The New York Giants (9-7-1) will play in their first postseason game in six years when the face off against the Minnesota Vikings (13-4) in the NFC Super Wild Card round at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Here are five storylines we are following.
First taste of the playoffs for many of these Giants
Any player on the active roster who was drafted by the Giants that is not named Landon Collins has never played in the postseason. Even veteran defensive lineman Leonard Williams, an eight-year veteran, will be making his postseason debut.
That means most of the core roster will be playing in their first playoff game. Head coach Brian Daboll, who has lived in the postseason most of his coaching career, is downplaying that fact, perhaps to alleviate any anxiety his players might have.
“Haven’t thought about it, relative to just our team, what we need to do, how we need to prepare,” Daboll said on Friday. “Like I said before, they’ve earned the right to be here and now we have to have a good week. We have to practice the right way; we have to prepare the right way and ultimately have to go out there on Sunday and play a good football game.”
All hands on deck
In the postseason, there is no tomorrow. So every player who can dress for this game, will.
As Vince Lombardi once said: ‘Nobody is hurt. Hurt is in the mind. If you can walk, you can run.”
The Giants’ injury report on Friday listed all eight players as full participants in practice including cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, who has missed the last seven games of the regular season with a knee injury.
Others whose status changed on Friday are defensive lineman Leonard Williams (neck), right tackle Evan Neal (ankle), linebacker Azeez Ojulari (ankle), safety Jason Pinnock (shoulder), and wide receiver Marcus Johnson (knee).
'Playoff' defense ready to roll?
The Giants’ defense is improving just at the right time. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale called his unit a ‘playoff defense.’
“We’re in the playoffs, that’s number one,” Martindale said when asked what he meant.
He could be right. Safety Xavier McKinney is back and Adoree’ Jackson is, too. A healthy Azeez Ojulari will go a long way as well.
The Giants are 7-2 when McKinney starts and 2-5-1 when he doesn’t. The light is going on for rookie outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. Dexter Lawrence is an All-Pro on the interior line. Julian Love has become one of the best safeties in the NFL.
The various under-the-radar free-agent pickups such as Fabian Moreau, Jihad Ward, Jaylon Smith, Jason Pinnock, and Nick McCloud are all getting comfortable in Martindale’s defense.
“I just think that with my experience, I can see it building. I said something to them during a loss that we’re building a playoff defense here guys, make no mistake about it, and I feel that way,” said Martindale. “That’s guys that can just play it one play at a time and they don’t flinch, they’re never flinching. If there’s a mistake, we correct it. If there’s a play, we celebrate it, and then we get ready to go play the next play.
“They’ve just been so professional in studying their opponent, studying the gameplan, and that’s the thing that’s exciting to me about it is they’ve been rewarded for it. You know, sometimes in life, you don’t get rewarded for that. I’m happy for the guys that have been here for a while and they haven’t been in the playoffs yet, too, and it’s sort of fun to sit back and watch how they react, too. Defensively, I’m really happy where we’re at and excited to see where we’re going to go.”
Jones to be unleashed again?
Head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka have tailored the Giants’ offense to quarterback Daniel Jones’ strengths. That usually means a lot of running plays and short, safe passes.
In the first meeting against Minnesota, they had Jones throw 42 times against the Vikings’ 31st-ranked pass defense. He completed 30 of those throws for 334 yards with one touchdown and an interception.
The Vikings’ pass defense has played better over the last two games but that may not discourage the Giants from attacking through the air again.
When asked about his strategy for this week, Kafka was not about to tip his hand.
“Not necessarily. Every week is a little bit different,” he said about throwing over 40 times again. “We got to make that we go through our process on evaluating what our guys do best, go through our game plan and make sure we have enough stuff for our guys to attack them, whether it’s inside, outside, down the field, short, intermediate. You’ve just got to cover your bases and make sure you have complimentary stuff from stuff that you’ve done and stuff that you’re good at.”
Plan on him letting Jones loose again.
Don't repeat the sins of the first game
The Giants lost, 27-24, on a last-second, 61-yard field goal in Week 16 in their first meeting with the Vikings.
The game should not have come down to that as the Giants made key mistakes that cost them on the scoreboard.
A lost fumble led to a Vikings’ field goal and a blocked punt led to a touchdown. Jones also threw an interception on the Minnesota 18-yard line that killed a Giant drive early in the fourth quarter.
They can’t give this Vikings’ offense easy points and also leave points on the field in this game. If they can play a cleaner game than they did in the first matchup, they’ll obviously have a better shot in this one.
