You can’t blame the brain trust at the NFL – or ESPN, for that matter – for figuring that this Week 7 New York football Giants game with a visit from the Minnesota Vikings was going to be a barn-burner. Or, you know, a decent game. Or, you know, where there might be more than one win between the two of teams.
Having said that, there’s plenty going on over on the Giants side of the football coming out of the Meadowlands.
For starters, they are winless. And they are plenty banged up too, judging from this Giants blog that has all the goods:
Running back Brandon Jacobs (hamstring) and defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (illness) are questionable for Monday night’s game.
ESPN notes that the Vikings are suddenly pretty banged up too.
But there is no quarterback controversy in New York, according to the Daily News.
“So no change of future plans is needed, not when Manning is 32 years old in an era when top quarterbacks have shown they can play at a high level until they approach 40. In fact it’s much more likely that Manning — with two years left on the $106.9 million contract he signed in 2009 — will get a contract extension this offseason, to help the Giants with their salary cap problems and to guarantee he remains a Giant for life.”
The New York Times points out one bright spot for the Giants thus far – namely their run defense. “In their six games this year, the Giants have allowed only one running back, Carolina’s DAngelo Williams, to rush for more than 100 yards (Williams had 120 yards). And the Giants have faced some of the most productive backs in the league.”
Of course, Adrian Peterson is no ordinary back.
New York’s Newsday has a rather bleak assessment of the 2013 season: “The Giants started the season with dreams about first. First place in the NFC East. First team to play a home Super Bowl. First players to win three Lombardi Trophies in franchise history. Now, after six fruitless weeks of the regular season, they are just trying to avoid being last. As in the last team to chalk up a victory.”
SB Nation’s Big Blue View focuses in on some (rather predictable) key match-ups before the game.
And Staten Island Live notes that the Giants have a pretty stinky defense on top of everything else -rush defense notwithstanding.
Finally, the Daily Norseman has all sorts of historical figures between the teams, including the fact that the Vikings lead the series 13-9.
