The New York Giants were thoroughly embarrassed by the Minnesota Vikings 28-6 as they celebrated their 100th NFL season. The team’s performance on the field was uglier than the Century-Red uniforms they wore to commence their 100th season in the league.
Fans were hopeful coming into this game that the additions of Brian Burns, Malik Nabers, and an improved offensive line would bring change to a franchise with double-digit losses in six of the last seven seasons.
New York was dominated in every phase of the game in their loss to the Vikings. It was evident they were not prepared to put forth their best effort on Sunday. There’s a ton of blame to go around for Sunday’s performance. But the two men who have to take the brunt of the blame are general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll.
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New York Giants loss should put Joe Schoen on hot seat
Once again, quarterback Daniel Jones struggled mightily on Sunday, completing 22 out of 42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions. One of those interceptions was a pick-six that he threw directly to Andrew Van Ginkel, who returned it 10 yards for the score that put Minnesota up 28-6 with 4:22 remaining in the third quarter.
Jones has had similar performances throughout his career with New York, which raises the question of why Joe Schoen hasn’t acquired a viable quarterback who could supplant Jones as the starter.
When Schoen was named GM in January of 2022, he knew the team had huge question marks at the quarterback position, and two years and three draft classes later the most important X-factor on the team remains a glaring issue.
Jones had a solid 2022 season, throwing 15 touchdowns to five interceptions and guiding the team to their first playoff win since Super Bowl XLVI. But most feel his play that season didn’t warrant the four-year $160 million that Schoen awarded him that offseason. That performance proved to be an aberration, as Jones resorted to the play that plagued him in the previous seasons until he was lost for the year in November due to a torn ACL.
Based on Sunday’s performance, the team will look to move on from Jones after the season, but it’s not a guarantee that the 45-year-old general manager will be the one that orchestrates the change.
The other defining move of Schoen’s career was his decision not to bring back Saquon Barkley. An argument could be made on both sides on whether or not it was the right decision to move on from Barkley. But what will dictate if it was the right decision or not is the play on the field, and right now, it’s not looking good for Big Blue.
In his debut with the Eagles on Friday night, Barkley rushed for 109 yards on 24 carries, caught two passes for 23 yards, and scored three touchdowns. He was the best player on the field in the Eagles’ 34-29 victory over the Packers in Brazil and seems poised to be one of the favorites to win Offensive Player of the Year.
In contrast, New York’s new number 26, Devin Singletary, carried the ball 10 times for 37 yards and caught four passes for 15 yards. Needless to say, as of right now, this decision is not going in New York’s favor.
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Brian Daboll’s playcalling sparks no change in the offense
The Giants finished 29th in total offense last season (280 yards per game) and scored an average of 15.6 points per game. This was one factor that led Daboll to decide to call plays this season. However, despite the addition of sixth overall pick Malik Nabers, the offense looked just as stagnant and predictable as it had in the past.
The offense gained just 240 yards against the Vikings defense and converted just 7-of-18 third-down conversions. Worst of all, they failed to find the end zone or generate any explosive plays.
Surprisingly, the defense also struggled mightily on Sunday, which can also be attributed to Daboll. There had been rumors all last season that tension existed between the 49-year-old head coach and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. Those rumors proved to be true, as the team and Martindale parted ways shortly after the season.
It’s never ideal to change coordinators because it takes players some time to get acclimated to the new system. Particularly when you go from an aggressive blitz-heavy scheme that Martindale ran, compared to new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen who likes to play zone.
It became obvious early in the game that Minnesota’s offense was two steps ahead of New York’s defense. Quarterback Sam Darnold had one of the most effective games of his career as he completed his first 12 passes and finished the game, completing 19 out of 24 passes for 208 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
The Giants were expected to have one of the best front sevens in football this season but were only able to sack Darnold once. They also allowed running back Aaron Jones to average 6.7 yards per carry, and as a team, the Vikings had 111 rushing yards.
The defense might have fared better if their head coach and former defensive coordinator were able to iron things out.
You never want to make too much out of a Week 1 performance as the team can easily bounce back next week against Washington. But based on the franchise history over the last decade, you get a sense that the Schoen and Daboll tandem won’t make it to the 2025 season if it brings similar results to Sunday’s disaster against the Vikings.
What was supposed to be a glorious day to celebrate and honor the franchise’s 100th year in the NFL turned out to be a major embarrassment that ownership will not soon forget.
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