Three Keys to a NY Giants Week 16 Win vs Minnesota Vikings

The New York Giants had another frustrating loss fall into their lap last week against the Washington Commanders in the cold, snowy, and largely empty environment at MetLife Stadium, where the same old mishaps haunted the team’s efforts to put a cap on their ugly eight-game skid.

With that latest defeat, the Giants are dancing dangerously close to tying, if not surpassing, their longest losing streak in franchise history of 10 games before the season wraps up.

The good news is they will remain at home, where they broke that same streak back in 2023, and have another chance to do it against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16.

The Vikings will be a tougher draw than the Giants' previous opponent, even though they are also out of playoff contention. They are on a two-game winning streak and are playing well on both sides of the ball as they look to finish with some dominant affairs to close out their campaign.

The last time these two franchises met at MetLife Stadium in 2024, it didn’t go very well for the Giants, who opened the year in front of a full house with a 28-6 defeat.

The circumstances might be vastly different this time around, but the Giants still have a shot to upend the Vikings if they can bring their best effort to the field that wasn’t seen in all three phases last week.

More specifically, these are our three biggest keys to beating Minnesota and ending their hideous, nearly historic losing streak in one of their final two home games.

Giants' O-Line vs Vikings Pass Rush

Minnesota Vikings linebackers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel — Dec 14, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Minnesota Vikings linebacker Jonathan Greenard (58) and Minnesota Vikings linebacker Andrew van Ginkel (43) celebrate after a play during the first half against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

While the Giants’ offensive line has been pretty impressive with their pass blocking efforts this season, the matchup with the Vikings might present one of their toughest challenges of any opponent on the schedule.

Like their own group on the defensive side, the Vikings have assembled a package of pass rushers who have been more efficient in getting after and bringing down the quarterback.

Entering Week 16, they rank second in team pass rush win rate (45%) and have six different players with at least three sacks registered to their name.

The trouble for Minnesota has been having all of them on the field at the same time for an entire campaign. That issue will likely persist for the Giants, as they have a couple of players, notably defensive end Javon Hargrave and linebacker Jonathan Greenard, sidelined with various ailments.

Still, the Vikings will have enough weapons to test the resolve of the Giants’ offensive front and the fortitude of rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, who understands the utter chaos the unit can bring with its exotic looks, which can easily confuse most young opposing teams.

Whenever the Giants step back to pass, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who has staked his reputation on being aggressive, will look to send several rushers at the backfield, forcing Dart to abandon his reads and get risky with the football, which can lead to dropped balls or turnovers.

Flores’ group hasn't been the best with collecting turnover trophies in their case, as they own just 14 takeaways this season, including five interceptions, but they’ve forced five in the last three games. That feat has helped bump the Vikings' defense to the league’s ninth-best in yards allowed and fifth-best in the passing realm.

Having a quarterback with Dart’s dual-threat abilities could be the right tool the Giants' offense needs to combat the Vikings' pressure.

At the same time, the rookie and his team have already heard enough concerns about him taking additional big hits in some of their recent contests, and the NFL has removed him from the action before.

The job will be up to the Giants' offensive line to be sharp in their responsibilities and shut down some of these exotic blitzes so that Dart and the playmakers have their chance to make things happen.

Points will be at a premium in this matchup as the Vikings give up the game’s 13th-lowest points per game and own the second-lowest opponent redzone scoring percentage.

After seasons of being a massive weakness on the roster, the Giants' offensive line has found a way to silence the carousel and establish a difference-making groove within the starting five, who were all brought back to the organization after a mediocre showing in 2024 that was without a critical piece in left tackle Andrew Thomas, too.

Now, the unit holds the 11th-highest pass block win rate in the NFL with Thomas back on the blindside and shutting down the best edge rushers at the fifth-highest rate for his individual position (95%).

They had another strong showing against the Washington Commanders last Sunday, allowing only eight pressures on 44 dropbacks and not letting the Commanders’ edge rushers get within a hair of Dart, whose lone sack of the day came on a designed run where he gave himself up just short of the line of scrimmage.

It’s going to take an even stronger outing against a relentless Vikings pass rush for the Giants to have a chance at offensive success this weekend, and the longer the offensive line can hold up, the more the rest of the Vikings defense will afford them as the game goes on.

Containing Justin Jefferson

It’s already been a difficult year for the Giants' defensive secondary, which has been ravaged once again by injuries and exposed in inconsistent coverage against some of the NFL’s most dangerous receiving threats.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is the next premier pass catcher in line to challenge them on Sunday. Jefferson has been one of the most productive receivers in his first six years at the pro level and the de facto first option for his team’s offense.

The 6-foot-1 wideout has authored five consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns in that same span, including three in which he caught over 100 targets, hauled in an average catch of at least 15,0 yards, and scored at least eight touchdowns.

Despite the Vikings’ offense sinking to its worst ranking in total passing yards amid his tenure with the franchise, Jefferson has still racked up 66 receptions on 117 targets for 832 yards and two touchdowns.

