The Giants hadn’t received a playoff recreation since Tremendous Bowl XLVI, however that every one modified on Sunday as New York topped the Minnesota Vikings 31-24 within the wild card round of the playoffs. It was a battle well worth the billing as Brian Daboll, Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley prolonged the cinderella season that New York has had this 12 months.
The win units up a date with NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles subsequent weekend within the divisional round.
It was the Giants that broke the 24-24 tie with just below eight minutes to play within the recreation after they marched 75 yards down the sphere and ended with Barkley operating two yards for what could be the game-winning landing. New York’s protection got here up with the largest stops of the night time on the Vikings’ last-ditch effort to tie the sport.
It was a Giants defender that broke up a cross meant for Ok.J. Osborn and Xavier McKinney stopped T.J. Hockenson wanting a primary all the way down to seal the win.
The Giants hadn’t received a playoff recreation in 11 years after they defeated the New England Patriots within the Tremendous Bowl. The win was additionally the second time since 2001 that the Giants had overwhelmed the Vikings within the playoffs.
The final time the 2 had met was again on Jan 14, 2001, when the Giants defeated the Vikings 41-0 at Giants stadium.
Jones was key within the victory as he accomplished 16 of his 20 cross makes an attempt for 218 yards and ran for an additional 71 yards on 10 carries. Barkley ran for 48 yards and had the rating that ended up profitable the sport.
Darius Slayton had three catches for 74 yards and Isaiah Hodgins made 5 catches for 73 yards.
The Vikings have been first on the board, profiting from the Giants’ protection’s weakest sequence of the day. Minnesota went 75 yards on 12 performs that culminated with Kirk Cousins scampering a yard for the opening landing and the Vikings’ solely/first lead of the sport.
The Giants answered again on their subsequent drive with Barkley and Jones main the best way with a pair of lengthy rushes. It was Barkley who discovered an open lane and burst 28 yards for a landing to tie the sport with 5:11 left within the first quarter.
After New York compelled Minnesota to go three and out on their subsequent possession, the Giants’ offense capitalized on the robust defensive stand with one other fast sequence that resulted in one other rating. Jones discovered Slayton for a 47-yard completion to start out the drive and three performs later he hit Hodgins with a 14-yard cross for the landing to place the Giants up 14-7 with simply over a minute left within the first.
The Giants added one other three factors after consuming up the vast majority of the second quarter with a 20-play drive that resulted in a 25-yard area objective by Graham Gano.
The Vikings lower the Giants’ result in three after they scored with 45 seconds left on the clock within the first half. Ok.J. Osborn caught a nine-yard landing reception from Cousins to make it a 17-14 recreation.
New York was capable of lengthen their lead on the primary drive of the second half as Jones took six performs to go 75 yards which ended with Jones discovering Daniel Bellinger ultimately zone for a nine-yard TD reception. However the lead rapidly dwindled once more because the Vikings punched again to drag inside three but once more.
Cousins discovered Irv Smith Jr. to make it s a 24-21 recreation with 7:46 left within the third quarter and after the Vikings compelled the Giants to punt, Greg Joseph hit a 38 yarder kick to even the sport at 24 with 12:34 left within the recreation.