The sixth-seeded New York Giants will face the third-seeded Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Super Wild Card Weekend. The game will be played on Sunday, January 15 at 4:30 p.m. ET and will air on FOX.
The game is a rematch of a Week 16 contest that saw the Vikings barely eke out a 27-24 victory on a franchise-record 61-yard field goal as time expired.
“Actually, I talked to some of the guys after the game against Minnesota and said, ‘We’ll see you guys again,'” running back Saquon Barkley told ESPN on Sunday. “It was a great matchup [in Minnesota]. It was a great game.
“Obviously they came out with the win. But we’re excited because this is the stuff you dream about as a kid in the National Football League. Not many people on this team had an opportunity to play in the playoffs. It has been a tough couple years here and we finally have our shot. We feel we have a balanced team that complements each other really well. It’s a one-week season now.”
The Giants match up well with the Vikings and will be healthier than they were back in Week 16. Not only has safety Xavier McKinney returned, but New York is also expected to welcome back linebacker Azeez Ojulari, defensive lineman Leonard Williams and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. They will also have linebacker Jarrad Davis this time around.
The Vikings, meanwhile, have gone in the opposite direction in terms of health. They’ve recently lost offensive linemen Brian O’Neill and Austin Schlottmann for the season.
“It’s the playoffs. Whatever the seeds are, the seeds are,” Giants head coach Brian Daboll said. “We’ll prepare as hard as we can to play a really good football team in a hostile environment.”