Minnesota Vikings at New York Giants: Key Information and First Quarter Discussion

We are just half an hour away from kickoff at MetLife Stadium between the New York Giants and your Minnesota Vikings! It’s the first Open Thread of the year and we are officially open for business, so here’s everything you need to know about today’s game.

Date and Time: Sunday, 8 September 2024, noon Central time

Location: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

Television Coverage: KMSP-9 in the Twin Cities, FOX affiliates around the country, YouTube NFL Sunday Ticket

Radio Coverage: Vikings Radio Network, SiriusXM Channel 387 (Vikings feed), SiriusXM App Channel 820

Line: Vikings -1.5, Over/Under 41.5

Chris’ Prediction: Vikings 24, Giants 20

Three Keys

1) Keep Sam Darnold upright – The Giants’ front seven, featuring Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Brian Burns has the ability to cause nightmares for the Vikings’ offense. Darnold has plenty of weapons to work with in this offense, but if he’s running for his life he won’t be able to take advantage of them. If the Vikings can give him a clean pocket he should be able to make some plays against a suspect Giants secondary.

2) Mistake-free football – In the early part of last season, the Vikings simply could not hang onto the football, whether it was fumbling it away or throwing interceptions, and you could argue that it cost them a number of games in that early slate. The Vikings don’t have a lot of margin for error, and if they can be on the positive side of the plus-minus ratio it will go a long way towards their success.

3) Get pressure on Daniel Jones – The last time Daniel Jones saw the Vikings, he put on a performance that got him a fat new contract extension in New York. However, this is a completely different defense, and hopefully Brian Flores and all the new faces this team has brought in on that side of the ball can make things rough for him this afternoon.

Know the Foe: Big Blue View

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That should be everything you need to be up to speed on this one, folks. Remember that a new Open Thread starts at the beginning of each quarter, so keep your eyes open for those and move the discussion along accordingly.

Enjoy the game, folks, and hopefully when it’s all said and done in about three hours we’ll all be able to bask in the glory of being 1-0 to start the season.

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!