Giants at Vikings

One of the more interesting games from a stat perspective is the Giants - Vikings matchup in Minnesota this Sunday. NFC North champ, Vikings, compiled an impressive 13-4 record while the Giants went 9-8, albeit in a tough division that's sending 3 teams to the playoffs. We've always given a nod to playoff teams coming out of the league's strongest division.

Looking at the weekly Predict Report, which includes a stat matchup table at the bottom of the page, The Vikings look pretty close to statistical average. With a couple of standout weaknesses. They don't run on offense and their pass D is weak. The Giants also look average with a weakness on passing but a strength on rushing. This makes for a potential imbalance in clock time, in favor of the Giants.

Here we see passing offense, with the Giants weakness: killer stat, offense where Giants rank 27th and Vikings 21st.

And on defense, we see the Vikes problem on our killer stat, defense, where they rank 31st of 32 with the Giants near average at 14th.

With such an average stat profile, how did the vikes achieve such a great w-l record? With smoke and mirrors? Or, more likely, with grit, something for which we don't have a statistical measurement. They did win 5 games by a field goal while losing zero close ones -- that looks like grit alright.

But looking at what we can measure, I see the Giants running the ball as per usual and with even their modest passing game having enough success against the porous Vikes D to keep control of the clock, moving the sticks. I'm picking the Giants. Our computer picks the Vikes but only by 2 and that's after giving the Vikes 3 points for the home field. Can the Vikings pull out another close win? We'll see.

Bill Sanders for BudGoodeSports.com
dr.bill@wrsanders.com

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