The Vikings face the Giants on Saturday. Both teams have some similarities, like a Coach of the Year candidate in his first year with the team. The two franchises also employ a plethora of high-level players and combine for seven Pro Bowlers. The Vikings have five of them.
The tandem of Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson, the top duo of passer and catcher in the league since Jefferson entered the draft, will be present at the event in Las Vegas unless the Vikings find their way to the Super Bowl in Arizona. Long snapper Andrew Depaola received the first Pro Bowl invitation of his long career, and he will be joined by two players Kwesi Adofo-Mensah brought to the organization in his first year as general manager — T.J. Hockenson and Za’Darius Smith.
Vikings Will Face 2 Scary Giants
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The Giants will have two Pro Bowlers, both are among the best players of their positions, and the players will be a tough matchup for the Vikings.
Saquon Barkley
Running backs are rarely selected in the top half of the first round in drafts nowadays, especially in the top picks. Saquon Barkley was the exception in the last five drafts. The runner was a superstar in college for Penn State, and the Giants owned the second pick in the draft. The next Vikings opponent couldn’t pass on a generational talent, no matter the position.
Even in his rookie year, Barkley was an electric runner when he racked up more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 15 combined rushing and receiving touchdowns. Barkley followed that up with 1,441 yards despite missing three games. Unfortunately, the running back tore his ACL in the second game of the 2020 season. Like Dalvin Cook in 2018, he needed a season to return to his old form and disappointed in 2021. Adrian Peterson’s return from a torn ACL is still the outlier.
In 2022, however, Barkley has been fantastic, as he has already recorded 1,464 scrimmage yards and nine scores. The offense is built around him, and it’s good for the league that one of the best players in the game is back to full strength. The Vikings running defense will have a tough task of stopping him.
Harrison Phillips and Davlin Tomlinson, the defensive tackle duo, are back together after Tomlinson missed a few games with a calf injury. Last week, the Vikings encountered Jonathan Taylor, but he exited the contest early. Minnesota’s run defense ranks 15th in DVOA and 6th in EPA/Play. A win over the Giants is hard to achieve if the running back is having a good day, as his team is 6-0 whenever he rushes for at least 83 yards.
Dexter Lawrence
The defensive tackle was a first-round draft selection in 2019 out of Clemson. He came fresh off a national championship with the Tigers and freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence. However, he did not play in the CFB playoffs that season after testing positive for a banned substance. He was also part of the 2017 championship team.
Interestingly, Lawrence was selected with a pick the Giants acquired by trading away Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns. In his rookie campaign, the 17th overall pick had a strip sack against Kirk Cousins. Lawrence is one of the most disruptive defensive linemen in the NFL after his performances experienced a huge jump in 2022. He recorded 6.5 sacks and 57 tackles. Both numbers are already career highs.
His 24 quarterback hits are more than he had in the last two years combined. The Vikings will be without center Garrett Bradbury for the third consecutive game. He likely would’ve struggled against Lawrence, and now the Vikings will have downgrade Austin Schlottmann in the lineup. Double-teaming Lawrence is necessary to keep Kirk Cousins upright. Lawrence is leading all defensive tackles with a PFF grade of 91.7, even better than Chris Jones and Aaron Donald.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt