The New York Giants have all but locked up a spot in the playoffs, while the Minnesota Vikings are fighting for their postseason lives. These two teams will meet on Sunday at the Meadowlands.
The Giants, 7-3, are sitting comfortably in the first wild-card spot in the NFC. They hold a two-game lead in the loss column over the 6-5 Detroit Lions, and that gap is essentially three games since New York holds the tiebreaker over Detroit. It would take a monumental collapse over the remaining several weeks of the season for the Giants to miss the playoffs.
Minnesota, on the other hand, owns a record of 4-6 and is tied for last in the NFC North. Excluding New York, five teams are positioned ahead of them for the sixth and final playoff spot in the conference. However, the Vikings will have a chance to make things much easier on themselves when they play some of those teams in the future, as they face off against the Lions next week and the 5-5 Redskins on Dec. 23rd.
On a negative note, Minnesota still isn't sure when star rookie halfback Adrian Peterson will return. The league-leading rusher tore his lateral collateral ligament in his knee two weeks ago against Green Bay and will most likely be on the sidelines for at least one more game. Fortunately for the Vikings, Chester Taylor was more than ready to carry the load in their last contest, rushing for 164 yards and three touchdowns against the Raiders in place of Peterson.
The Giants have some injury issues of their own. They lost second-year linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka to a broken fibula last week against Detroit, and halfback Brandon Jacobs left the game with a pulled hamstring. Kiwanuka is done for the year, and although Jacobs was last considered out for Sunday's game, there is still a chance he may play. Another New York halfback, Derrick Ward, is expected to miss his fourth straight game with an ankle injury. If neither player goes, Reuben Droughns will get the start and rookie Ahmad Bradshaw will handle some of the workload. Also, wide receiver Plaxico Burress is still being hindered by a bum ankle, and it has gotten worse over the past couple of weeks. He will play this weekend, but the 6'5" Burress is not close to 100%.
The last time these two teams met was back on Nov. 14th, 2005, a 24-21 Minnesota victory. Brad Johnson was the squad's quarterback that year, but the Vikings are now led by sophomore signal-caller Tarvaris Jackson. Jackson has struggled mightily in the six games he has played this season, throwing only two touchdown passes and compiling a paltry 55.5 quarterback rating. But, in the 24-year old's defense, Minnesota doesn't exactly have the greatest receivers. Bobby Wade leads the team in receiving yards with only 358, and the Vikings have only gotten three touchdowns from wide-outs this year, two of them coming from rookie Sidney Rice.
Giants' quarterback Eli Manning got back on track last week against the Lions, completing 28-of-39 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown. New York plays only one team over .500 the rest of the way, that team being the undefeated New England Patriots in week 17. The Giants sit two games back of Dallas for the NFC East lead, although the Cowboys hold the tiebreaker between the two squads, technically ballooning their cushion to three games.
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