3 takeaways from the Giants' loss to the Vikings
Pat Jones II #91 of the Minnesota Vikings sacks Daniel Jones #8 of the Giants during the third quarter at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
1. The fans turned against the Giants quickly.
It didn’t take long for the boobirds to inhabit MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
With the Giants celebrating their 100th season — and their 100 greatest players — not much went right on the field for them on Sunday afternoon in a 28-6 loss to the Vikings.
And the fans let the current players hear about it.
“I don’t respect it, honestly,” Dexter Lawrence said. “I get it. They want to see their team win. It’s just a rough patch. It is what it is.”
If Giants fans are in a foul mood after the season opener, that is not a good sign.
And to see the likes of Lawrence Taylor, Mark Bavaro and legions of former Giants honored on a day when the current team could not get out of its own way almost certainly did not please ownership.
2. Sam Darnold picked the Giants’ defense apart.
When a defense sees Darnold end a first half with these stats — 13-for-14 for 151 yards with a touchdown and rating of 135.4 while taking only one sack — that defense has some work to do. And so it went for the Giants in the first half of their season opener.
Darnold completed his first 12 pass attempts. He finished 19-for-24 for 208 yards, two touchdowns and a 113.2 rating. That’s efficiency.
Darnold’s best passer rating in a game was 128.4, on Dec. 23, 2018, when he was a rookie with the Jets.
Yes, the Giants’ defense is operating under new coordinator Shane Bowen, who succeeded Wink Martindale. But Darnold appeared to be too comfortable in his return to MetLife Stadium.
And if Darnold put up those numbers against the Giants, imagine what the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott might accomplish against the Giants.
Heck, after this game, Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels can feel good about facing the Giants next week in Landover.
3. Daniel Jones must be tired of seeing Andrew Van Ginkel.
Jones might have permanent nightmares when it comes to his matchups against the outside linebacker regardless of the team jersey Van Ginkel is wearing.
Van Ginkel, whose hard hit on Jones in Miami last year knocked him out for that game and the next three with a neck injury, tormented him again on Sunday.
Making his Vikings debut, Van Ginkel had a pick-6 against Jones. His 10-yard return on a spectacular play at the line of scrimmage capped the scoring. The former Dolphin also had one of the Vikings’ five sacks.
One silver lining: At least Jones wasn’t injured on the play this time.
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
