Giants vs Vikings: Postgame Thoughts
- Kenny McDonald
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Another Sunday, another loss. The Giants lose their 13th game of the year to the Minnesota Vikings in an absolute sleeper. Jaxson Dart and the offense were horrific, and if not for a few big plays from the defense, this one could have been very ugly.
Quick Recap
Kicking woes and poor special teams once again got the best of the Giants as Ben Sauls, a guy who has never kicked in an NFL game, sailed the opening kickoff out of bounds to put the Vikings at the 40 yard line. That contributed to an early 3-0 Vikings lead.
Paulson Adebo picked off JJ McCarthy on the Vikings' second drive which led to a 27-yard Giants field goal, knotting the game at three apiece. The next two Giants possessions of the half ended in a Jaxson Dart interception and a punt. If not for Brian Burns' big sack on McCarthy with 17 seconds left in the 2nd and Tyler Nubin scooping the fumble and scoring, it would have been 13-3 Vikings heading into the break. The only bright spot of the 1st half was the defense in forcing those two turnovers.
The Giants received the second half kickoff and proceeded to run 4 plays for 6 yards which led to a punt. They would posses the ball just two more times and scored once more on a field goal in the 3rd quarter. The offense, outside of Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Devin Singletary who combined for 118 rushing yards, failed to get into any sort of rhythm today. The second half was just as bad as the first as Jaxson Dart completed just 7 passes and was sacked twice, the final sack by Andrew Van Ginkel on 4th to seal the game for the Vikings.
The first and second halves were indistinguishable for the offense as they struggled to move the ball through the air against a stout Vikings defense. Theo Johnson and Darius Slayton are still dropping passes. Dart is still taking costly sacks and making rookie mistakes. There just isn't a lot to be excited about with this team right now.
Key Contributors
The defense was the bright spot for the Giants today, so two guys on that side of the ball are my key contributors this week.
Brian Burns
If the Giants won this game, he would receive the game ball. Burns tallied 4 tackles and 2 sacks, bringing his sack total up to 15 on the year. One of those sacks led to the aforementioned Tyler Nubin scoop-and-score in the second quarter. His All-Pro level season continues.
Tyler Nubin
The scoop-and-score was massive late in the 2nd quarter to bring the Giants within 3 points heading into the half. He also tallied 6 total tackles and a pass deflection. Overall, a solid game from the second-year safety.
Final Thoughts
Mike Kafka is coaching a sinking ship and everyone is checked out. This Giants team is playing for the offseason at this point. The defense played great but man, what a stinker from the offense.
Next week's matchup is a battle of the undesirables as the Giants head to Vegas to take on the Raiders. Talk about another sinking ship. The Raiders are also 2-12 and vying for that top overall pick in the 2026 draft. Whoever loses next week's game will most likely lock up the number one pick.
Just two more games of Giants football left on the year. Another season in the dumps. Let's be grateful that it will all be over soon once Joe Schoen is fired, and grateful that the organization is two games away from starting fresh in 2026.