Daily Norseman
A closer look at the Vikings’ Week One Matchup
It’s officially Week One of the 2024-25 NFL season. The Minnesota Vikings travel to The Meadowlands to face the New York Giants to kick off the season.
Let’s take a look at the matchup.
Below are the starting lineups in nickel defense and 11 offensive personnel according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). The player grades are their 2023 season grades where available- no grades for rookies. I suspect, however, that Andrew Van Ginkel will replace Jihad Ward for the Vikings defensively (91.1 grade) and Jerry Tillery (67.7 grade) may well be there on passing downs too. Also, Josh Oliver (75.1 grade) will start at tight end for the Vikings, not Johnny Mundt. Oliver was listed as the starter in the latest Vikings’ official depth chart.
For the Giants, they’ve got Devin Singletary (75.1 grade) at RB along with the rookie Tyrone Tracy shown below.
When the Vikings have the ball, one of the key matchups will be the interior line versus Dexter Lawrence. Lawrence was the top graded defensive tackle last season and was a menace the last time the Vikings faced the Giants. That matchup should be a good early indication of where the interior line is at relative to the last games against the Giants in 2022. The Giants picked up edge rusher Brian Burns this off-season, but with Darrisaw and O’Neill, I don’t expect him to have a big game.
The second matchup is the Vikings’ receivers versus the Giants’ defensive backs. Both Giants’ outside corners are coming off weak seasons and their safeties aren’t much better. Their slot corner is a rookie third-round pick in his first game. This is a matchup for the Vikings and Sam Darnold to exploit every which way they can and could lead to a confidence-building first outing in purple for Darnold.
It’s also important to note that the Giants have a new defensive coordinator since the last matchup. Gone is Wink Martindale and his blitz-heavy, man coverage scheme and in is Shane Bowen and more of a four-man (five-man in base) single-gap penetrating style defensive line without much blitzing and more zone coverage in the secondary with some pattern matching mixed in and two-high safeties. Bowen likes to use wide-9 edge rushers on passing downs to spread out the offensive line along with 3-techs to allow the defensive tackles (Dexter Lawrence) one-on-one matchups against the guards.
This approach and the Giants defensive personnel should allow for some opportunities in the run game. Lawrence is the only good run defender among the Giants’ starters on defense. It also opens up any number of Cover-2 beaters in the passing game.
I could also see some play-action passes out of 12-personnel (2WRs, and 2TEs or 1 TE and 1 FB).
When the Giants have the ball, key matchups will be the Vikings secondary on Malik Nabors,...
