushing.
Chandler receiving out of the backfield.
Darnold didn’t panic and was somewhat slippery in the pocket.
Turner first sack, PJII getting 2 sacks and Phillips getting one. Nice job overall DL.
Our OL (combined with Darnold movement) only gave up one sack.
Even with the shank I think we averaged 42 per punt.
Sacks + TFL, we had 11 and NYG had 5. That’s a nice stat.
Van Ginkel pick six.

Hey, the Giants are the Giants. They started 5 rookies and DJones is not someone you want to hang team hopes on. But overall I thought the Vikes played with great energy, and other than fumbling our first possession AGAIN, they came to play. I have to say with all the camp distractions and tragedy, the staff had this group ready to go, on the road. Not an easy feat.

As for any of the above leading to any cogent thoughts about next game(s), not for me. I have no idea if that was a high water mark or if that was a good sign of things to come. In theory as the pieces gel we’ll get better, but I guess that’s true for all teams.

All I know is that SF will be a harder test. If we show well, W or L, that could mean good things going forward.

[phantom]

Well done Vikes. Solid performance.

[JJ2014]

They beat a bad team! We need to do more like run the ball better.

[cmoss84]

For having so many new faces, and it being so early on, the defense looked really cohesive. Won't be a top D...but at least a decent one.
Going from NY to SF is polar opposite...being at home should help, especially after this win. Going to be loud AF!

[Cliff]

I'll try not to regurgitate the same points already made, but I think I have a few things to add.

I think the Giants went all in to stop Jefferson. Even his long catch was in between 2 defenders. They dared the team to beat them with their other receivers and the ground game and they did.

Chandler had some issues but he served his purpose. They put Jones in at the perfect times and he looked great. I think Darnold audibled to the run a time or two and had success.

Darnold won't face the Giants every week but considering expectations I think he out-performed what most of us (all of us?) thought he would do. I thought he looked terrific. The accuracy was there, the speed or touch was used in the proper situations. If the team actually needed to score for the last 1.5 quarters I wonder what his stats would have looked like. The 49ers are going to be a great test.

The defense looked really good but I can't help but say "but it's the Giants" again. The players can only play who's on the schedule though and they did great. They made stands in bad position, got sacks, got a pick six, no TDs allowed. They'll have a *real* test next week.

[VikingLord]

Being a fan for so long, watching games always gives me the “yeah buts”. We won going away, but it was the Giants. We scored 28 but one was a defensive TD. Jefferson caught a long one but only had 4 catches. Punter did OK but shanked another one. So I’ll sum up my feelings this way:

The negatives:
One yard run up the middle on first play of season. What I would do for a creative first play of a season.
Sack on second play of season.
Fumble on third play of season, leaving opponent on our 21 yd line.
Ran FIFTEEEN plays before throwing a pass towards Jefferson. Nice play when we did however. Only 4-for-59 for JJ against a somewhat suspect D.
Shanked another punt for a 26 yarder.
Addison hurt again.

50% of your list of negatives were from the first drive of the game. I personally take that as another item you should have added to your list of positives...

All I know is that SF will be a harder test. If we show well, W or L, that could mean good things going forward.

Totally agree with this. The bad thing about the Vikings starting schedule is it is full of theoretically tough matchups, while the good thing about the Vikings starting schedule is it is full of theoretically tough matchups.

As a result, we'll learn a lot about this team early. If they continue to show up and play well every week, well, maybe this will be another one of those surprising years when nobody expects them to do well and they end up doing well.

My son groans when I say that. He seems to think they are going to be terrible this year and as a result will safely wind up with a high pick in next year's draft and can start truly rebuilding the team. When I point out that even if they do end up being that bad at best they will have that 1st round pick before waiting until what, like the 5th round for their next pick due to all the horse swapping KAM did this year to get McCarthy and Turner, well, sucking doesn't sound so good. But he's very much in line with you in that he needs to see it to believe it.

I'm not sure whether I believe it either, but one thing I can say for sure is that it is a lot more fun to watch the Vikings do well when there are no real expectations for them to do well than to watch them when they should be good and don't perform well. I could gladly ride this lack-of-expectations wave all the way to the end of this season.

[VikingLord]

I think the Giants went all in to stop Jefferson. Even his long catch was in between 2 defenders. They dared the team to beat them with their other receivers and the ground game and they did.

I think that is exactly right, and Darnold did what an experienced veteran QB should do when he sees that - he went to other reads and made the defense pay in other ways.

I think some of the upcoming defenses won't bracket JJ that way, including the 49ers defense they will face next week. Sure, they'll roll some coverage looks at JJ and try to confuse Darnold into making some bad reads, but I think the better defenses will try to rattle Darnold with pressure and cover the Vikings straight up. So if the OL can keep Darnold clean, JJ is going to get his.

Darnold won't face the Giants every week but considering expectations I think he out-performed what most of us (all of us?) thought he would do. I thought he looked terrific. The accuracy was there, the speed or touch was used in the proper situations. If the team actually needed to score for the last 1.5 quarters I wonder what his stats would have looked like. The 49ers are going to be a great test.

Why all the disrespect for the Giants defense? I mean, their offense I can understand. Jones is a one-read QB who likes to take off if that read isn't there, the Giants lost their only true marquee player in Barkley, and they lack any real explosiveness, but their front 7 on defense is no slouch against the run or generating pressure, and their DBs, while not elite, are pretty capable. At home, that defense should be pretty formidable this year. So Darnold looking good against them deserves some credit, as do the performances that Jones and Chandler put in on the ground.

I agree the 49ers will be another good test for the offense, but I'm also even more optimistic they can have success after watching the offense perform against the Giants.

The defense looked really good but I can't help but say "but it's the Giants" again. The players can only play who's on the schedule though and they did great. They made stands in bad position, got sacks, got a pick six, no TDs allowed. They'll have a *real* test next week.

Compared to the Donatell defense, the Flores defense seems to understand what they need to defend and how to read and react to what they see. I'm still a bit worried about the secondary, although Flores might have played them a bit looser due to Jones' inability to come off his first read effectively. Against Purdy I think the coverage will need to tighten up, especially in the middle of the field.

Of course, all good defense starts with defending the run and disrupting at the LOS, and in that regard the 49ers will pose a much steeper test than the Giants. If Flores can find ways to keep the pressure on without giving up anything big, I like their chances on defense.

[cmoss84]

Run CMC out tonight...opens up the door for a break for us next week.