New York Giants Wild Card: Reviewing Minnesota Vikings' Defense

Let's catch up with how the Vikings defense has changed since the Giants last saw them in Week 16.

Let me know if you need me to pinch you because you are not dreaming: The New York Giants are in the playoffs in their first season under head coach Brian Daboll. 

The Giants take on the third-seeded Minnesota Vikings for the second time this season -- the Vikings won the week 16 matchup 27-24. Let's get caught up with what the Vikings have been doing on defense since.

Personnel

The Vikings have quite a few question marks for their matchup that could make their defense look different than it did in the week 16 matchup. Defenders that are questionable for the wild card game include Harrison Smith, Za’Darius Smith, Cam Dantzler, Akayleb Evans, James Lynch, and Brian Asamoah.

Of that group, both the Smiths, Lynch, and Asamoah all played in week 16 but could miss the wild card game. Neither Dantzler nor Evans played in week 16 but could make it to this game.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has said that he expects both of the Smith’s back. Harrison Smith was held out of the last game, seemingly more of a precaution than necessity. Za’Darius Smith missed week 18 for personal reasons and should be back for the playoffs.

Dantzler began the year as a starter but lost the job to Duke Shelley. Whether or not he’s active shouldn’t play a huge role. James Lynch got injured in the week 16 matchup and hasn’t played since.

The expectation for Sunday should be to have a mostly healthy Vikings defense available. Asamoah, who got injured in week 17 vs. the Packers and hasn’t played since had one of the better games of his young career off the bench when he played the Giants in week 16.

The Vikings treated week 18 like a preseason game and got their starters a little playing time, then rested them once the game was secured to preserve their health.

In the week 16 matchup, Danielle Hunter had his best game of the season, registering nine pressures and three sacks on just 57 snaps played. Expect the Giants to keep a tight end to help on his side of the field, wherever he may line up.

Scheme

Against the Giants in week 16, the Vikings played more man coverage than they usually do by a large margin. That strategy worked to get the win but wasn’t exactly effective in consistently forcing the Giants to get off of the field.

Expect to see some more zone, but if the Vikings choose to play man coverage again, the Giants should give Daniel Jones the green light to take off running.

While we have seen teams take a more aggressive approach with the Giants when it comes to using off-ball players as pass-rushers, that wasn’t the case in week 16 and probably won’t be the case in the Wild Card round - considering the Giants' run game didn’t gash the Vikings and make them pay consistently enough with just three runs of 10+ yards, two of those being scrambles.

When they go man coverage, the Vikings are a big cover 1 team with an underneath and overtop zone defender. That will likely be the most used coverage call, just like Week 16, with probably more Cover 3 and Cover 2 mixed in to throw a wrench into the Giants' plans.

What This Means for the Giants

In the week 16 matchup, the Giants' run plan was odd - only five out of 17 designed runs went outside the tackles, an area that probably should’ve been targeted more often to create more explosive run opportunities. The Giants also only ran the ball with Saquon Barkley 14 times, his fifth-lowest carry total of the season.

Getting the ball to Saquon wide should be a focus when running the ball as opposed to running into the teeth of a defense that features Dalvin Tomlinson and Harrison Phillips. As I said for Week 16, the Vikings defense allows explosive outside runs. In Weeks 17 and 18 against the Packers and Bears, the Vikings allowed 199 rushing yards on 28 carries for an average of 7.1 yards per carry when running outside the tackles.

When throwing the ball, the Giants attacked the Vikings with three receivers in the areas of weakness in this Vikings defense. Daniel Jones went 22 for 26 passing for 173 yards and a touchdown when throwing the ball ten yards downfield or less.

The Vikings defense gives up plenty of underneath opportunities and requires their defenders to make tackles. Barkley was used primarily as an underneath receiver, as was Richie James out of the slot. Isaiah Hodgins had the best game of his career against the Vikings, seeing a career-high ten targets, eight catches, and 89 yards. Keep that same passing approach and allow your playmakers to make plays.

Final Thoughts

I know Giants fans are probably at the point where they are just happy to see the team in the playoffs. Expectations as a sixth-seed probably aren’t very high either, but this is very much a Giants team that not only can win in the Wild Card round but expects themselves to beat the three-seed that needed a 61-yard field goal as time expired to win in Week 16.

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