Giants’ Offense Stalled by Stellar Vikings’ Defense

(Giants.com)

New York Giants can’t get anything going as they lose to the Minnesota Vikings, 24-10 on Monday night.

The Giants offense entered the game knowing they were playing one of the best defenses in the NFL, however the game prep didn’t go as planned. The Giants couldn’t get anything going offensively, as Odell Beckham Jr was covered by Xavier Rhodes, only bringing three catches on 9 attempts for only 23 yards. The offense did spark at the beginning of the fourth quarter, however. Eli Manning completed a pass to rookie running back Paul Perkins, who would cut and weave for a 67 yard run into the red zone. After a pass interference call on Trae Waynes, Giants running back Orleans Darkwa would punch it in at the one yard line for a touchdown. With this, the score was brought to 17-10 with 13:38 remaining in the game. This would be short lived as Sam Bradford would throw a 40 yard pass to wide receiver Charles Johnson to bring them into the red zone. Vikings would put the dagger in the game with a four yard touchdown run by running back Jerick McKinnon. This loss brings the Giants to a 2-2 record, who are now tied with the Washington Redskins at the bottom of the NFC East standings.

“I thought we played hard tonight,” said Giants Head Coach Ben McAdoo. “Good team on the road. We spotted them two possessions and you can’t do that. Penalties hurt us. It’s a short week and it’s not going to get any easier.”

Odell Beckham once again is in the spotlight, and for the wrong reasons. After hauling in a short pass, Xavier Rhodes hit Beckham out of bounds. Beckham took offense to this, approaching Rhodes and yelling at him. This drew the ire of the referee, who flagged him for unsportsmanlike conduct. If Beckham received another unsportsmanlike penalty, he would have been ejected from the game. Beckham wears his emotion on his sleeve, but his actions are being viewed under the microscope, leading to some interesting comments from Beckham himself.

“It’s always, it’s just my fault,” said Beckham. “That’s all I look at it as, it’s my fault. Whatever you want to call it. I just have to understand if I sneeze the wrong way, it’ll be a flag, it’ll be a fine. If I tie my shoe the wrong way, it might be a fine or a flag. It is what it is You have to understand that.”

Eli Manning took notice of Beckham’s emotional reactions for the second week in a row and had comment on his outbursts.

“He has got to be aware,” said Manning. “He has got to be aware. They’re looking for him, and he has got to play smart. We can’t afford to do anything. They’re going to call him, and he brought that on himself.”

Interesting to see how this comes into play throughout the week, but we’ll look at that when the time comes. Now, back to the game.

Against the stifling Vikings defense, Eli Manning could not make use of his trio of receivers, and his play showed it. Manning threw 25 completions on 45 attempts for 261 yards and one interception. The most telling thing about Manning’s performance in this game is that the longest pass Manning had completed was only 15 yards.

“They had a good defense,” said Manning. “They had a good scheme…you have to give them credit.”

The Giants penalty woes still continued this week in the new and loud US Bank Stadium, hindering offensive gains and helping the Vikings offense move down the field. The Giants had eight penalties for 69 yards. With another week of high amounts of penalties, the Giants have to prepare to be more disciplined from here on out.

“I don’t think crowd noise was an issue,” said McAdoo. “…we didn’t have any penalties because of the crowd noise. As a team, we need to eliminate the penalties…we have too many penalties.”

With numerous injuries in the secondary, the Giants defense did hold the Vikings to a low score the majority of the game. However, the Giants defense have failed to force a turnover this season, with their only forced turnover coming on a blocked field goal in Week 2 against the Saints.

“It’s a short week,” said Giants cornerback Leon Hall. “You have to put it behind you real fast as tough as it is.”

Wide receiver Victor Cruz caught five receptions for 50 yards and Sterling Shepard caught four receptions for 30 yards. Running back Orleans Darkwa ran 48 yards on 12 attempts and had one touchdown. Running back Bobby Rainey rushed for 22 yards on four attempts, and had seven receptions for 43 yards.

“We have to go back to the drawing board,” said Darkwa. “It’s only Week 4, so we have room for improvement.”

The Vikings lead the game in total yardage (366-339), in total plays (69-63), time of possession (35:32-24:28), and first downs (22-18).

The Giants enter Sunday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers, who were also stifled by the Vikings two weeks ago. Another important game for the Giants, with a lot to learn from their experience against the Vikings.