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Takeaways from Vikings Wild Card Loss Against Giants

Takeaways from Vikings Wild Card Loss Against Giants


Wide receiver Justin Jefferson had a strong start Sunday, following up his 12-catch, 133-yard, one-score game against the Giants in Week 16 with five receptions for 37 yards in the first quarter. But Jefferson was only targeted four times the rest of the way, including recording just one catch for four yards in the second half.

“They did what everybody else does,” Jefferson said, who was double teamed and followed by corner Adoree’ Jackson for most of the day. “It was not a shocker or something that was surprising.”

Coller wrote O’Connell noticed a different defensive scheme from the Giants from what the Vikings faced in their first meeting.

[The Giants]came in as a blitz-crazed team that led the NFL in sending extra rushers but instead allowed their front four to rush so they could provide extra coverage on Jefferson.

“They didn’t bring as much pressure [tonight]; it was more so a story of coverage, double teams,” O’Connell said. “I think when you look at his stats, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

Minnesota did have a bright spot offensively, though, as tight end T.J. Hockenson produced another big game against the Giants.

Hockenson answered his 13-catch, 109-yard, two-score outing against the Giants in Week 16 with 10 receptions for 129 yards. He hauled in catches of 27 and 28 yards on the same drive and converted a fourth-and-2 with an 18-yard reception.

“He’s a really good football player, in this offense, in this system, the Y, the tight end will always, especially someone of T.J.’s ability, will always have a big role,” Cousins said. “We’re grateful to have a guy who’s that capable, and we’re going to give him a lot of opportunities.”

The Vikings finished the season 13-5 overall, recording just their third season in franchise history with at least 13 regular-season victories.

“It’s a little too soon to kind of go into true evaluation mode,” O’Connell said. “It’s going to sting us for a long time. This team was as competitive as any group as I’ve been around from the standpoint of each and every time they took the field with the expectation to win. It did not always go our way, but these guys battled for, like you said, 13 wins, and I think there’s a lot of things that I’m very, very fortunate and excited about moving forward with this team currently and where we can take it from here.”

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