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Giants (8-7) vs Vikings
(11-4)
The Vikings lost their game to the Bears on
Monday night. The Bears were up 23-6 in the third quarter and the Vikings were
able to tie it twice before losing in overtime 36-30.
Last
Sunday the Giants disappointed the fans with their final performance at Giants
Stadium. They lost the game to Carolina 41-9. Hopes were high after their victory
the week before against the Redskins, but it was not to be. Vikings.
Brad Childress has done a nice job for
the Vikings since his first year as head coach in 2006. Winning an additional
two games as each season progressed, his first year 6 wins became 8 and then 10
including a division title in 2008. They are on track for 12 this year with a
win over the Giants on Sunday and already have the division wrapped up, but wins
have been getting tougher to come by. The Vikings were 10-1 at one point but have
gone 1-3 since then. They tried like heck last week against a Bears team that
was 5-9 going into that game. Just four weeks earlier the Vikings trounced this
same team 36-10 racking up 537 total yards, the most yards a team has put up against
Chicago since 1982. This week they are looking for a win over the Giants for a
shot at securing the NFC's No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. Vikings
Offense.
What if your team was in need
of just one major ingredient, say a quarterback, and Brett Favre suddenly dropped
down from the heavens and onto your team? Well that's what happened to the Vikings
in August this year after they had already played one preseason game. Durable
Brett Favre has started 284 consecutive regular season games and age doesn't seem
to matter. This season Favre has completed a career-high 67.6 percent of his passes,
and thrown for 29 touchdowns against only 7 interceptions. His passer rating of
104.3 is third in the NFL. The running game seems to be slipping, but Favre hits
everyone with passes, including Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. His favorite
target this season is Sidney Rice with 77 catches and 6 touchdowns, and impressively
six different players on this team have caught 40 or more passes. Vikings
Defense.
They are hard to run on, being
ranked fourth in the league in that area. They lead the NFL with 45 sacks this
season, but defensive end Jared Allen has only one sack in the past four games
and defensive tackle Kevin Williams has none in the last six. It really hurt when
they lost a key player, middle linebacker E.J. Henderson, to a broken leg a few
weeks ago. He had 83 tackles and 6 fumble recoveries. Overall now they are ranked
20th against the pass with the secondary being suspect and dealing with cornerback
Antoine Winfield playing while not fully healthy. Giants
Offense.
Running back Brandon Jacobs was
placed on injured reserve and will undergo arthroscopic surgery next week to clean
out damaged cartilage in his knee, a problem they say that has been affecting
him all season long. Ahmad Bradshaw is dealing with two sprained ankles so reserve
running backs D.J. Ware (8 rushing attempts) and Gartrell Johnson (13 rushing
attempts) will have to pick up some slack. Ware suffered a dislocated elbow and
then a concussion or you would have seen more of him this season. If the ground
game falters the offensive line will have it's work cut out for itself trying
to protect Eli Manning because the Vikings defense can bring it. However if Manning
can get the ball off fast that might be all they need. Giants
Defense.
The defense has been inconsistent
all year and last week was a total disaster. Like the Vikings, the Giants lost
their middle linebacker Antonio Pierce and that's a tough position to fill. There
were injuries to top players from the start, and there are a lot of questions
to be answered this offseason. Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was new to
the job and not allowed to run things as he might have liked, say calling the
game from upstairs. "Because you want to make logical, calculated decisions
on your play-calling... I think up in the box you have a little calmer atmosphere."
Sheridan said in a mid-June mini-camp. Coughlin had it his way, "I like the
defensive coordinator to be on the sideline because I think we communicate better...
it's just a preference of mine, that's all." Did any of that matter? They
tried everything but that in the last few weeks when they decided to sit Osi Umenyiora
for hunks of the game. We'll have to see what tricks they come up with this week. Giant
Concerns.
There's something considerably
wrong with a team that starts out so strongly and finishes up so poorly. Even
though the Giants lost games they still had chances to turn things around as the
season wore on. As late as week 14, they could have taken the lead in the division
with a win over Philadelphia. Beating the Panthers in the final game played in
Giants Stadium would have kept the hopes of a postseason shot alive. Even with
the talent they have, they couldn't rise to the occasion. There's something lacking
on this team. NFC
East.
The rest of the NFC East
teams play in their final regular season games on Sunday at 4:15 PM. The Eagles
(11-4), with the division wrapped up, will play an away game with the Cowboys
(10-5). The (4-11) Redskins travel to (12-3) San Diego. The Cowboys are favored
to win their game. From
thirty two to sixteen to nine to seven to five to four to three to two to one
to none.
The Colts, with an NFL unprecedented
23-game winning streak, let it all get away from them with a loss to the Jets
who are now an 8-7 team thanks to their 29-15 win. The 14-1 Colts took their first
loss of this season after coach Jim Caldwell decided to sit a number of their
starters in the third quarter with the Colts up 15-10. Next
Year
The Giants, in addition to one home
and one away game with the NFC East teams, will host the Bears, Lions, Jaguars,
Titans and the third place NFC South team (Panthers or the Falcons). They will
play on the road at Green Bay, Minnesota, Houston, Indianapolis and Seattle. 
Check
out.
The Team
Giants Store, and see some of the really unique items we put together.
There are some items you certainly haven't seen elsewhere, and each sale helps
out our site. Notes.
Giants
will not be in the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Giants
Brandon Jacobs failed to have a 100-yard game all season long.
Jacobs finished
with 835 yards on 224 carries (career high) for a 3.7-yard average. Giants
Aaron Ross was placed on injured reserve and Chris Canty has a sprained MCL and
is out. Giants have allowed 40 or more
points in four games this season. Giants
Eli Manning celebrates his 29th birthday on Sunday and has the third-longest active
streak among NFL quarterbacks (86 consecutive regular season games plus 7 postseason
games), behind Brett Favre (284) and Peyton Manning (191). Giants
Jeff Feagles will join Vikings Brett Favre in this game as the two players with
the most consecutive games played in NFL history - Feagles (351) - Favre (284). Giants
Jeff Feagles is unsigned for next season. Giants
backup quarterback David Carr will be a free agent at the end of this season.
Vikings Visanthe Shiancoe, a former Giant, has a team-high 10 touchdown catches
this year. Vikings are only the second
team in NFL history to have six 40-plus receivers (Dallas, 1983). Vikings
had a league-high 8 players selected to the Pro Bowl, including Brett Favre selected
11 times now. Vikings paid Brett Favre
$12 million for the 2009 season and $13 million for next season. Vikings
have allowed only four rushing touchdowns this season. Vikings
have a 7-0 record at home this season.
Next
Game
Next Year
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