The New York Giants (8-5-1) will take on the Minnesota Vikings (11-3) this Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium in a game with significant playoff ramifications.
Experts are leaning heavily toward Minnesota this week — 7:3 — with all of them expecting a one-score game.
How does the Giants Wire staff see this Week 16 battle shaking out? Here’s a look at our picks and score predictions:
Dan Benton: Vikings 27, Giants 23
I don’t necessarily subscribe to the theory that the Vikings are overrated. A lot of people would like to believe that for whatever reason, but their offense is explosive and dynamic. They can put up points in bunches and outpace opponents, even with a subpar defense.
The Giants aren’t an offensive juggernaut by any stretch of the imagination, so even if they have one of their better performances against that last-ranked D, I still don’t believe they can win in a shoot-out. They’re just not there yet, but they’ll keep it close…because that’s what they do.
John Fennelly: Vikings 34, Giants 20
This seems like too much of a leap for the Giants to take right now. Minnesota has too much firepower for the Giants to get into a shootout with. They don’t have a No. 1 cornerback to cover Justin Jefferson and their backups are overmatched by Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn.
Make fun of Kirk Cousins all you want, but he’s a deserving Pro Bowler and the Giants — unless they can force him into several turnovers — will find that out the hard way. This is all before outlining how much of a danger running back Dalvin Cook can be.
The silver lining here is the Vikings don’t play much defense. The downside to that is the Giants haven’t scored more than 27 points in a game this year and will need to in order to win this one.
Tyler Henry: Vikings 30, Giants 21
I’d be pretty surprised if the Giants find a way to pull this one off. They struggled against the run last week and really all season long. Dalvin Cook presents a threat to the Giants’ defense. As if he wasn’t enough to handle, Big Blue also has to worry about superstar receiver Justin Jefferson. He might just be the league’s best receiver and without key pieces in the secondary, the Giants will have their hands full.
The best way for the Giants to have a chance to win this game is to control the time of possession. If they are able to get Saquon Barkley going early and often, they’ll have a chance to hang with Minnesota.
Unfortunately, the Vikings will likely be too much to handle and the Giants will fall short in this one.
Kevin Hickey: Vikings 27, Giants 20
This will be a tough game for the Giants to win. While they’ve been competitive, they may not have enough firepower on offense to keep up with Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson. The Vikings being without center Garrett Bradbury lessens the blow, but the secondary will have a tough time containing the explosive skill players that the Vikings boast. Daniel Jones has done a fine job leading an offense that lacks weapons in the worst way, but it probably won’t be enough to overcome even with a big game from Saquon Barkley.
Jeevan Kirkland: Vikings 27, Giants 20
While the Vikings have looked very beatable in recent weeks they are still a team with 11 wins. Their offense is complete with few flaws, making it a tough matchup for an inexperienced Giants defense. The only hope New York has is how awful the Vikings’ defense is.
Unfortunately for Big Blue, their offensive woes likely won’t end on Saturday as matchups are not the reason they are performing poorly; it appears that the offense is fundamentally flawed and that will not change within a week.
Serena Burks: Vikings 30, Giants 27
Picking this game is challenging because the Vikings are unpredictable, as are the Giants. The Vikings have the momentum, but the Giants have something to fight for. There are a lot of variables in this game, and I really want to pick the Giants because it would clinch a playoff berth. But the Vikings are at home and this will be just the sixth road game of the season for the Giants. It’s going to be close, but the Vikings win
