When the Minnesota Vikings met the New York Giants last December, things were different. For one, it was outdoors and a frigid 10 degrees.
New York had been officially eliminated from the NFC playoff chase; Minnesota was still trying to clinch a berth.
The Giants were missing star receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who was suspended after fighting with then-Panthers cornerback Josh Norman. They were also without Victor Cruz – and had yet to draft their current slot receiver Sterling Shepard.
Finally, they were coached by the venerable Tom Coughlin, who stepped down after the season.
The organization has undergone some major changes, hiring the team’s offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo as the new head coach. The roster has turned over as well. “I don’t even know if you can look at last year’s game,” Zimmer said Thursday, “because they’ve got three guys missing as receivers, and they have eight new starters on defense, so it’s a completely different football team.”
The Receivers
Remarkably, the Giants used 11 different pass-catchers in last year’s ballgame not named Beckham or Cruz. Odds are, their box score on Monday will be a bit more concise with their three-tentacled pass-catching corps.
Beckham presents a unique challenge for the Vikings, who just shut down the Panthers’ top target Kelvin Benjamin in Week 3. The third-year player had 121 yards against the Redskins last week – and an encounter with the kicker’s practice net – but he’ll add a new element to the Giants’ offense that was sorely missed in Week 16 last year.
Beckham can slash across the middle or go deep. He’s got tremendous sideline awareness, catches everything thrown in his area code and excels at contested catches. It’s a tough tightrope to walk for Vikings corners. “You can’t give them a lot of room,” said nickelback Captain Munnerlyn. “If you give a receiver a lot of room, they can make you look silly.”
Munnerlyn also added that he’d be staying quiet around the emotional Beckham, despite his propensity to trash talk, and focus on the task at hand. He’ll likely be matched up with the rookie Shepard, who was playing with the Oklahoma Sooners this time last year and is already getting Rookie of the Year steam through three games. “He’s competitive, he’s quick in the slot, I think he catches the ball good, and he’s tough over the middle, so all those things make it difficult,” said Zimmer, also mentioning that his game planning sessions would be lower stress if New York just decided to run the Wishbone Offense.
The third piece of the puzzle is Cruz, New York’s former No. 1 receiver who missed the end of last season with a left calf injury. He has 195 yards through the first three games. “Cruz is back making a lot plays,” said safety Harrison Smith. As the glue that holds the secondary together, not to mention the cork that bottles up big plays, Smith will likely be asked to provide a great deal of support to Minnesota’s cornerbacks on Monday night. He Pick 6’d Eli Manning last season at chilly TCF Bank Stadium to turn the tide.
.@Giants‘ top Week 4 priority?
Avoid @HarriSmith22 at all costs. #NYGvsMIN #fbf https://t.co/GFMv8Sfb5V
— NFL (@NFL) September 30, 2016
The Vikings used a rotation at cornerback last Sunday with Xavier Rhodes getting 57 snaps, Terence Newman getting 53 and Trae Waynes getting 39. That was likely due to the taxing humidity and to take some pressure off Rhodes, who was coming off an injury. Zimmer said the team would continue to include players who “earn” playing time, but concerning Rhodes, Zimmer said, “I don’t see us taking it too easy [on him].”
This will be a taller task than Minnesota faced with Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson or Carolina’s Benjamin, each of whom were flanked by less gifted receivers. New York offers three capable threats, meaning the Vikings will have to be on guard to prevent the big play.
The Defense
With all new linebackers, two new defensive linemen and a mostly-new secondary, the Giants look different on the other side of the ball as well. It would be tough to get much worse than New York was defensively last year, however, as they gave up the most yards in the league in their first year under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
They brought in defensive end Olivier Vernon, defensive tackle Damon Harrison and cornerback Janoris Jenkins to strengthen the defense and looked good early on, keeping their first two opponents in the teens (19 and 13). Washington, though, scored 29 last Sunday and amassed 417 yards.
There’s still a learning curve as New York transforms its defense. Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner, though, is wary of what their defensive line might accomplish against Minnesota’s depleted offensive line. “Their ends are outstanding,” he said. “Their defensive tackles are very big. They’ve obviously made major changes on their defense. I think their two edge rushers can impact the game on any play.”
One is Vernon; the other is Jason Pierre-Paul, who made headlines when he lost multiple fingers in a fireworks mishap. He’s moved from the right end to the left end, where he’ll match up against Vikings right tackle Andre Smith. All eyes will be on the left side, though, to see how T.J. Clemmings holds up in his second game at left tackle, potentially playing next to Jeremiah Sirles at left guard in place of the injured Alex Boone.
“T.J. really got off to a good start at left tackle, and he played well,” said Turner. “Every week is a different challenge, and he has got a totally different challenge this week – different type of player. And again, I’ve learned no matter who is on the edge, when they go against really good players, not to take anything for granted.”
New York’s strength is certainly on its line. Their secondary is a different story with injuries at corner and safety. Darian Thompson (foot) and Nat Berhe (concussion) are both likely out at safety, leaving incumbent starter Landon Collins and undrafted rookie free agent Andrew Adams as the only healthy players at that position. At corner, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (groin) and Eli Apple (hamstring) did not practice Friday, leaving New York short there, too. The situation is evidently so dire that McAdoo has been cross-training offensive players to play defense in a pinch.
Suboptimal. pic.twitter.com/cWM8DAmIti
— Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) September 30, 2016
Sam Bradford should have the opportunity to pass in this game against a defense that he beat twice in the 2015 season, but even he doesn’t recognize much about Spagnuolo’s new-look group. “I think if you look at their defense, they’ve got seven or eight new starters, so it’s almost a completely different defense than we faced last year,” Bradford said Thursday. “Conceptually, some of the things that they’re doing has some carry over from last year, but at the same time, it’s a little bit different.”
For the first time since Week 1, the Vikings are favored to win. How will they respond?
“Last week, I thought our guys felt pretty good,” Zimmer said about the team’s mood following the Week 3 win, “and I kept reminding them about the task at hand. I’ll continue to do that, too – same thing when everybody says how bad we are. We don’t listen to that, and we don’t listen to how good we are.”
