The Giants.com crew gives their takeaways from the 28-6 loss to the Vikings in the season opener:

Dan Salomone: There's not much to say after a game like that, especially when the Giants had preached the importance of a fast start to the season. But they found themselves in an all-too-familiar hole on Sunday. After a great special teams play where four different Giants players tapped the ball to each other to down a Jamie Gillan punt at the one-yard line, Minnesota orchestrated an 11-play, 99-yard touchdown drive to take a 14-3 lead into halftime. It followed a season in which the Giants were outscored by 100 points in the first half alone, the third-worst differential in the league.

"Obviously not the way we wanted to start," coach Brian Daboll said at the top of his postgame press conference. "Disappointing game. A lot to clean up and that's what we will do."

Speaking of starts, one thing that was hard to overlook was the number of rookies who played prominent roles. Credit to our Michael Eisen for this stat: This is the 55th season since the 1970 merger, and it's the first time the Giants a) started five rookies in a season opener, and b) started two rookies on both offense and defense in an opener.

The five rookie starters were wide receiver Malik Nabers (first round), safety Tyler Nubin (second), tight end Theo Johnson (fourth), linebacker Darius Muasau (sixth), and defensive tackle Elijah Chatman (undrafted). That doesn't even include nickel corner Dru Phillips, the third-rounder who forced a fumble on the Vikings' opening possession. Running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. also played 15 snaps on offense, making it a complete sweep for the 2024 draft class seeing time in the opener.

Matt Citak: The Giants made it a priority over the offseason and summer to push the ball downfield more, but they were unable to do so in Week 1, finishing with just one attempt and completion of 20+ yards. A big part of the reason was the Vikings' defensive plan, as it seemed like Minnesota made it a priority not to allow anything deep. Brian Flores' defense played zone coverage on nearly 86 percent of their plays while blitzing only 22.4 percent of the time. Additionally, the Vikings played split-safety coverage on nearly 70 percent of the defensive snaps, which seemed to cause trouble for the Giants' offense.

"We certainly called the plays," Daboll said about the team's lack of deep shots. "Sometimes they take them away. We've got to do a better job all the way around. It starts with me."

Daboll added, "Well, they played a bunch of soft shell, split safety stuff. They did. Again, I'm going to go back and watch it. We can do everything better, but it all starts with me."

While it's tough to come out of Sunday's game with many positives, two players in particular deserve a shout out – left tackle Andrew Thomas and defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence. The stalwarts of the Giants' offensive and defensive lines, respectively, played well in the season opener. Thomas played every offensive snap, including 52 pass-blocking snaps, and did not allow a single pressure, according to PFF. The former second-team All-Pro tackle is healthy and looks to be back at his 2022 form, which is an encouraging sign for the offensive line as a whole.

As for Lawrence, the 26-year-old showed in the opener why he's one of the NFL's top defensive tackles. Lawrence generated seven pressures, including one sack, on just 20 pass rush snaps, according to NGS, resulting in the highest single-game pressure rate of his career. His average get-off of 0.89 seconds would have tied him for fourth among all defensive tackles with 250+ pass rush snaps last season. If Lawrence can continue generating consistent pressure on the interior, things should open up for Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the edge.