It’s easy to see similarities between the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants.
Both teams made the playoffs in 2022 with first-year coaches—Kevin O’Connell for the Vikings and Brian Daboll for the Giants—and they faced each other in the postseason, with the Giants winning.
Last season, both teams had losing records and missed the playoffs.
As they prepare for their matchup at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, both teams have questions about their quarterbacks. Sam Darnold is starting for the injured Vikings rookie J.J. McCarthy, and Daniel Jones of the Giants is coming back from ACL surgery.
They also have new running backs: Aaron Jones for Minnesota and Devin Singletary, who replaces Saquon Barkley for New York.
Both teams have talented, fast wide receivers, with Justin Jefferson of the Vikings being the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2022. The defenses are dealing with issues in the secondary.
There is pressure on both teams to perform well this year. Daboll is focused on the present.
“Like I’ve said before, 24 years of doing this,” he said. “Twenty-fourth opening game. Every year is different. We’ve played on Thursday nights, played on Sundays at 1 (p.m.).
It really doesn’t matter what you did the year before or two years ago, whatever that is. What matters is doing everything you can do for this week to get ready to play a football game.”
The Vikings share the same mindset. “We didn’t come this far to come this far,” Minnesota outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard said. “At this point we’re all working to get to that big one at the end of the day.
Everybody’s in that mindset. That’s one of the first things: If you believe it as a team first, then everything else can be executed with that same thing in mind.”
