After a short delay due to a mechanical issue on the team plane, the Minnesota Vikings flew out to New Jersey to take on another young quarterback, Jaxson Dart, and the New York Giants.
The Vikings already had a rough start to the game before it even began, after shutting down Jonathan Greenard, Josh Metellus, and Christian Darrisaw for the season, with the emergency landing as the cherry on top.
Minnesota started the game in fortuitous field position due to a botched kickoff. They were able to methodically march down the field till a Jordan Addison drop in the end zone forced them to settle for three.
The Giants and Vikings exchanged field goals before McCarthy would run for yet another touchdown to make it 13-3.
Just when it looked like the Vikings were set to pull away, McCarthy took a big hit, knocking him out of the game, fumbling the ball, and allowing former Gopher Tyler Nubin to scoop and score to make it 13-10 right before the half.
After the third quarter, which was about as enjoyable as watching paint dry, the Giants tied the game up with 11 minutes in the fourth quarter. Brosmer and the offense would take the lead on a long, methodical drive that resulted in three more points, making it a 16-13 game.
The Giants would mount a half-hearted attempt to tie the game that would end in an Andrew Van Ginkel sack and a Vikings win.
Here are five numbers that tell the story of the game.
8
Jordan Addison hasn’t been sure-handed this year, recording his eighth drop of the season on Sunday. Although J.J. McCarthy‘s play has been the biggest story of the season, his receivers also haven’t been up to their standard. This season, coming into the game, Minnesota’s pass catchers had dropped 12% of McCarthy’s targets, the highest percentage in the NFL.
Addison has dropped a couple of passes that could have turned a game. He had a drop over the middle against the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks in a similar position.
This week, Addison dropped another catchable ball after McCarthy hung in the pocket and took a hit from Dexter Lawrence. J.J. dropped a ball right into Addison’s hands, but the ball popped loose as he fell into the end zone.
It isn’t just Addison. Jefferson and even Nailor have had trouble holding on to passes this season. While this season is already over and these drops won’t impact their playoff chances, the Vikings need their receivers to be more sure-handed to help foster McCarthy’s development.
2
The Vikings offense held Jaxson Dart to two passing yards in the first half. Dart didn’t get his first completion of the half till after the two-minute warning, and his passes found the hands of Vikings defenders just as often as his own receivers. Byron Murphy recorded an interception, and he and Andrew Van Ginkel each nearly recorded another.
New York’s play calling was a little strange. They were the first team to go without a pass attempt on their first 16 plays since the Indianapolis Colts in 2017 at Buffalo, a game affected by the wind.
The Giants’ offense tried to establish the running game and get their offense moving on the ground. Every time Dart looked to drop back to pass, he had immense pressure on him with Levi Drake Rodriguez, Eric Wilson, and Jalen Redmond each recording a sack in the first half.
3
J.J. McCarthy had his third different injury of the season, while Ryan Kelly also suffered his third concussion of the season, all in the first half. In games like these, the biggest hope outside of seeing growth in players is to make sure they stay healthy, something that eluded the Vikings in this game.
Kelly was already wearing a guardian cap due to two previous concussions, and after going on the IR after one of them. On Sunday, he suffered another one. Kelly was already mulling retirement last season before signing with the Vikings. Now, he will have more to consider, because his season is all but over after this injury.
McCarthy also left the game right before half with an injury to his throwing hand, which he suffered on a Brian Burns sack fumble. For McCarthy, this is his third injury of the season, after a high-ankle sprain and a concussion saw him miss time. While we are unsure whether McCarthy will miss time again with this injury, the reaction to the pressure on his throwing hand isn’t a great sign.
4
Justin Jefferson finally broke his four-game streak of 50 or fewer yards this week, recording 85 yards on six catches.
However, Jefferson has nine consecutive games without breaking 100 yards and has now gone over a full year without a 100-yard game in the USA. Still, this was definitely a step up from the production of weeks past.
After three slow weeks, Jefferson got off to a fast start. He moved the chains on two plays in the first half, where he got the ball behind the line to gain and made a couple of shifty plays on his way to a first down.
Jefferson even had an impressive sideline grab on third-and-17, where Max Brosmer was able to hit him on an out route to gain 22 yards.
While this season hasn’t been what Jefferson would have expected, most would have hoped he would have broken 100 yards this week. This performance puts him over 900 yards and on track for a 1,000-yard season if he can record just over 40 yards in both his remaining games.
11-1
Brian Flores moves to 11-1 against rookie quarterbacks. Dart, who has looked impressive at times this season, looked completely outclassed when facing this Vikings defense. It started early on when it became clear that the Giants were looking to protect Dart and emphasize the running game this week to allow their young quarterback to take a back seat.
That proved to be the right idea as Dart really wasn’t able to get anything going, finishing the game with an astounding seven for 13 and just 33 yards on the game. Pressure seemed to find Dart on every single dropback as he was brought down to the ground five times, and it could have been more if not for some pretty suspect roughing the passer calls.
Flores continues to be an absolute nightmare for young quarterbacks, disguising blitzes at the line of scrimmage and making it almost impossible for rookies to pick up on disguised coverages.
The secondary continues their hot streak this season, having their sixth straight game without a passing touchdown allowed, not even allowing over 40 yards receiving on the day. They could have had an even more impressive day as they dropped two potential interceptions.
