The New York Giants will play their first playoff game in six years this Sunday. New York will travel to Minnesota to face off against the Vikings on Sunday afternoon. The Giants have not won a playoff game since Super Bowl XLVI in 2012 but are looking to end that drought in the 2023 Wild Card round. The Vikings are entering the postseason with a weak defense that the Giants could take advantage of in an effort to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
The Giants are facing a weak Vikings defense
In their Week 16 matchup with the Vikings, the Giants had one of their most successful passing days of the season. Daniel Jones threw for 334 yards against Minnesota (second-highest single-game total this season) and one passing touchdown. The Giants’ offense totaled a season-high 445 yards against the Vikings. New York has a chance to replicate this offensive attack to kick off their postseason.
The Minnesota Vikings possess one of the worst defenses in the NFL this season. The Vikings allowed 388.7 yards of offense per game during the regular season (second-worst in the NFL). Minnesota also let up 25.1 points per game, ranking 27th in the league.
The Vikings allowed opposing offenses to top 30 points in five games this season and even gave up 40 or more points in two matchups. 11 of the Vikings’ 13 wins in the 2022 regular season were won by one possession or less. The Vikings routinely found themselves playing games down to the wire, like their Week 16 victory over the Giants. Big Blue had a lead for a good portion of the game before the Vikings came back to win on a 61-yard field goal as time expired.
The New York Giants are underdogs entering this Wild Card matchup. At 9-7-1, the Giants are the sixth seed facing off against the third-seed Vikings who finished the regular season 13-4. But this matchup is far more even than the teams’ records would suggest. The Giants were just a few plays away from pulling off the upset in Week 16. With a number of key reinforcements returning from injuries this week, the Giants could find themselves well-equipped for the postseason and take the Vikings down by surprise.