Sportsnaut
The (6-8) Minnesota Vikings will travel to East Rutherford, NJ, to take on the (2-12) New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
If you had asked both teams coming into the season, they would have told you that entering Week 16, they would be in the playoff mix. But instead, the only thing they’re playing for in December is pride.
The funny thing about the NFL is that often when teams have nothing to play for, they adapt a go-for-broke mentality where the play calling is more aggressive, and they’ll go for it more often on fourth down. This results in exciting games where anything can happen.
Here are four bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup.
After having over 1,000 all-purpose yards as a rookie, the expectation was that T would have an even better sophomore campaign. But injuries and the emergence of Cam Skattebo have limited his production.
In the 12 games he’s appeared in this year, he’s rushed for 504 yards on 128 carries with two rushing touchdowns, and has 25 receptions for 230 yards and a touchdown. Last week against the Commanders, he had 97 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.
He should have an even bigger workload on Sunday against Minnesota’s 24th-ranked run defense. Tracy has yet to rush for 100 yards this season, but he’ll put an end to that as he’ll have over 100 rushing yards.
Justin Jefferson is having the least productive season of his six-year career. He has 66 receptions for 832 yards with two touchdowns, which are all career lows. The main reason for his drop in production has been due to instability and poor play from the quarterback position.
This week, he has a favorable matchup going up against New York’s 23rd-ranked pass defense. The Giants do not have a locked-down corner on their roster, so whether it’s Paulson Adebo, Cor’Dale Flott, or any of the other defensive backs, Jefferson will have a huge advantage.
The 26-year-old superstar wideout will have his best of the year as he will torch New York’s secondary, as he’ll have over 150 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
With the addition of the third overall pick, Abdul Carter, many were expecting New York’s pass rush to be fierce and one of the best in the league. But they’ve registered just 31 sacks, and Carter has just two and a half sacks on the season.
Except Brian Burns, who has 13 sacks, no other player on Big Blue’s defense has more than three sacks. Now they’ll face a Vikings offensive line that has allowed 47 sacks. Against Minnesota, the pass rush will finally live up to expectations as they will sack J.J. McCarthy five times.
Viking defensive coordinator Brian Flores has built on giving rookie quarterbacks...
