Giants Will Get A Third Shot At Eagles If They Can Beat Vikings In Wildcard Round
MINNEAPOLIS — The Giants will take the field Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium knowing what’s next if they are able to upset the Minnesota Vikings in their rematch of a Christmas Eve game they lost 27-24.
That’s because the second-seeded San Francisco 49ers opened the series of six wildcard playoff games by pinning a 41-23 loss on the seventh-seeded Seattle Seahawks.
That meant coach Brian Daboll’s sixth-seeded 9-7-1 Giants will play a third game in seven weeks against the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles if they beat the Vikings. The 49ers will host the winner between the fourth-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the fifth-seeded Dallas Cowboys. That game is Monday night in Tampa.
If the Giants were to face the Eagles again, it would continue a late-season trend of playing the same team without much time in between meetings.
It started when the Giants played to a 20-20 tie on Dec. 4 against the Washington Commanders. Two weeks later, the teams played again with the Giants holding on for a 20-12 win that greatly enhanced their playoff chances.
The Giants missed an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot the following week when they lost to the Vikings, but Sunday they get a chance to avenge that loss and advance to the NFC divisional round for the first time since 2011 when they won the Super Bowl after a 9-7 regular season.
A third meeting with the Eagles would mean the
Giants had played Washington, Minnesota and Philadelphia seven times in an eight-game stretch. The only other team they would have played is the Indianapolis Colts, who they beat to clinch their first playoff berth. since 2016.
The Eagles, of course, handed the Giants their most lopsided loss of the season on Dec. 11 at MetLife Stadium. The Eagles rushed for 253 yards and registered seven sacks in that 48-22 victory. Saquon Barkley rushed for just 28 yards on nine carries.
Philadelphia also won the rematch between the teams in the regular-season finale last Sunday to lock up the No. 1 seed in the NFC and a bye from the wildcard
The Giants, however, also came out of that game feeling good about themselves because their team of mostly reserves only lost 22-16 against the Eagles’ starters.
“I was really pleased with the effort of the guys that played against Philly, that was a lot of fun to watch,” defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said. “Some guys that haven’t had a lot of opportunities that took advantage of (them) when they were out there.
Just seeing the overall excitement in the locker room after the game with everybody because they know the challenges that we have starting in the playoffs.”
Backup safety Tony Jefferson agreed that the Giants felt good about their defense following the loss in Philadelphia.
“We’ve got guys like Adoree’ (Jackson) coming back and then you think about how impressive what we did last week against Philly was,” Jefferson said. “I think that shows a lot about the defense that we were able to do that against one of the best offensive teams in the NFL. It shows how good the guys are behind the starters.”
The Eagles were undoubtedly playing conservatively on offense with quarterback Jalen Hurts returning from a shoulder injury after missing two games, so a third meeting between the teams would be a better barometer on how much ground the Giants have closed since their worst loss of the season early last month.
All they have to do to find out is beat the Vikings Sunday.
Bob Brookover:
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