Dalvin Cook and Kirk Cousins had solid outings in the Minnesota Vikings‘ 28-10 win over the New York Giants to improve to 3-2 on the year.
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Final Score
Minnesota Vikings 28, New York Giants 10
Minnesota Vikings
After essentially being called out by his receivers for not being good enough, Kirk Cousins bounced back in a huge way. He wasn't asked to do much in terms of making tough throws. Instead, he simply delivered the ball into the hands of his receivers consistently and accurately. That alone was enough to carry them to the win.
Adam Thielen was the best player on the field in this game and it wasn't particularly close. He showed his strong hands and body control on his touchdown receptions, snagging the ball and securing it despite tight coverage. He also showed off his YAC skills as he made some great moves to pick up first downs or extra yardage after the catch.
Anthony Barr was all over the field for the Vikings' defense. He had multiple solo defensive stops and was a tough matchup for the Giants when they tried to run the ball. But he was even better in coverage, making stops there as well and then finishing the game with an interception.
On the other side of the coverage spectrum, Xavier Rhodes had a tough time whenever he was targeted. While he did have one nice pass breakup, he also surrendered multiple first downs to go with being beaten by Darius Slayton‘s double-move touchdown in the second quarter. He also picked up a couple of penalties that led to first downs for the Giants.
Rookie Takeaways
Center Garrett Bradbury had a bounceback game after a woeful start to his NFL career. He should finish reviews with the best pass-blocking grade and best run-blocking grade of his young career.
New York Giants
B.J. Hill was a tough matchup for anyone on the Vikings trying to block him in the run game. He made a handful of stops, but his impact went beyond that. He consistently won blocks at the point of attack and closed rush lanes all game long.
One defender who had a rough go of it for the Giants was Nate Stupar at linebacker. He had a couple of missed tackles and gave up some catches for big yardage.
The Giants' offensive line did Jones no favors in this one, as they allowed a ton of pressure and also did a poor job of opening up any kind of running lanes. Nate Solder let up a sack and was beaten more than a few times on just a simple spin move, and he was actually not the Giants' biggest problem. Jon Halapio also gave up a sack along with multiple pressures.
Rookie Takeaways
This was another tough game for Daniel Jones. While throws like his touchdown pass to Slayton are ones Giants fans salivate over, he also had a couple of turnover-worthy throws even before his late-game interception. Almost half of Jones' completions came behind the line of scrimmage, and he didn't show very good accuracy on anything beyond five yards downfield.
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