The target total marks his second-highest in the last three seasons and sits far above the next player in Jordan Addison, with 72 targets on the year.

Even with their mediocrity, Jefferson remains a key component of the Vikings’ aerial attack, and a matchup with the Giants’ struggling secondary could be just what the doctor ordered to find a spark for both parties.

The team has been held to below 250 passing yards for eight straight weeks, and opponents have silenced the receiver to 35 yards in their last three games.

On the other side, the Giants' deep end of the defense, which ranks 23rd in passing yards and allowed 24 touchdowns this season, has given up at least 257 yards through the air in two of their previous three contests.

The unit continues to fail at the fundamentals, such as looking back toward the ball and tackling, which have resulted in a team-wide 70.2% reception rate, an average of 11.2 yards per catch, four missed tackles, and a whopping 1,457 yards after the catch against the entire defense.

None of these numbers blend well with a player of Jefferson’s talents. He is a vertically gifted player with good length and hands to help extend himself and make the big plays both in tight windows and in open space, and he ranks ninth in the league with 21 targets of at least 20 air yards, which have been turned into an average haul of 34.5 yards.

The one positive for the Giants might be the presence of Paulson Adebo, who made his return right before the team’s bye week, where he had a rough outing against New England, giving up eight receptions on 11 targets for 95 yards and a touchdown.

Last Sunday, Adebo went back to showing flashes of his lockdown abilities, allowing the Commanders' receivers to haul in just four receptions for 47 yards against him.

Perhaps with his ability to sniff out reads and get a hand in the direction of the pass, Adebo can use his physical man coverage to slow down Jefferson and force the Vikings to beat them with their other pass catchers.

As it’s been laid out, Jefferson has long been due for a massive performance, and what opponent is more generous to elite receivers than the Giants and their woeful secondary that might have to be gutted this offseason and built from the ground up to turn things around.

Get the Run Game Moving

Dec 14, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) celebrates a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

When the Giants lost rookie running back Cam Skattebo to a season-ending ankle injury in the middle of the season, it raised deep concerns about how the offense would remain two-dimensional and not put all the pressure on Jaxson Dart to produce with his arm or use his legs to handle the workload.

Surprisingly, it’s been the remaining pieces in the Giants' backfield–Tyrone Tracy Jr, and Devin Singletary–who have stepped up to the plate and actually helped the rushing attack flip the script to become the more impactful phase of the team’s offense in recent weeks.

Entering Week 16, the Giants own the NFL’s 12th-ranked offense (343.2 yards per game), partially due to the improved efforts from the ground game, which has ascended into the No. 10 unit in that same span (125.1 yards per game).

The Giants have come to rely heavily on their running backs to set the tone and put the passing game in more favorable positions to convert plays and extend drives, especially against some of the better defenses in the league at stopping the aerial attack they have faced in the past few games.

As such, New York has risen to third in rushing attempts in the sport and has punched in 18 rushing touchdowns, already surpassing its 2024 total of 13.

A nice chunk of those stats can’t be discredited from Dart and his prowess as a designed rusher near the endzone, but his teammates have also kicked in their fair share.

The most notable being Tracy, who earned his way back into the starting role after Skattebo went down and hasn’t made the Giants regret trusting him with the pigskin in the trenches.

He now leads the team with 128 carries for 504 yards and three combined touchdowns and has offered his squad another efficient dual threat option that keeps drives going.

Last week against the Commanders, Tracy powered the Giants' rushing game with 15 carries for 70 yards and two touchdowns for what was arguably his best outing of the season.

His impact helped the Giants notch an average of 5.1 yards per carry and tire out a Commanders defense that started to give way as the contest dragged into the second half.

It would be nice to see Tracy and company bring that same effectiveness to the run operation on Sunday against the Vikings, whose run response isn’t close to as dangerous as their pass rush. Minnesota owns the 13th-ranked run stop win rate (30%), but is allowing opponents to beat them up on the ground to the tune of 31 attempts and 127.5 yards per contest.

In the past five games, the Vikings' defense has allowed over 140 rushing yards three times, and their tackling has been a bigger problem than the Giants’ awful run defense.

They have whiffed on 76 tackles this fall and struggle to put an initial resistance on the ball carrier, which has helped opponents convert late downs on them at the 27th-best rate.

If the Giants want to take advantage of this weakness, they should look to get things going with their running backs from the jump and let it open up opportunities for bigger plays in the passing game as the game wears on, against the Vikings' defense.

Should they find themselves in decent to solid field positions to be aggressive and go for it on late downs, it will be interesting to see if Mike Kafka elects to put all his chips on the table and tests Minnesota’s resolve to shut the door and not let them advance deeper into the redzone.

That is where the Vikings tend to clamp up, allowing the second-lowest redzone conversion rate on the season.

Perhaps wearing them out with a heavy run presence will lighten things up for Dart and his receivers to sneak in a couple of scores, like last weekend against Washington, when they converted 3-of-4 on their trips inside the 20 and made things interesting down the stretch of the fourth quarter.

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