The New York Giants lost to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday by the score of 28-10, dropping their record to 2-3 on the season.
Here are three things I took away from the loss.
It’s a long way to the top
The Vikings came in struggling on offense. Quarterback Kirk Cousins and he is two top receivers (Adam Thielen and Stefan Diggs) were all unhappy and the passing game was going nowhere. The saving grace was running back Dalvin Cook, but he was just shut down by the Chicago Bears the week before.
Enter the Giants defense — the elixir for any sagging passing attack. Cousins completed 22-of-27 passes for 306 yards with two TDs and no INTs for a 138.6 QB rating. Thielen was open most of the game and made the Giants pay for singling him up, grabbing seven passes for 130 yards and two scores. Diggs was quiet with four receptions for 43 yards but Cook exploded rushing for 132 yards on the ground and another 86 through the air.
Minnesota isn’t even close to being the best offense in this league and yet the Giants simply had no answers for them on Sunday. They are light years away from the playoffs at this point in time.
The roster is very thin
The rash of injuries has exposed the Giants as team that is still devoid of talent. General manager Dave Gettleman needs least one more solid draft and a productive offseason (free agency) to fortify this roster.
They currently have just two healthy running backs — rookie Jon Hilliman and fullback Eli Penny — and are embarrassingly under-stocked at linebacker. The one thing no one ever wanted to see again after his woeful performance last year was Nate Stupar in the middle of the Giants’ defense.
But, there he was naked to the world, valuing on 52% of the defensive snaps. It was no wonder the Vikings had a field day on Sunday. Stupar missed a number of key tackles and was simply exposed numerous times in the passing game. The Giants smartly got him out of there but shame on them for putting a special teams-specific player in a position to cover Cook, one of the NFL’s most elusive backs.
Nate Solder is a liability at left tackle
I told a reader that I’d let him know when it was time to replace Nate Solder at left tackle. I think we’re here. He’s not quite Bobby Hart level yet, but Solder had no chance on many snaps against the formidable Vikings’ front.
“The Giants’ offensive line did Jones no favors in this one, as they allowed a ton of pressure and also did a poor job of opening up any kind of running lanes. Nate Solder let up a sack and was beaten more than a few times on just a simple spin move, and he was actually not the Giants’ biggest problem. Jon Halapio also gave up a sack along with multiple pressures.” – PFF
“Entering Sunday, Solder had already allowed 17 pressures and three sacks through four games. Against Minnesota, though, Solder was a proverbial turnstile. Solder gave up a pair of sacks and a handful of pressures. He also was called for a pair of holding penalties….The Giants guaranteed Solder $34.8 million guaranteed last offseason, but it’s getting harder each week to defend that contract based on Solder’s play.” – NJ.com
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