Our Final Staff Prediction for Vikings at Giants
Momentum has shifted for the Minnesota Vikings, winning their last two games by a combined 38 points after losing four straight to sink the season’s once-exciting playoff hopes. The club next takes on the New York Giants on Sunday, and VikingsTerritory staff believes the purple team will run the streak to three consecutive wins.
With Minnesota playing out the string, this one is still useful as a barometer game — so our staff put numbers on it, compared notes, and landed on a consensus view for Sunday in New Jersey.
Vegas agrees, handing Minnesota the advantage by 2.5 points.
Giants-Vikings Staff Picks, Score Calls, and The Collective Lean
VikingsTerritory writers expect a purple dub in New Jersey.
Individual Writer Picks
The whole damn group is evidently inspired by the Vikings’ recent turnaround, picking Kevin O’Connell’s club to prevail in unison over Mike Kafka’s Giants.
Here’s the score skinny:
Dustin Baker: MIN Wins, 35-17
Sean Borman: MIN Wins, 31-24
Janik Eckardt: MIN Wins, 24-16
Josh Frey: MIN Wins, 29-20
Henrique Gucciardi: MIN Wins, 24-13
Wesley Johnson: MIN Wins, 34-16
Kyle Joudry: MIN Wins, 31-21
Adam New: MIN Wins, 33-17
Tony Schultz: MIN Wins, 30-10
Ted Schwerzler: MIN Wins, 31-20
Ali Siddiqui: MIN Wins, 27-17
Cole Smith: MIN Wins, 27-14
Even without Christian Darrisaw, who hit season-ending injured reserve this week — and possibly without right tackle Brian O’Neill, who is questionable — our writers think Minnesota will take down the New York.
Last week, just one of our contributors chose the Vikings to beat the Cowboys: Henrique Gucciardi.
Season Running Standings
Here’s the season-long wins and losses for the group:
Sean Borman: 8-6
Janik Eckardt: 8-6
Ted Schwerzler: 8-6
Ali Siddiqui: 8-6
Kyle Joudry: 7-7
Cole Smith: 7-7
Dustin Baker: 6-8
Adam New: 6-8
Josh Frey: 6-8
Wes Johnson: 6-8
Henrique Gucciardi: 6-8
Tony Schultz: 5-9
It’s pretty rare for our whole staff to swing and miss on a Vikings prediction, but outside of Gucciardi, no one expected Minnesota to score the upset in Texas.
Collective Prediction
We always post a collective score from one voice based on individual score prognostications, and this week we believe the Vikings will beat the Giants 30-17.
It’s worth noting that the Giants are one of the worst teams in the NFL, battling the Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans for the first overall pick in April’s draft. New York is notably missing its top two playmakers in wide receiver Malik Nabers and rookie running back Cam Skattebo.
Other Voices
GiantsWire‘s Serena Burke picked New York to win by three and explained, “After losing four straight games, the Vikings have won their last two, both against NFC East teams. J.J. McCarthy is starting to look like he can handle himself in the pocket, and with weapons like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, Minnesota is taking baby steps in the right direction.”
“The Giants are still terrible, but their front seven is going to have a heyday with a Vikings’ offensive line that’s allowed 47 sacks this season. The biggest question, for me, is how the Giants’ offense handles the Vikings’ defense. I think Tyrone Tracy Jr. is an X factor this week, and the Giants take the win.”
SI.com‘s Will Ragatz believes in the Vikings, picking Minnesota by six: “Since being functionally eliminated a few weeks ago in Seattle, the Vikings have seen real progress from J.J. McCarthy in consecutive wins over bad-to-mediocre NFC East teams.”
“That trend will probably continue this weekend against a 2-12 Giants team. New York can be sneaky competitive via Jaxson Dart and a strong pass rush, but they’ve found a way to lose games all season. McCarthy should be able to have more success via quick passes that prevent the rush from getting home. It would be very on brand for the Vikings to continue stacking wins together that drag their draft pick towards the middle of the pack. Vikings 23, Giants 17.”
The Giants currently have the NFL’s fifth-worst defense per DVOA, despite employing players like Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, Jevon Hollard, and Abdul Carter.
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