A New York Giants staff that entered the season with a brand new head coach, an unproven quarterback, a yet-to-return-to-form working again and quite low expectations at the moment are transferring on to the divisional spherical of the NFL playoffs.
It was first-year coach Brian Daboll, who made some gutsy fourth-down calls, Daniel Jones, who beat the Vikings by means of the air and on the bottom, and Saquon Barkley, who scored the Giants’ first and final touchdowns of the sport, that helped get them there.
The sixth-seeded Giants defeated the No. 3 Minnesota Vikings 31-24 in the NFC wild card sport on Sunday, giving New York its first postseason victory since successful the Tremendous Bowl in 2011.
They advance to play the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional spherical subsequent weekend.
Barkley, who like Jones was making his playoff debut, put the Giants on the board in the primary quarter after he took a pitch left, discovered a gap and bumped into the top zone untouched to even the rating at 7-7. Jones later discovered Isaiah Hodgins for a 14-yard landing cross to give the Giants a 14-7 lead.
After a 35-yard area aim by the Giants’ Graham Gano, Kirk Cousins linked with T.J. Hockenson for 2 large good points to arrange a nine-yard landing cross to Ok.J. Osborn with 45 seconds left in the half to pull the Vikings inside 17-14.
The Giants added to their lead on the opening drive of the second half when Jones discovered Daniel Bellinger for a nine-yard landing cross to make it 24-14 with 11:37 left in the third.
The Vikings made it a one-possession sport when Irv Smith Jr. caught a three-yard landing cross from Cousins to pull inside 24-21 with 7:46 left in the third.
Dealing with fourth-and-2 from the Giants 43-yard line, Cousins discovered a wide-open Hockenson (10 catches, 129 yards) down the sideline for an 18-yard achieve to shut the third quarter. That helped arrange a 38-yard area aim by Greg Joseph to tie the rating at 24-24 with 12:34 remaining.
Hodgins helped prolong the Giants’ ensuing drive by making a leaping catch alongside the sideline and stored each toes inbounds for a 19-yard achieve. Jones later transformed a two-yard rush up the center on fourth-and-1 from the Vikings’ seven-yard line to arrange Barkley’s go-ahead two-yard landing run that gave the Giants a 31-24 lead with 7:47 to go.
Jones transformed a fourth-and-1 with a two-yard rush on the Giants’ 45-yard line, however the drive stalled when Darius Slayton dropped a wide-open cross on Third-and-15.
The Vikings received the ball again at their very own 18-yard line with just below three minutes remaining and no timeouts remaining. A questionable roughing the passer name on second-and-4 on Dexter Lawrence superior the ball to the 33-yard line.
Dealing with fourth-and-8 from their very own 48-yard line, Cousins accomplished a cross to Hockenson, who was stopped effectively in need of the primary down.
Jones accomplished 24 of 35 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns to go together with 17 rushes for 78 yards. The fourth-year quarterback grew to become the primary participant in NFL postseason historical past with 300-plus passing yards, two passing touchdowns and 70 dashing yards in a single sport.
Barkley ran for 53 yards and two touchdowns on 9 carries and added 5 catches for 56 yards. Hodgins completed with 105 yards and a landing on eight catches and Slayton added 88 yards on 4 catches.
The Giants protection restricted Justin Jefferson to one second-half catch for 4 yards because the star receiver completed with seven receptions and 47 yards.